#a level sociology revision

[sociochaos]

BSA (2013)

in 1994, 45% of men and 41% of women thought men's job was the breadwinner and women's to be the nurturer.

in 2012, only 13% of men and 12% of women believed this.

can be used to support functionalist/march of progress theory that gendered division of labour is increasingly symmetrical due to change in attitudes

[kate-bot]

just to let you all know that from tomorrow onwards i won’t be nearly as active in my posting as i have been :[

my break is over and i have like 4 weeks until the end of the school year, which then means i have to spend basically every day revising (which i should have been doing instead of drawing pizza tower yaoi) for my exams which are the end of may and start of june.

live laugh love a levels am i right 🫶🫶🫶

[beepbeepdespair]

what should be in my head right now: ancient history source evaluation, sociological studies, psychological theories

what is actually in my head right now: I DONT MIND IF YOU DONT you got all 52 cards up your sleeve I DONT MIND IF YOU DONT i love her face and so does she I DONT MIND IF YOU DONT i said its time for us to pack up and leave she said in a minute then kissed me

[celelestecassiopeia]

AQA sociology you are the bane of my existence, the thorn in my side, the thing that plagues me most

[starlostlix]

It's my first post on here but I recently made a powerpoint as part of my A-level sociology revision relating crime and deviance theories to Moriarty the Patriot. it was so fun to make and I was wondering if anyone was interested in seeing it too, if there's any other MTP fans especially those who are doing sociology a-level (AQA exams specifically) who would want to read it.

[mazzystar24]

What I don't get is why people think it's problematic to still wish for Buddie. Like isn't it worse to be happy just because he's with a dude now. Like so you didn't ship Buddie for their amazing chemistry and history, you just shipped them because they were two hot dudes.

(This is not directed at people who are enjoying Tevan for the ride, this is about people who jumped completely)

((obviously bi Buck is important, but I don't think seeing it as a step towards Buddie is bad. We've been waiting for something like this for so many years))

Sorry but this is all that’s in my head^^

But yes yay now I get to have my rant-

The fact that so many people genuinely just wanted buck to end up with a dude is just

Look there is wanting representation which I GET I am all for

Then there is not caring about anything to do with that representation as long as you see two hot guys kiss

Representation without substance, meaning and actually changing what we usually see on screen is just so surface level

and listen we are ALL guilty of that thing where we hear about a show with a queer couple and we instantly get excited and rush over there but some of these people don’t give a shit about the storylines as a whole, the characters as a whole, character development, etc all those things that make representation MATTER

Like we aren’t just happy that bi buck is canon because oh look here’s a bi man character

No we are happy because we got to see his development we got to see his insecurities, history, his personality and his bond with these other characters through the years. Now look I’m not saying oh look at this fictional character think about his feelings, I’m saying that characters and their complexities drive a story they are what make me invested whether it’s a book a movie or show, and to not care about any of that just for the sake of tokenism is insane to me

I also feel it bares mentioning that this is one of the RARE times that this representation in media isn’t a case of tokenism like they’ve taken a character and built him and built the show and built the dynamics outside of his sexuality and made it canon in season SEVEN like Tim and Oliver and the entire team did something we don’t see much or ANY of in media like the way they made it is like we have this journey with the character like it’s a double blind test ( sorry I’m revising for a psych exam rn and my brain can only use that analogy) and until the reveal seven years in we don’t know for sure even if there have been inklings and people are more focused on the fact that oh look some hot dude kisses another in this show

Like genuinely ship what you want to ship and enjoy the time but don’t disregard meaningful potential representation which would have 1. A character navigating sexuality in a situation as complex as Eddie’s 2. A gay couple which wasn’t planned and they actually listened to fans for 3. A well done queer slow burn with the same gravity and meaningfulness that straight slowburns get

Thank you for the opportunity to rant anon🫡

Sorry for the long ass reply😭😭

Edit: also wanna add that yes I’m in analysing media mode because I also have sociology revision on representation in media🤭🤭

[catboybiologist]

I was wondering if you had any readings on the biological aspects of transitioning, especially with the info you use to deconstruct the transphobia argument that being transgender is ‘against biology’. Im a biological sciences major, but haven’t gotten to discuss (much less find resources on) this topic.

