CAIE A-Level Sociology answers, written to the spec
9 topics · specification 9699 · explanations and examiner marking in CAIE’s own language
Studying CAIE A-Level Sociology? Pick your board once and every answer, mark and flashcard elid gives you follows that specification. Free to start, no card needed. Open elid →
This is the full CAIE A-Level Sociology specification, code 9699, as elid holds it — 9 topics, each with the terminology CAIE marks against. Every explanation and every mark elid gives you is written against this list, not a generic A-level one, because the same question answered in AQA or OCR language loses marks it should have earned.
The CAIE A-Level Sociology specification, topic by topic
Socialisation and Identity
Assessed in Paper 1
The social construction of identity and the processes of primary and secondary socialisation.
Specification terms elid matches
Socialisation
Primary socialisation
Secondary socialisation
Social control
Sanctions
Values
Norms
Status
Role
Identity
Nature vs Nurture
Social construction
Agents of socialisation
Formal social control
Named studies and theories
Mead
Cooley
Goffman
Parsons
Oakley
The Family: Changing Roles and Relationships
Assessed in Paper 2
Roles within the family, conjugal roles, and child-parent relationships.
Specification terms elid matches
Conjugal roles
Symmetrical family
Joint conjugal roles
Segregated conjugal roles
Patriarchy
Domestic division of labour
Emotion work
Triple shift
Decision making
Domestic violence
Financial decision making
Allowances and pooling
Domestic abuse material explanations
Domestic abuse cultural explanations
Named studies and theories
Parsons
Young and Willmott
Oakley
Duncombe and Marsden
Dobash and Dobash
The Family: Theories of the Family and Social Change
Assessed in Paper 2
Theoretical perspectives on the family and its relationship to wider social change.
Specification terms elid matches
Functional fit theory
Nuclear family
Expressive role
Instrumental role
Structural differentiation
Warm bath theory
Patriarchy
Ideological conditioning
Monogamous nuclear family
Inheritance of private property
Patriarchal ideology family
Personal life perspective family
Fictive kinship networks
Named studies and theories
Murdock
Parsons
Engels
Zaretsky
Ansley
Greer
The Family: Diversity and Social Change
Assessed in Paper 2
Family diversity, global variations, and demographic impacts on family structures.
Specification terms elid matches
Family diversity
Nuclear family
Single parent family
Reconstituted family
Extended family
Cohabitation
Divorce
Marriage
Same-sex partnerships
Life-course family diversity
Cohort family diversity
Individualisation thesis family
Pure relationships
Same-sex family diversity
Named studies and theories
Rappoport and Rappoport
Chester
Stacey
Giddens
Beck
Education: Education and Social Inequality
Assessed in Paper 3
Differential educational achievement by class, gender, and ethnicity, and school-internal factors.
Specification terms elid matches
Meritocracy
Social mobility
Cultural deprivation
Material deprivation
Labelling
Streaming
Hidden curriculum
Correspondence principle
Gender socialization
Ethnocentric curriculum
Material deprivation education
Speech codes education
Educational capital Bourdieu
Subcultural pupil adaptations
Named studies and theories
Parsons
Davis and Moore
Bowles and Gintis
Becker
Bourdieu
Sociological Research Methods
Assessed in Paper 1
Research methodologies, data types, and criteria of reliability, validity, and objectivity.
Specification terms elid matches
Positivism
Interpretivism
Quantitative data
Qualitative data
Validity
Reliability
Representativeness
Generalisability
Questionnaires
Interviews
Observation
Official statistics
Hypothetico-deductive model
Positivist research approach
Named studies and theories
Durkheim
Weber
Oakley
Venkatesh
Globalisation
Assessed in Paper 4
Sociological analysis of economic, political, and cultural globalisation.
Specification terms elid matches
Globalisation
Global inequality
Migration
Global crime
TNCs
Cultural homogenisation
Cultural hybridity
Digital communication
Transnational capitalist class
Global division of labour
Global care chains
Global commodity chains
Cultural imperialism thesis
Detraditionalisation globalisation
Named studies and theories
Castells
Giddens
Wallerstein
Beck
Media
Assessed in Paper 4
Ownership and control of media, representations of social groups, and audience effects.
Specification terms elid matches
Ownership and control
New media
Traditional media
Media representation
Class representation
Gender representation
Ethnicity representation
Hypodermic needle model
Two-step flow model
Uses and gratifications
Media Ownership concentration
Pluralist media theory
Marxist media theory
Neo-Marxist media theory
Named studies and theories
Bagdikian
Boyle
Mulvey
Hall
Religion
Assessed in Paper 4
Sociological perspectives on religion, secularisation, and the growth of fundamentalism.
Specification terms elid matches
Religion and social order
Social change
Secularisation debate
Sects
Cults
Denominations
New Age movements
Fundamentalism
Sacred and profane religion
Collective conscience religion
Calvinist religious doctrine
Religious fundamentalism trends
Believing without belonging thesis
Named studies and theories
Durkheim
Weber
Marx
Bruce
Heelas
How the papers are weighted
elid uses these weightings when it decides which topics deserve your revision time first.
Paper
Share of the qualification
Paper 1
25%
Paper 2
25%
Paper 3
21%
Paper 4
29%
Marked the way CAIE marks it
Paste an answer you have written and elid marks it point by point against the CAIE scheme: which marking points you hit, which you missed, and the sentence that would have earned each missing one. It is the difference between being told an answer is “good” and being told exactly where the marks went.
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