OCR A-Level Sociology Active Recall Guide (H580)
OCR · A-Level
OCR A-Level Sociology Active Recall Guide
Every topic of specification H580 written as exam-style questions with the answers printed after them. 859 questions across 10 topics and 81 subtopics, including all six Section B options so the guide fits whichever two you sit.
- OCR
- A-Level
- Specification H580
- 859 questions
Guide overview All 10 topics Sample questions Papers and weighting Look inside Questions and answers
What the exam asks of you
OCR A-Level Sociology is assessed by three written papers. Socialisation, Culture and Identity is 1 hour 30 minutes and 90 marks, worth 30 per cent. Researching and Understanding Social Inequalities is 2 hours 15 minutes and 105 marks, worth 35 per cent. Debates in Contemporary Society is the same length and weight.
Two of the three papers carry an optional Section B chosen by your school, and the compulsory middle paper is research methods and social inequalities in full. Sociology is marked on named theorists, named studies and applied concepts, which makes it recall before it is argument.
| Paper | Covers | Length | Marks | Weighting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Component 01 Socialisation, culture and identity |
Section A: introducing socialisation, culture and identity, compulsory Section B: one of families and relationships, youth subcultures, or media Culture, socialisation, identity and the agencies of social control |
1 hour 30 minutes | 90 marks | 30% |
|
Component 02 Researching and understanding social inequalities |
Section A: research methods and researching social inequalities Section B: understanding social inequalities, its patterns, trends and explanations All of this paper is compulsory; it is synoptic |
2 hours 15 minutes | 105 marks | 35% |
|
Component 03 Debates in contemporary society |
Section A: globalisation and the digital social world, compulsory Section B: one of crime and deviance, education, or religion, belief and faith This paper is synoptic, drawing on the whole course |
2 hours 15 minutes | 105 marks | 35% |
What is in the guide
All 10 topics
Every topic has its own page with its subtopics, what it covers and sample questions.
Sample questions
Taken from the guide. Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.
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Culture, norms, values and cultural relativism
Why do sociologists insist that culture is learned rather than inherited?
Show the answer
Because a child born into any society acquires that society's culture through socialisation, and children raised in different societies grow up with entirely different norms, values and languages. -
Family types and trends in marriage, divorce and cohabitation
What is a reconstituted family?
Show the answer
A reconstituted or step family is formed when partners bring children from a previous relationship into a new household, so at least one adult is a step parent. -
Functionalist and neo-Marxist views of youth culture
Eisenstadt and other functionalists call youth culture a safety valve. What do they mean?
Show the answer
They mean this period of structured irresponsibility, in which young people are freed from full adult obligations, gives a contained outlet for the frustration of being neither child nor adult, so tension is released harmlessly and social order is preserved. -
Representations of ethnicity and nationality, symbolic annihilation and the male gaze
How far are representations of minority ethnic groups said to be changing?
Show the answer
Minority ethnic actors and presenters now appear far more often in mainstream drama, soaps and news, but critics argue casting is frequently tokenistic and that crime and terrorism still dominate factual coverage. -
Positivism, quantitative data and interpretivism
How does a trend differ from a pattern?
Show the answer
A trend is the direction in which a pattern moves over time, such as a steady narrowing of a gap, whereas a pattern is the relationship itself. -
Stratification, class, poverty, mobility and gender inequality
What did Townsend add to the way poverty is measured?
Show the answer
Townsend argued poverty should be measured as relative deprivation, using an index of the everyday activities and possessions most people take for granted, so that anyone unable to afford them counts as poor even though they are not physically destitute. -
Globalisation, the digital revolution and media convergence
How do sceptics such as Hirst and Thompson challenge the idea of globalisation?
Show the answer
They argue the world economy is internationalised rather than truly globalised, because trade and investment remain concentrated within a few rich regional blocs and national governments still regulate their economies. -
Defining crime and deviance, social control and relativity
What do sociologists mean by social order?
Show the answer
Social order is the stable, predictable patterning of everyday social life that results from people largely sharing and following the same norms and expectations.
How the guide is worked
Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.
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Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
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Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
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Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.
Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.
Look inside
Questions for a subtopic print together and the answers for that section print after them.
- Introducing Socialisation, Culture and Identity102
- Families and Relationships103
- Youth Subcultures78
- Media52
- Research Methods and Researching Social Inequalities103
- Understanding Social Inequalities56
- Globalisation and the Digital Social World52
- Crime and Deviance108
- Education101
- Religion, Belief and Faith104
- What is the difference between a family and a household?
- Define the nuclear family.
- What is an extended family, and what is the difference between its vertical and horizontal forms?
- Define a lone parent family.
- What is a reconstituted family?
- What is meant by a same-sex family?
- Give two examples of a non-family household.
- Describe the broad trend in marriage in the UK over roughly the last thirty years.
- Give three reasons sociologists offer for the decline in marriage.
- A family is a group connected by blood, marriage or civil partnership, or adoption, whereas a household is simply one person or a group of people living at the same address and sharing facilities.
- A nuclear family is two generations living together in one household: a couple and their dependent children.
- An extended family is a nuclear family plus other relatives; the vertical form adds extra generations such as grandparents, while the horizontal form adds relatives of the same generation such as aunts, uncles and cousins.
- A lone parent family is one parent living with their dependent children, and the great majority of such families in the UK are headed by the mother.
- A reconstituted or step family is formed when partners bring children from a previous relationship into a new household, so at least one adult is a step parent.
- It is a family in which the couple are of the same sex, raising children through adoption, fostering, assisted conception or a previous heterosexual relationship.
- A person living alone and a group of unrelated students or friends sharing a flat are both non-family households.
- Fewer people are marrying, those who do marry are doing so later in life, a larger share of marriages are remarriages, and civil partnership and same-sex marriage have added new legal forms.
- Secularisation has weakened religious pressure to marry, the stigma attached to cohabitation and to remaining single has faded, and women's greater financial independence means marriage is no longer an economic necessity.
questions
Scroll sideways to turn through the pages.
Questions students ask first
I only do two options. Is the rest wasted?
No. Component 01 has a Section B chosen from Families and Relationships, Youth Subcultures and Media. Component 03 has a Section B chosen from Crime and Deviance, Education, and Religion, Belief and Faith.
All six are in the guide because schools pick different pairs. Work the two you are taught and skip the other four. They are separate topics with their own pages.
Which parts are compulsory?
Introducing Socialisation, Culture and Identity on Component 01, and the whole of Component 02, which is Research Methods and Researching Social Inequalities plus Understanding Social Inequalities. Globalisation and the Digital Social World is compulsory on Component 03.
Do I have to name theorists?
Yes, and it is the most common place marks are lost. A point attributed to nobody is worth less than the same point attributed correctly. The guide asks for the name and the finding rather than the general idea.
How much research methods is there really?
Component 02 is 35 per cent of the A-Level and its first section is research methods applied to the study of social inequalities. It is 103 questions in the guide covering methods, sampling, reliability and validity, ethics, and the practical constraints on real research.
OCR A-Level Sociology Active Recall Guide
Every question paired with its answer, grouped by topic and subtopic, ready to work in three passes.