TCE Sociology past exams 2019–2025, by year and topic

Module 1 — Socialisation: Conformity and Deviance · 12 mapped questions

Also in this topic: Culture, society, statuses and roles; norms, values, subcultures and counter-cultures · Forms and agents of socialisation, from primary to tertiary; resocialisation and anticipatory socialisation · Social control and conformity: formal and informal sanctions, internalisation of norms, agency · Functionalist, conflict, feminist and interactionist perspectives on socialisation · Identity construction: Cooley's looking-glass self and Mead's play stage, game stage and generalised other · Deviance as a relative concept (time, place, gender, culture, age) and who has power to define it · Durkheim's four functions of deviance and Hirschi's social control theory (attachment, commitment, involvement, belief) · Becker's labelling theory (primary/secondary deviance, degradation ceremonies) and Sutherland's differential association · Structural strain theory: Durkheim's anomie and Merton's five adaptations; moral panic and Australian crime/imprisonment patterns — question-level mapping in progress; the year table above links every official paper.

Module 2 — Institutions: Power and Politics · 12 mapped questions

Also in this topic: Institution as a concept (Robertson 1989) and Weber's definition of power; legislation as contested ground · Family: forms, change since the Family Law Act 1975, and government policy · Education: latent/manifest functions, hidden curriculum, meritocracy, cultural capital and habitus, funding and retention · Work: sectors, casualisation, automation, alienation, unemployment and underemployment · Media: first and second media age, ownership concentration, agenda setting, gatekeeping and moral panic · Each institution's interrelationships, change over time and role in stratification, across four theoretical perspectives — question-level mapping in progress; the year table above links every official paper.

The rest of the syllabus

Question-level mapping for these areas is still being verified. Every official paper covering them is in the year table above.

• Module 3 — Equality and Inequality (not examined in the written exam) — Social categories (gender, ethnicity, Indigenous people, age, rural/regional Australians) and how they are constructed · Stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination; structured inequality reproduced through socialisation and institutions
• Module 4 — Sociological Research Methods (folio; not examined in the written exam) — Social inquiry methods: surveys, interviews, case studies, non-participant observation · Research ethics: voluntary participation, informed consent, privacy and confidentiality · Investigation Project: 800–1,200 word primary-research report with APA referencing, externally assessed on Criteria 5, 6 and 7