AQA GCSE Sociology key terms

Government provision of free school places for children within the compulsory education age range. In England, children aged 5–16 are entitled to a free state-school place; compulsory education does not mean that every child must attend a school.

Keeping participants' personal information private and not disclosing identifiable information outside the research team.

An approach which explains society mainly through inequalities of power and competing group interests.

Merton’s response in which an individual accepts conventional success goals and pursues them through socially approved means.

The roles and responsibilities of spouses within a marriage, including paid work, domestic tasks and decision-making.

Broad agreement within a society about accepted norms and values.

An approach which explains social order mainly through shared values, agreement and cooperation.

An area whose voters elect a representative to Parliament.

A desire to improve living standards by obtaining goods and services.

A method of analysing documents or images by coding them into defined categories and counting occurrences of particular themes.

Stability in social norms, values, behaviour or attitudes over time.

An approach that explains conformity by examining the controls that restrain people from breaking rules or laws.

In Ann Oakley’s account, a nuclear family composed of a legally married couple voluntarily choosing parenthood of one or more children.

Crime committed by employees on behalf of their company, such as illegally producing and selling unsafe products.

Bowles and Gintis’s argument that the social relationships and rewards within education mirror those of the capitalist workplace.

A set of shared values and behaviours which opposes the dominant values of an institution or society.

A pupil group’s shared norms and values which oppose the school’s expectations, giving members status for rejecting academic work and authority.

A pupil subculture which rejects the school's authority, norms and values and replaces them with its own anti-school expectations.

Observation in which those being studied do not know they are being observed for research.

Research in which those being studied do not know that research is taking place or that the person observing them is a researcher.

An act that breaks the law.

The number of incidents of a particular crime per specified number of adults over a stated period, such as robberies per 1,000 adults in a year.

The agencies involved in enforcing criminal law and dealing with offenders, including the police, courts, prison service and probation service.

A group within wider society whose distinctive norms and values support criminal behaviour.

Knowledge, skills and ways of speaking or behaving that can provide advantages within institutions such as schools.

The view that some people lack the attitudes, values or cultural resources needed to succeed in education.

Differences between families in beliefs and values, including expectations about gender roles, child-rearing and obligations to relatives.