Ruth’s Sociology Resources Blog

There are lots of textbooks out there competing for their market share of introductory texts, especially for A-level, so it’s worth looking around carefully before making a final choice. As more students follow the AQA syllabus than the OCR specification, there are more resources specifically targetted for AQA Sociology than for OCR, although there are now a reasonable range of books aimed specifically at students (and teachers) following the OCR specification. One thing to beware of is that all too often texts only cover the most popular topic options, so if you are looking for something off the beaten track check carefully before purchasing!For GCSE Sociology the range of texts is much more limited with many of them now quite out of date.

All of these reviews are drawn from my own personal experiences, use and opinions - your views may well differ from mine!

The title of every book is formatted as a link through to the relevant page on Amazon.co.uk

Sociology Themes and Perspectives by M. Haralambos (2004)
This has long been the standard text for pre-undergraduate Sociology. It is now on its sixth edition and has grown in content, size and weight. Although I would recommend that every teacher of Sociology has a copy on their shelves for reference, I would not recommend it as a core textbook for students for several reasons. It is too heavy to be easily brought to lessons, many students find the small font and dense text difficult to manage, it tends to focus on fairly elderly research, for all its bulk it does not totally cover either A-level specification, and it lacks questions and exercises for students to test their knowledge.

Sociology AS for AQA/Sociology AS for OCRby Stephen Moore (2005)
These books are a vast improvement on the previous generic version published in 2001. Whereas the previous version was seriously lacking in content, these versions are much more comprehensive, although they still need supplementing to cover the full scope of the specifications. What makes me like these books is their summaries of recent research, the Check Your Understanding questions in each section, the relevant illustrations and the exam style questions at the end of each section (although these are not always perfect). I would recommend this for consideration as a core text book, especially for OCR as it is the best available option.

Sociology for A2 for AQA/Sociology A2 for OCRby Stephen Moore (2006)
Only recently published, these A2 books are, like the AS versions, strong on up-to-date research summaries and accessible layout with useful questions at the end of each section and succinct glossaries of key terms. Again they can be slightly ‘lite’ on content, but at A2 I would be expecting students to supplement their reading anyway.

AS level Sociology: a Coursebook for the AQA Specification by Webb et al (2004)
Geared to the AQA specification (and assuming that the most common units are covered), this is my favourite for an AS level textbook. This book neither ‘dumbs down’ or over-reaches the material, instead providing a colourful layout with informative and up-to-date text, interspersed with relevant questions and exercises. When teaching AQA this has also been my students’ favourite text without question.

Sociology in Focus by Taylor et al (1995)
Not to be confused with more recent, specification specific editions, Sociology in Focus remains a useful text despite its considerable age. While it lacks up to date studies and statistics (something to really be aware of), this books offers accessible explanations of theory and topics, useful to the beginning teacher or the confused student. It is aimed at a slightly higher level than the more recent editions (discussed below) and to be honest many of its questions and exercises still remain more useful.

Sociology in Focus for OCR AS Level /Sociology in Focus for AQA AS Level by Haralambos et al (2003)
Not my favourites but very popular with teachers, especially for the OCR syllabus. These books cover the specifications to a basic level covering the most common topic options, with references to up-to-date studies and interspersed with activities and pictures (although these are not always relevant). I would recommend having a copy of this for the basic explanations and some good images. If using it as a core text I would definitely supplement it with additional material from other sources. I suspect that this would also be a useful text for use with high-achieving GCSE students.

Sociology in Focus A2 for AQA/Sociology in Focus for OCR A2 Level by Haralambos et al (2003)
The A2 books are a vast improvement on the AS books, with more informative text and generally more substance. The activities remain slightly juvenile which is disappointing, but they do have a good round up of recent research and also helpful summaries of different policy perspectives. I would still recommend that additional material is used in conjunction with these books.

Introducing Sociology for AS Level by Ken Browne (2000)
I haven’t yet had a chance to look at this new 2nd edition (although it’s definitely high on my to do list), but here are my views on the first edition: When I started teaching A-level Sociology this was definitely the best book out there, readable with clear explanations and taking you step-by-step through the syllabus (provided you were only doing the most common options). I still use its explanations of social class, positivism and interpretivism and introductions to social theory as they are still the ones my students find most accessible. It does however suffer from two key problems - the research cited is on the whole outdated, and (a minor niggle) the binding tends to disintegrate with rough handling, which lets face it it will get as a student text. I would still definitely recommend having a copy.

Sociology for GCSE by Wilson & Kidd (1998)
Now rather ancient, this is still the best book I’ve found for GCSE Sociology, with clear explanations, good use of colour and relevant, interesting exercises pitched at the right level for GCSE students. It also covers almost the entirety of the huge AQA specification without becoming a weighty tome. The teacher resource pack that goes with the book is also one of the few resource packs I would recommend buying. If only they’d bring out an updated edition!

Sociology Alive!(3rd Edition) by Stephen Moore
Again a now rather ancient text. While I would recommend that every GCSE Sociology teacher has a copy of this I would never set it as a text (experience speaking!) - it has far too many inaccuracies which students are liable to ingest. It does however have useful exercises drawing on research summaries and graphs/tables which are great for introducing topics, assessing understanding, and building comprehension and numeracy skills.