Thanks in advance.

Long and rambling response incoming! Sorry for leaving this in my inbox for a few weeks.

This is a very interesting topic to me, and doesn't really have a clean answer. Because its not really about the biology itself, its mostly about the philosophy of science, and how it interfaces with ethics, etymology, and societal understanding. The primary thing to understand is that science is *descriptive*. Morality or classifications are societal determinations that we use to "wrap" scientific observations- gender is therefore the societal "wrapper" to sex, which, over centuries, has snowballed and taken a social definition well past any biological system.

That being said, most of my arguments hinge on the totality of changes that are possible with HRT, and how they affect the molecular mechanisms of sex determination. To me, this sheer totality means that a trans man with significant time on HRT can actually be considered a "biological man", and vice versa for a trans woman. To me, the sheer extent to which cell expression patterns change, and structural elements of the body change, means that the way that transphobes use terminology like "biological sex" is bullshit. And as I've said before, this is NOT a transmedicalist argument, and if I ever sound transmed, I am sorry. Part of the totality of this biological definition includes the interface of genetics, pyschology, and sociology that comprehensively includes all trans people, even those not on HRT. Rather, I use the changes of HRT as a way to demonstrate the plasticity of sex in humans and other animals, and how thin the barrier between sexes actually is. This punches holes in a lot of the propaganda that transphobes tend to roll out, and helps demonstrate how flimsy their talking points are. All of this is to say, something can't be "against biology" because biology is morally neutral. It's not morality. It's not static definitions. It's a set of observations. But, our thinking about definitions and classifications can reflect and be advised by these observations. For me, it helped to think about HRT changes, because my personal mentality is one of a constructed identity. I define myself by what I am in the moment, and if I can document my current state, that helps define who I am- which is a woman. The biology of transition told me how deeply that is true, and continually becomes more true, on a molecular level. So. Here's some individual papers and points that help guide my thinking on the topic, and how each helped me find peace with transitioning: Medical descriptions of changes on HRT:

I'm sure everyone is familiar with this and the WPATH, but from the perspective of medical expectations. Instead, take a look at the changes documented here, and start thinking about how deep and profound they are- these cell types and body structure are sitting there just waiting to happen, and they are literally the same as their cis counterparts. This was huge for me in accepting that my post-HRT body wouldn't be "fake", and actually is literally the

Review paper of sex determination pathways in the animal kingdom:

Transphobes use chromosomes as a prescriptive definition of sex and gender. However, if you take a broader look and see how sex determination works in animals with similar genetic mechanisms as us, it becomes pretty clear that chromosomal sex determination is a late addition to the party. Essentially, most animals use a fairly random mechanism to ensure an advantageous sex ratio in their population. This is often environmental or based on some random gene on chromosome that looks nothing like XY sex determination, but if a large chromosomal deletion comes along, its a convenient way to keep the big version of the chromosome always paired with the small chromosome- for example, the X chromosome always being paired with another X, or its half-deleted pair, the Y chromosome. But there's nothing intrinsic about the chromosomes itself that define sex, its just an evolutionary ride-along mechanism.

So what does actually determine sex? Well, as with any broad scale developmental effect, one signalling molecule or gene can cause extensive downstream genetic effects, and that active, lived set of gene expression then defines what secondary sex characteristics develop.

(even though the main point is about spermatogenesis, it does provide a lot of nice summary figures about testosterone signalling) While these papers don't talk about trans people, the introduction of cross-sex hormones will activate these pathways, and cause the wide variety of downstream transcriptional changes in gene activation. Essentially, the active genes in your body will follow the dominant upstream sex hormones in your body. If you're transfemme, on HRT, the active genes in your body are female ones. If you're transmasc, on HRT, the active genes in your body are male ones.

