Sociology for AQA Volume 1: AS and 1st-Year A Level, 5th Edition

As an a level student who's doing this spec and has just finished the as paper, I really highly recommend this textbook. It thoroughly goes through the specification and clearly explains everything you need to do in the exam, what they require of you. I haven't done sociology before so the first part of this book, the introduction, taught me everything Ive missed and its relatively informative and easy to understand. The paper we've just had on this, students complained of the definition questions because they hadn't been taught that specific word or concept, I wasn't taught that either by my teacher but because I went through the book; when it came up in the exam I knew it. I never leave reviews or hype things up but this textbook literally will teach you everything you need to know to get an A grade and a high mark. Only downside I can think of is if you're not a big fan of massive chunks of text or reading, this textbook isn't for you. I have some advice for new AS students the education and methods in context bit of this book is really long, I recommend just splitting the book into doable sections. Make flash cards of definitions as some questions alone are on definitions. For each sort of concept for example Maxists understanding of education, remember 3 sociologists (or more depending on how good your memory is) as this will really help in those 20 marker questions etc. For methods in context remember things like PERVERT - Practical issues, Ethical issues, Reliability, Validity, Examples (so precious case studies or research done using that specific method and if this weakens or supports that method), Theoretical issues. For Research Methods remember PET - Practical issues, Ethical Issues and Theoretical issues however I do recommend you use PERVERT for research methods too for a higher mark... Good luck! Here are some pictures to give you the general idea of what the textbook sort of style is like.

On time delivery

In his fine new textbook which fully covers the new AQA AS and 1st Year Sociology Specifications Ken Browne provides comprehensive and detailed chapters on the Nature of Sociology, Education with Theory and Methods, Culture and Identity, Families and Households, Health and Work, Poverty and Welfare. Throughout the book sociological issues are clearly analysed using contemporary evidence and research studies; sociological concepts are clearly defined; the strengths and weaknesses of different sociological perspectives and methodologies are clearly explained; and useful practice questions and other activities help students to consolidate their learning. This book has already been well received: I can see why!

I love this textbook for A-Level sociology - very informative.

The media could not be loaded.  As you can see in the video, there is some printing error and smudge of ink. I dont think that this is a usual problem but for this copy that is the case. Apart from that everything is absolutely good. You can still easily use it and read it alright. A very useful textbook for people doing A level sociology.

Great th

Fantastic book for those doing this study, I got this for my daughter as she's doing her A level in sociology. This book came the next day, it's in excellent condition! A definite must have.

As always Ken Brownehas delivered a textbook that is accessible to both teachers and students. It offers not only a clear content base but also offers exam practice and advice including explanations of the adapted assessment objectives and exam instruction terms. The activities work well as preperation tasks as well as focusing student understanding.I will be insisting my students use this book in their AS study.