Ruth’s Sociology Resources Blog

There are now a selection of mindmaps available to download from the site to help you with revision. Just go to the Downloads for Students page and they are available to buy for the bargain price of 79p!

Keep an eye out as I will hopefully be adding more mindmaps over the next few weeks.

Yes it’s coming up to that time of year again! So here are the examination dates for this summer:

OCR

AS
Individual & Society - Wed 23rd May am
Culture & Socialisation - Wed 23rd May am
Research Methods - Tues 15th May am
A2
Power & Control Fri - 15th June pm
Research Methods Wed - 27th June am
Social Inequality & Difference - Wed 27th June am

AQA

AS
Unit 1 - Wed 23rd May am
Unit 2 - Wed 23rd May am
Unit 3 - Research Methods - Tues 15th May am
A2
Unit 4 - Fri 15th June pm
Unit 5 - Research Methods - Fri 15th June pm
Unit 6 - Wed 27th June am

WJEC

AS
Sociology 1 - Wed 23rd May am
Sociology 2 - Tues 15th May am
Sociology 3 - Wed 23rd May am
A2
Sociology 4 - Fri 15th June pm
Sociology 5 - Fri 15th June pm
Sociology 6 - Wed 27th June am

You may remember that in December I reviewed a talk given by Les Back at a conference I went to. Well last Thursday (22nd March 2007) I went to Goldsmith’s College in London to interview Les Back about some of the themes he raised in that talk. Les Back is best known for his work on ethnicity, racism and ethnic identities in the UK, but he was talking to me about his new book The Art of Listening which will be published this July and about the role of sociology in today’s rapidly changing society.

The interview covers issues around the media, politics, social change and challenges to sociology and can be listened to by clicking on the buttons below.

Introduction

Les talks about his new book, The Art of Listening

Les talks about how sociology can relate to our moral system

Big brother

The art of listening

The role of theory, the role of history, and individuals and structures

Dark times

To read an extract from the book just follow this link: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2006-11-15-back-en.html

Here is an image of the cover of The Art of Listening - look closely at the photo! If you want to pre-order a copy of Les’ new book you can of course do so - just click on the link below:

The Art of Listening

This article highlights the ongoing, but often hidden issue of prostitution, sex slavery and human trafficking in the UK:

BBC NEWS | England | Sex slavery widespread in England

Women in the sex trade are often forced into it - either by socio-economic circumstances or by boyfriends or other males with power over them (eg traffickers). As well as the bare facts about women being forced into the sex industry against their wills, articles like this also raise wider issues about inequalities of power between men and women in wider society - although women are increasingly able to be independent of men both socially and economically, inequalities remain and these are seen at their most extreme in areas of the economy such as the sex trade.

Human trafficking associated with the sex trade can also be related to World Sociology and issues of power relations between the “developed” and “developing” world. Many of the foreign women involved in the sex trade in Britain are here because they were lured here with promises of ordinary jobs - waitressing, cleaning, kitchen work - where they would earn more than they could earn in their home countries and which would allow them to send money home to their families. International wealth inequalities can of course be linked to issues around international debt.
The issues and debates around the sex industry are explored in greater depth by an exhibition currently on show at The Women’s Library in London, they are also running workshops for groups of A-level Sociology students.

This is another example of government policy picking up on the idea that parental involvement in their children’s education is one of the main factors affecting educational achievement.

BBC NEWS | Education | Parents urged to read to children

(Remember that it is good to show awareness of government policies when answering exam questions)