While I never explicitly studied trans people in my biology education, studying principles of gene regulation, chromosome biology, and just a tad of reproductive physiology means that I started to think about how all of those interface with the way we define ourselves in a lot of ways. And usually, that is dynamic- you can have developmental changes kicked off by signalling molecules later in life, and it would be deranged to ignore those changes out of spite and insist that the biological system is still the thing it was before. Sex determination is not exempt from that.

Again, I use HRT changes as an example, but you can find many similar papers on the psychology of transness even pre-HRT. But, I would caution against trying to find a "root biological reason" for being trans pre-HRT- its likely too polymodal to accurately characterize. It's why I stray away from neurological papers and arguments here. That is an ENTIRELY different argument and this post is already long. But hey, every ask I get like this helps formalize my thoughts on the matter. Hope this helped!

[femmefatalevibe]

Not exactly femme fatale stuff, but do you have any tips for note taking and essay writing in A levels? I'm taking Sociology and English lit in college and honestly am struggling rn. Just general studying tips - how do I study, make notes and revise etc. Plus how can I be more vocal in class?

Thankyou!!

Hi love! I didn't go through the British schooling system but have experience excelling in high-level English courses/essay writing back in the day, so I hope these tips can be helpful:

For studying:

Keep a high-level itemized list of the overarching topics/chapters, etc. you need to cover in your study session

Create a plan with a schedule to tackle each item on your agenda in 30-60-minute chunks (throughout the day/week). While reviewing, create outlines of the key themes/takeaways/character profiles, timelines, with relevant examples, etc., you need to remember (factual information) and then a list of concepts/general lessons or insights you take away from your learnings (applied knowledge/analysis)

Devise acronyms or relevant analogies to help you memorize key information, concepts, and events. Perceive each subject as a storyline where you're filling in the gaps with the plot, characters, metaphors, derived conclusions, etc.

For essay writing:

Develop a multi-layered thesis that offers a new perspective to the work(s) you're discussing. Back in secondary school, I had a lot of success with connecting the dots between a theme running through the text(s) and a juxtaposing literary concept to frame my fresh perspective. Consider how drawing parallels between different characters/literary works, historical events, cultural movements, etc. allows you to offer a new interpretation/way to understand the text

Use this multi-layered thesis as a framework to structure your essay. Make sure to clearly distinguish your arguments from each other (new paragraphs) with logical transitions. Ensure each point concludes with a new way to interpret the characters/themes, etc. you're describing

Write your thesis, then the body paragraphs, then your conclusion/introduction (these two can depend on the particular essay I believe)

Always cite your sources, and check for proper grammar, syntax, etc. Varying your sentence length, syntax, and structure. Consider your word choice carefully

Show don't tell; Don't be repetitive with your arguments. Consider including a counterargument and use its fragility as a way to strengthen your multi-faceted thesis

For speaking up in class:

Keep a bullet point list in your notebook of insights/meaningful contributions you can offer to a certain discussion. Don't be afraid to raise your hand to confidently share this point after giving it some thought (helps eliminate nerves and garners positive attention from teachers/peers alike)

Think of meaningful questions to ask about a given lesson or as a follow-up to a point made during a discussion. By offering a question instead of a statement, you don't have to worry about offering a "wrong answer" and invite more intellectual thinking to the overall classroom dynamic

Hope this helps xx

[oliviamstudy]

a level sociology tips!!

hi!! i did a level sociology (specifically OCR, but these tips should be transferrable!) and got A*, achieving 280/300, so i thought i would share some tips!!

1- summary sheets

your summary sheets will have the sociologist name, along with a brief summary of what they say. you should split this into each topic eg 'gender sociologists' etc.

they are super helpful for aiding revision, having a bank of everything you need to know in one place (i like to do them online), and it being quick to read!

