Eduqas GCSE Sociology key terms

Research that follows the same people over time to investigate continuity and change.

Encouraging or discouraging children’s behaviour through approval or disapproval, helping shape gender expectations.

The breakdown of a married couple’s relationship, which may lead to separation or divorce but does not necessarily legally end the marriage.

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

A person’s economic position in a market, shaped by property ownership and their opportunities to earn income from skills, qualifications and work.

A socially recognised union between spouses, whose rules vary between societies.

A structural conflict theory which explains society through inequalities and conflicts between social classes, particularly owners and workers under capitalism.

The socially shaped expectations and qualities associated with being a man.

A status that becomes the main way others identify a person, overshadowing their other characteristics and roles.

Lacking material resources needed for an adequate standard of living, such as sufficient income or suitable housing.

The resources used to produce goods and services, such as land, factories and machinery.

The way people, groups and issues are portrayed through media content.

An explanation that locates disability in an individual’s impairment or condition, treating this as the main reason for restrictions on participation.

A system in which positions and rewards are gained through ability and effort rather than inherited advantage or discrimination.

Using more than one research method to build a fuller, more detailed understanding of social life and its underlying processes.

An approach to sociological research that uses more than one research method in the same study.

An approach to sociological research that uses more than one method of collecting data.

An extended family whose members live in separate households but maintain contact and exchange support.

Being married to one person at a time.

Widespread fear and an exaggerated reaction to a group or activity portrayed as threatening society’s values.

A business that operates in more than one country, such as Shell, Coca-Cola or McDonald’s.

Bowles and Gintis’s argument that the belief that everyone has an equal chance of success disguises the influence of social class on achievement and rewards.

Inherited genetic and biological influences on a person's characteristics and behaviour.

A punishment or expression of disapproval in response to behaviour that breaks rules or norms.

A model of masculinity in which men participate in childcare and housework as well as paid employment.

A political perspective favouring individual responsibility and a limited welfare state, arguing that extensive state support can discourage independence.

Numerical information produced by non-government organisations, such as charities, banks or market research organisations.