What is Sociology A level about?
On 16 April 2007, Cho Seung-hui killed 32 people and wounded 25 on the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg before turning his weapon on himself. This apparently individual act might seem best explained by a psychologist, who would look at his background and his mental state to try to explain his actions. But in fact, a sociologist would argue that we need to look at the wider social fabric to try to get to grips with this seemingly incomprehensible act. For instance, Cho was an immigrant from South Korea, and had been labelled as an outsider throughout his time at school. The incident was the deadliest in a bloody US history of school shootings, a culture where violence is arguably normalised. Lastly, Cho filmed himself mimicking scenes from his favourite violent movies, suggesting a powerful effect of the media on his own actions. These different aspects of his life raise debates that are covered in World Sociology, Education and Training, Crime and Deviance and the Mass Media, all of