2- mind maps

the mind maps will be for each topic, with the sociologist name and a brief summary of what they say. you should use no notes, and then fill in the ones you forgot/need more detail in a different colour, and repeat over and over until most/all of your mind map can be done without notes!

this is the most helpful thing i did, it is a visual represention of what you know. i would recommend doing one, filling it in, and then coming back to it around 30mins later (doing a different topic's mind map in the mean time) to stick it to long term memory more!

3- the syllabus

read the syllabus. you are going to have been taught so many more sociologists than are actually necessary, just learn what you *have* to so you can focus on what is actually important.

4- practice questions

everyone says this but this is the most helpful!! get your teacher to mark it, so you know how developed a paragraph is, and after a while you will be able to judge how developed your own paragraph is, which is super helpful in exams bc then you know if you need to explain something further!

my teachers were very very strict on what makes a developed paragraph, which meant i definately over-explained in my exam, but it is better to over explain than under explain!!

5- common sense

this may be OCR specific, but globalisation in paper 3 is by far the easiest to get marks on, because there aren't many sociologists for it yet. as long as you explain and use a real life example, you're good. all round though, it is very much common sense.

one of our globalisation q's were 'assess the view that the digital revolution has increased the opportunity to monitor personal info', and i had no idea what to do for sociologists. so i used common sense and gave the example of our data being sold, and also the example of certain apps/websites using encryption

i hope this helps, let me know if you want more/for different subjects!!!

[sunlitsoil]

hey monarchs i have my ancient history a level and sociology a level tmrw ive revised 32 hours (wanting to make that 35) for history and like 4 for socio… please wish me luck im actually in shambles 😝😁

[xxdumbblondexx]

---Additional Learning Support--

~ALS group~

Xiao - Psychology, IT and Math A level student. A loner who doesn't really speak to any one and keeps to himself.

Kazuha - English lit, music and english lang A level student. Another loner who is known for hanging around Beidou and Ninguang. He always smells of some kind of strange plant but somehow never gets caught for it.

Scaramouche - IT, Applied science and sociology A level student. Brother of Shogun, student head of Electro house. He is constantly being watched over by Miko, a teacher and family friend who is always annoying him

Heizou - Criminology and Law, Forensic science and Sociology. Known for flirting about and sticking his nose in places it doesn't belong. Also once got caught fighting and never lived it down.

Albedo - Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Art. He's taking four alevel's which, if your unfamiliar with A level's, is hell. Only the smartest of the smart. He was chosen as the mentor for the ALS group.

Aether - Maths, english lang and applied science. Him and his twin sister Lumine newly joined the school this year. Due to that and him not really revising, he was placed in ALS.

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Master list

Hiyaaaa~

Here's a few notes to clear up any confuse to anyone who isn't aware of what sixth form is <3

First, Sixthform is the last two years of high school in the uk where you gain important qualifications for University (aka College). In Sixthform, you can pick between 3-4 course to do, varying from pretty much anything. You also get Study periods where you are supposed to do work for lessons, although no one really does. You also can wear no uniform in most sixthform with a few restrictions. (Office wear n that)

Second, in british schools, you have houses. They change from school and their importance also changes. For some its literally just something that people are sorted in for sports day and insert days. In my school, you had assemblies based on your house and-- outside of sixthform --it also changed your school uniform slightly. Like you would have a different blazer and tie. In this SMAU, the seven houses are of course, Anemo, Electro, Geo, Cryo, Pyro, Dendro, Hydro.

Third, for my sixthform at least, you were given a lanyard with a card that you could use to open gates around the school. This prompted late mornings (pretty much mornings where you had no lessons so you didnt need to come in until your first lesson) and pretty much leaving when you liked.

Lastly, registration is pretty much home room where you get told what's going on and get signed in.

