The AQA have ‘very generously’ informed A-level sociology students that the 30 mark essay question in the June 2022 exam will be on the topic area of ‘crime, deviance, social order and social control’.
The problem is that this doesn’t necessarily narrow down the specific content of the question that much. In fact, this ‘advice’ is probably a good candidate for the most useless piece of advice given for any A-level.
I mean, they’ve basically given you the general title of the crime and deviance module, which pretty much gives them license to ask you about ANYTHING in that 30 mark question, so keep that in mind.
But let’s be forgiving, and let’s assume for a moment that the senior sociology examiners were thinking like the text book authors, teachers and students when they wrote this year’s 30 mark question (yes, it’s almost certainly already been written folks!), this means the MOST LIKELY focus of the question should be on any or all of:
- The Functionalist Perspective
- The Marxist Perspective
- The Labelling Theory of Crime
BUT ALSO…..
- The role of the community in controlling crime
- The role of the police in controlling crime
- The role of prison and other forms of punishment in controlling crime
- The role of surveillance in controlling crime.
- Right and Left Realist theories and surveillance theories sound like they should be the most relevant.
For links to all of the above – see my Crime and Deviance page!
My A-level sociology senses are telling me that Surveillance might well feature heavily in this 30 mark question – that would make sense given the role of Surveillance in controlling Covid-19 AND given that it’s a difficult topic, it would be fair of the examiners to give you advanced warning.
But you’re probably better off NOT gambling on one very specific topic coming up and being prepared for the whole general topic area.
ALSO, don’t forget they can still combine the above with other topic areas – you might be asked to assess specific theories of crime control, or why women are more ‘controlled’ than men, or you might be asked to think about crime control in relation to globalisation, the later would make sense in any exam these days!
Possible Crime and Deviance Exam Essay Questions for June 2022…
Just a few suggestions, NB I don’t know what’s coming up….
(Using material from the item….)
Evaluate sociological perspectives on the role of surveillance in controlling crime and deviance (30)
Evaluate sociological perspectives on the role of informal or formal agents of social control (30)
Evaluate the view that informal agents of social control are more effective at controlling crime than formal agents of social control (30) (Nice question, huh?!?
I might, over the coming weeks, have a crack at some of these myself!
NB – top tip for this paper: go HARD on using Covid-19 rules as evidence to illustrate your points!
Find out More
More details about [advanced information for the June 2022 A-level sociology exam here.
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