AQA GCSE Sociology key terms

The introduction of competition and consumer choice into education, with schools competing to attract pupils.

Introducing market-like arrangements into education, including parental choice and competition between schools for pupils.

An individual’s position in a market economy, including the economic advantages associated with property ownership or the ability to sell skills and labour.

A legally recognised union between partners.

A sociological perspective which examines class inequality and conflict, particularly between those who own businesses and those who work for them.

A sociologist who draws on Marx’s ideas to explain capitalist society.

Forms of communication that reach large audiences, including newspapers, television and the internet.

A status that becomes the dominant feature through which others see a person, overshadowing their other roles and qualities.

A lack of financial and material resources, such as adequate housing or money for study materials.

The resources involved in producing goods and wealth, including land, capital, labour power, buildings and machinery.

An assessment of income and savings used to decide entitlement to financial support.

An assessment of financial resources, including income and assets, to determine eligibility for a benefit. Pension Credit uses means testing.

Exaggeration of an issue’s significance through media coverage, including over-reporting to attract an audience.

An overgeneralised media representation of people, groups or places that may be inaccurate and harmful.

An approach which explains disability primarily through a person’s impairment or condition.

An elected politician who represents a constituency in the House of Commons.

A system in which people gain positions and rewards through ability and achievement rather than inherited advantage.

A social class commonly associated with professional, managerial and other non-manual occupations.

Movement of people from one area to another within a country or between countries.

A failure by a court to deliver justice, such as finding an innocent person guilty.

Describes a teaching group containing pupils with different levels of attainment rather than separating them into sets or streams.

Teaching pupils with different levels of perceived academic ability together in the same class.

The use of more than one research method within a study.

Research that combines quantitative and qualitative methods in one study.

An extended family whose relatives live separately but maintain regular contact and mutual support.

A system with a king or queen as head of state.

Being married to only one person at a time.