Suggested teacher activities: high culture, popular culture and mass culture
AQA 7192 3.2.1 Culture and Identity. Built from L13 The Concept of Culture (v6).
The activities below are all built directly from the Concepts of Culture page. Each one is labelled with the AQA assessment objective(s) (AO1, AO2 and AO3) it is designed to target, and with a short explanation of why. This is intended as a menu of ideas to select from, not a single fixed lesson plan; the suggested running order at the end offers one sensible sequence, but individual tasks can be lifted out and used on their own as a starter, homework or assessed piece.
| The three assessment objectives (AQA A-level Sociology) |
| AO1: Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of sociological theories, concepts, evidence and methods. This means accurately defining terms and correctly naming sociologists and their studies. |
| AO2: Apply knowledge and understanding of sociological theories, concepts, evidence and methods to a range of issues. This means using a concept or theory correctly on a specific example, ideally one that was not simply copied from the notes. |
| AO3: Analyse and evaluate sociological theories, concepts, evidence and methods in order to present arguments, make judgements and draw conclusions. This means weighing competing arguments against one another and reaching a reasoned overall judgement, rather than only describing both sides. |
Activity 1: Key terms retrieval quiz
Using the key terms checklist at the end of the Concepts of Culture page (culture, dominant culture, subculture, cultural capital, culture industry, false needs, midcult, cultural imperialism, glocalisation, hegemony, value consensus), set a short, low-stakes quiz in which students define each term from memory. Students then swap answers with a partner and mark them against the definitions given in the document.
| Assessment objectives covered |
| AO1: This task is almost entirely AO1. It checks that students can state sociological concepts and terminology accurately, which is the foundation the other two assessment objectives build on. |
Activity 2: Blank perspectives grid
Give students a blank version of the table showing how five perspectives (functionalism, Marxism and neo-Marxism, feminism, interactionism and postmodernism) view culture in general. Ask them to complete it from memory or from notes, including a named sociologist for each row.
| Assessment objectives covered |
| AO1: The main demand is recall of named theories and thinkers, for example Durkheim, Adorno and Horkheimer, McRobbie, Becker and Strinati. |
| AO2: Completing the follow-on table, which applies each perspective separately to high, popular and mass culture, requires students to apply a general perspective correctly to three distinct types of culture, rather than describing the perspective in the abstract. |
Activity 3: Apply the concepts to a new example
Ask students to choose a cultural product not covered in the Concepts of Culture page, such as a current film, artist, game or television format, and write a short piece explaining whether it is best classed as high, popular, mass or global culture. They should use at least three named concepts from the page, for example cultural capital, the culture industry, the active audience or glocalisation.
| Assessment objectives covered |
| AO2: This is a strong AO2 task. AO2 specifically rewards applying sociological knowledge to unfamiliar material, rather than reproducing the case studies already provided in the document, such as Love Island, K-pop, Taylor Swift or The Odyssey (2026). |
| AO1: The task also draws on AO1, since each concept must first be understood correctly before it can be applied. |
Activity 4: “Defend the perspective” exercise
Using the “main criticism” column of the perspectives table, put students into pairs. One student states the criticism of a perspective, for example that Marxism is said to underestimate ordinary people’s ability to reject, ignore or reinterpret media messages. The other student must construct a short spoken or written defence of the original perspective against that criticism. The pair then jointly decides which side is more convincing, and why.
| Assessment objectives covered |
| AO3: This task targets AO3 directly. AO3 requires students to weigh arguments against one another and reach a reasoned judgement, rather than simply listing a perspective and its criticism side by side. |
Activity 5: Timeline and boundary-shift analysis
Students construct a short timeline using examples already in the document: Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre audience in 1599, Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Cans in 1962, and The Odyssey (2026). They then write a paragraph analysing why the boundary between high and popular culture has shifted over time, before concluding whether they find Strinati’s (1995) argument that the boundary has broken down, or Bourdieu’s (1984) concept of cultural capital, more persuasive overall.
| Assessment objectives covered |
| AO1: Building the timeline accurately requires correct knowledge of the named examples and dates. |
| AO2: Explaining why the boundary shifted requires applying the concept of a socially constructed boundary to specific evidence, rather than stating the concept alone. |
| AO3: The final judgement between Strinati and Bourdieu requires weighing the two arguments and reaching a reasoned conclusion. |
Activity 6: Exam-style extended-writing question
Set the following essay question, already suggested in the Concepts of Culture page, check your understanding section: “The boundary between high culture and popular culture has now disappeared.” To what extent do sociologists agree with this view? Students should be told to use Strinati (1995) to support the claim and Bourdieu’s (1984) concept of cultural capital to challenge it, before reaching a reasoned conclusion.
| Assessment objectives covered |
| This single task deliberately covers all three assessment objectives at once, which mirrors how AQA marks extended sociology essays. |
| AO1: Demonstrated through accurate reference to named sociologists and their studies. |
| AO2: Demonstrated through applying their arguments specifically to the question of high versus popular culture, using real evidence such as Shakespeare and Warhol. |
| AO3: Demonstrated through the final weighing-up of both sides and the reasoned judgement the question explicitly asks for. |
Suggested running order
A sensible sequence for a lesson or homework set is to use Activities 1 and 2 as starter or homework retrieval, Activity 3 or 5 as the main task, Activity 4 as a plenary or discussion task, and Activity 6 as a formal assessed piece once the topic has been covered in full.