If you have any more questions feel free to ask <3

[sociochaos]

Sullivan

functionalist

(1996)

men only spend a bit more money on leisure than women do, and the gap is narrowing

proponent of march of progress theory

[tc-doherty]

Happy Storyteller Saturday!

Have you ever had a moment when you thought to yourself ‘oh shit, I'm not qualified to write this part’ – whether it was about the content or the writing craft itself?

How did you get past it?

For once I'm actually online on Saturday! So happy Storyteller Saturday!

I can't really think of anything like that. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely have stories that I don't think I'll be able to tell as well as they could be told when I write them, but...that's what revisions are for.

In general I'm the kind of person who learns by jumping straight into the deep end and doing something insane. I would much rather try something hard and mess up but learn a lot than stick to things that are "in my skill level". So it's just not the kind of thing that I get hung up on. If I want to write something, I write it, and I fix it later if it isn't good enough.

I'd probably be more likely to think that about content if I wrote anything that was even remotely connected to our world or real history, but everything that I write is fantasy, and the content that I write is mostly sculpted from my knowledge of history, sociology, psychology, and biology (and my obsessive knowledge of folk lore too lol). I've talked about it before but I've always been a scientist more than an artist, I always was drawn to and did better in science and history than in English and creative writing classes.

My world building, my plots, and my characters' personalities all inform one another to make a cohesive unit. Since it's scientifically based, as long as I can think through the logistics of what I'm writing, then it's always going to be solid enough to satisfy me.

But my basic advice is going to be – as always – write it now and fix it later. There's always more time. If you wait until you're "good enough" to do something, you'll never do it.

[beepbeepdespair]

was revising for my sociology exam and there was a huge flash of lightning while i was reading this one argument and then no more. like damn god really agreed with that one

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: David Decosimo

Published: Sep 28, 2023

The debacle that is Boston University’s Center for Antiracist Research is about far more than its founder, Ibram X. Kendi. It is about a university, caught up in cultural hysteria, subordinating itself to ideology.

After suddenly laying off over half his employees last week and with his center producing almost nothing since its founding, Mr. Kendi is now facing an investigation and harsh criticism from numerous colleagues complaining of financial mismanagement, dysfunctional leadership, and failure to honor obligations attached to its millions in grant money.

Such an outcome was entirely predictable. In June 2020, the university hired Mr. Kendi, created and endowed his center, and canceled all “classes, meetings, and events” for a quasi-religious “Day of Collective Engagement” on “Racism and Antiracism, Our Realities and Our Roles,” during which Mr. Kendi and his colleagues were treated as sages.

They denounced voter-identification laws as “an expressly antiblack form of state violence,” claimed Ronald Reagan flooded “black communities with crack cocaine,” and declared that every black person was “literally George Floyd.” One speaker said that decades ago “literal uprising and rebellion in the streets” forced the creation of black-studies programs in universities nationwide, and now was the time to revolutionize the “whole institution” and make antiracism central to every discipline and a requirement for all faculty hiring.

That summer many BU departments published Kendi-ist “antiracist” statements limiting academic freedom and subordinating inquiry to his ideology. With their dean’s oversight and approval, the School of Theatre passed a plan to audit all syllabi, courses and policies to ensure conformity with “an anti-oppression and anti-racist lens” and discussed placing monitors in each class to report violations of antiracist ideology. The sociology department publicly announced that “white supremacy and racism” were “pervasive and woven into . . . our own . . . department.” In the English department’s playwriting program, all syllabi would have to “assign 50% diverse-identifying and marginalized writers,” and any “material or scholarship . . . from a White or Eurocentric lineage” could be taught only “through an actively anti-racist lens.” They even published hiring quotas based on race: “We commit to . . . hiring at least 50% BIPOC”—an acronym for black, indigenous or people of color—“artists by 2023.”

