The ‘Theory and methods’ questions are your opportunity to show that you understand sociology in terms of its theory and its approach to research. See Figure 1. These questions allow you to draw upon knowledge across the course, so in some ways they are synoptic. This issue of Sociology Review focuses on the ‘theory’ type of questions. Advice and guidance on the ‘methods’ type of question, together with a sample answer, will appear in issue 3 of SOCIOLOGY REVIEW.
It is likely that you will be asked about how useful a theory is for explaining society today. See Figure 2. Or in other words, to what extent is the theory still useful for helping us understand the globalised contemporary world around us? Therefore it is important to explain the context in which the theory emerged. You can then consider a contemporary issue and see to what extent the view still has relevance — and why or why not. See Table 1.
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