A-Level Sociology Past Papers & Drilling (Paper 1): Socialisation, Identity and Methods

Question 1

(Q1) 4 marks: two agents of primary socialisation – the family (carers model gender roles, language and values) and the peer group (norms learned in play and everyday interaction); religious groups and early playgroups are also acceptable if they are genuinely primary (face-to-face, intimate).

(Q2a) 6 marks: (1) role modelling and the domestic division of labour, as the way chores and care are shared shows children what men and women are expected to do, and children internalise it through observation and imitation; (2) differential talk and expectations, since carers speak to, buy toys for and set achievement expectations for children differently by sex, producing a gendered self-concept (the ideas of canalisation and manipulation can be used). Each point needs a concept and an example, not personal experience.

(Q2b) 10 marks: Strengths – it reaches many teenagers in different schools quickly (in the stimulus data 480 of 600 questionnaires came back, a response rate of 80.0%); closed questions allow quantitative comparison and anonymity helps with sensitive items; it is cheap and repeatable, so reliability is relatively high. Limitations – teenagers may give socially desirable answers, a validity problem; there is no chance to probe, so the process of identity formation stays hidden; sampling bias is likely (school-based distribution misses those who have left or are educated at home); and wording may mean different things to different groups. Judgement: questionnaires suit questions about distribution and trend, so research on the meaning of identity should combine them with interviews or observation – triangulation.

(Q3a) 6 marks: the quotation claims identity is mainly determined by class position, a Marxist and class-sociological view: material conditions (income, occupation, area of residence) shape lifestyle, educational opportunity and cultural capital, producing recognisable identity patterns, and class reproduces itself through habitus and reproduction mechanisms.

(Q3b) 8 marks: (1) intersectionality – within the same class position, experiences differ sharply by gender and ethnicity (women carry more care work at the same income), so class alone cannot explain identity; (2) consumer and media culture – identity is increasingly built through consumption, subcultures and social media, and cross-class cultural flows weaken the link between class and identity; a counter-argument is that class still imposes structural limits, as class gaps in health and educational outcomes show.

Section B essay example (26 marks, one of two): “Assess the view that socialisation is now shaped mainly by the media rather than the family.” An answer should weigh the family’s continuing role in primary socialisation (language, emotional management, class culture) against media and peer influence in secondary socialisation (role models, consumer values, global culture) and judge the extent with reference to differences between groups.

Question 1

Response rate = 480 / 600 x 100 = 80.0%; interviews = 480 x 25% = 120. A response rate below 100% raises the question of who did not reply: non-respondents may differ systematically, which produces non-response bias – a point that earns credit in method evaluation.

Question 2

Section A = 60 – 26 = 34 marks; minutes per mark = 90 / 60 = 1.5. In practice the 26-mark essay should be allowed about 39 minutes (26 x 1.5), leaving roughly 51 minutes for the three compulsory Section A questions. Allocate time by marks so the essay is never rushed.