VCE Sociology study guide
VCE Sociology · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
VCE Sociology is a Victorian Certificate of Education study accredited by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) for an accreditation period from 2024. The study design covers Units 1 to 4 and sets out areas of study, outcomes and assessment for students working through the sequence from 2024. It suits senior secondary students in Victoria who want to examine how societies are organised, how social groups and institutions shape experience, and how sociologists investigate and explain social life. Because the study runs across four units, students typically meet foundational ideas about culture, identity, family, community and social research in Units 1 and 2, then move to more analytical and applied work in Units 3 and 4. The VCE Sociology study guide has 4 sections and about 1,223 words.
01Unit 1: Youth, Culture and Identity
Unit 1 examines how culture, ethnicity, class, gender and age shape the experience of being young in Australian society. You must be able to distinguish culture (shared meanings, values and practices transmitted through socialisation) from subculture (a group within a larger culture sharing distinctive norms) and counterculture (values that oppose the dominant culture).
323 words, about 2 min02Unit 2: Family, Community and Social Cohesion
Unit 2 explores the family and community as institutions and their contribution to social cohesion. You must understand family as a social institution and the diversity of family structures (nuclear, extended, blended, sole-parent, same-sex, de facto).
323 words, about 2 min03Unit 3: Culture, Power and Social Change
Unit 3 examines Australian culture and the relationship between culture, power and change. You must understand culture (material and non-material), ethnocentrism and cultural relativism , multiculturalism , power (as the capacity to influence), authority , inequality , social stratification , and social change (gradual or rapid, evolutionary or transformative).
290 words, about 1 min04Unit 4: Power, Inequality and Social Change
Unit 4 focuses on social inequality and the processes of social change. You must understand social stratification (hierarchical ranking of groups), class , status , power , social mobility (intra- and intergenerational), poverty (absolute and relative), privilege and disadvantage , and the institutions that reproduce or reduce inequality (education, employment, welfare, law).
287 words, about 1 min