I had recently earned tenure and was serving as a member of BU’s Faculty Council and as chairman of its Academic Freedom Committee. By fall 2020, I was hearing from faculty—all progressives—who were disturbed by what was unfolding in their departments on campus but terrified to speak up. They had seen colleagues face major professional damage for falsely being denounced as racist. I tried to help, but the Academic Freedom Committee had no real power. We could only ask the senior administration to act. It did nothing.

Activist faculty weren’t the only ones transforming BU into an officially Kendi-ist institution. The push was coming from the university’s highest levels. In spring 2020, the Faculty Council had approved a major strategic plan for the university over the next decade. All that remained was a board of trustees vote. Suddenly, a revised plan was presented: Being an “antiracist” institution, with specific reference to Mr. Kendi, was proposed as one of the university’s five main aims.

At a September 2020 Zoom meeting, and with explicit reference to Mr. Kendi’s hire, BU President Robert Brown announced several university wide “antiracist” initiatives, including a task force to examine and expunge racism from BU. A dean claimed the administration would examine not only policies and practices but even ideas—and not only for racism but for whatever might “facilitate racism.”

I pointed out in the meeting that “any notion of ‘antiracism’ presupposes a definition of ‘racism.’ Beyond civil-rights law and common sense, what counts as ‘racism’ is essentially contested and reflective of competing ethical and political views.” I said it sounded as if the university was officially endorsing Mr. Kendi’s views. I asked if his notion of “racism” would guide the BU task force, and I noted that his view that every disparate outcome is caused by and constitutes racism is controversial and rejected by conservatives such as the economist Glenn Loury and progressives such as the Black Marxist Adolph Reed Jr. and my former teacher Cornel West.

Mr. Brown didn’t answer me directly. Immediately, several deans came after me in the chat. I was clearly uninformed and confused; now wasn’t the time for “intellectual debate.” They implied I might not actually oppose racism.

I wrote a letter to BU’s president that afternoon, stressing that beyond the problems with Mr. Kendi’s vision, the more fundamental issue concerned betraying the university’s research and teaching mission by making any ideology institutional orthodoxy. Nothing changed. Even now, BU is insisting it will “absolutely not” step back from its commitment to Mr. Kendi’s antiracism.

Mr. Kendi deserves some blame for the scandal, but the real culprit is institutional and cultural. It’s still unfolding and is far bigger than BU. In 2020, countless universities behaved as BU did. And to this day at universities everywhere, activist faculty and administrators are still quietly working to institutionalize Mr. Kendi’s vision. They have made embracing “diversity, equity and inclusion” a criterion for hiring and tenure, have rewritten disciplinary standards to privilege antiracist ideology, and are discerning ways to circumvent the Supreme Court’s affirmative-action ruling.

Most of those now attacking Mr. Kendi at BU don’t object to his vision. They embrace it. They don’t oppose its establishment in universities. That’s their goal. Their anger isn’t with his ideology’s intellectual and ethical poverty but with his personal failure to use the money and power given to him to institutionalize their vision across American universities, politics and culture.

Whether driven by moral hysteria, cynical careerism or fear of being labeled racist, this violation of scholarly ideals and liberal principles betrays the norms necessary for intellectual life and human flourishing. It courts disaster, at this moment especially, that universities can’t afford.

Mr. Decosimo is an associate professor of theology and ethics at Boston University.

[ Via: https://archive.today/mNXV6 ]

[ Note: this is a longer version of an earlier Tweet thread. ]

==

[starlostlix]

Got my A-Level results yesterday and as much as a B in Sociology was not what I hoped for, I want to (weirdly enough) thank Moriarty the Patriot as a piece of media for helping me revise Crime and Deviance sociology in a fun way. I think it helped me in my autistic burnout a little.

And honestly I'm grateful for having this app to post it on (my first post with the powerpoint of analysis got a lot of attention), it was a really nice thing to happen at a hard time for me so I appreciate this community.

But thank god I don't have to touch A-Level History again I can't finally leave that behind (since it literally killed my passion for history as a subject to study I'm happy to leave it behind).