How is Families and Households examined in AQA A-Level Sociology?

Families and Households is one of the two optional topics in Paper 2 (Topics in Sociology), worth 40 of the 80 marks (the other 40 come from Beliefs in Society for most centres). It uses short outline items (such as 10-mark outline and explain questions) and a 20-mark applying material from the item evaluate essay. Unlike Paper 1, Families has no Methods in Context question, but evaluation using Theory and Methods still strengthens answers.

What is the difference between the march of progress and conflict views of childhood?

The march of progress view (Aries, Shorter) argues childhood has steadily improved, with children better protected, valued and at the centre of family life. The conflict view, including Marxists, feminists and child liberationists (Firestone, Holt), argues that inequalities between adults and children, and between different children, persist, and that protection can be a form of control. Postman separately argues childhood is disappearing as media erode the boundary with adulthood.

What demographic trends do I need to know?

You need the long-term fall in the birth rate and death rate since 1900, the decline in family size and the rise in life expectancy, the resulting ageing population (with the dependency ratio, beanpole families and the pivot generation), and the effects of migration and globalisation on family diversity. Be ready to explain causes (the changing position of women, falling infant mortality, public health) as well as effects on family structure.

How should I revise Families and Households?

Organise material around debates: how equal couples are (march of progress versus feminist), whether childhood is socially constructed and improving, what demographic change does to families, whether family life is now diverse (modernist versus postmodernist), and whose interests family policy serves. Learn named sociologists, key concepts and recent statistics, and drill the 10-mark and 20-mark item-based questions.

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AQA A-Level Sociology Families and Households: a complete overview of couples, childhood, demography, diversity and policy

Q: Which perspectives do I need for the family?

You need functionalism (Murdock's four functions, Parsons' two irreducible functions and the fit thesis), Marxism (Engels and Zaretsky on the family and capitalism), feminism (liberal, Marxist, radical and difference), the New Right (defending the traditional nuclear family), and the personal-life perspective (studying the meanings of diverse relationships). Most essays reward setting up a clash between these views.

A deep-dive AQA A-Level Sociology guide to the Families and Households topic. Covers perspectives on the family, couples and the domestic division of labour, childhood, demography, family diversity and changing patterns of marriage and divorce, and the impact of social policy, with the debates and exam patterns AQA repeats.

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Jump to a section

What the Families topic demands
Perspectives and social change
Couples and childhood
Demography and diversity
Social policy
How Families is examined
Check your knowledge

What the Families topic demands

Families and Households is a popular optional topic, examined in Paper 2. It asks you to compare perspectives on the family, evaluate how equal couples are, debate the nature of childhood, explain demographic change, assess family diversity, and judge the impact of social policy. The topic rewards organised debate and precise use of named studies.

This guide walks through the topic in specification order, then sets out the exam patterns AQA repeats. Each part has a matching dot-point page; this overview ties them together.

The topic rests on perspectives: functionalists (Murdock's four functions, Parsons' primary socialisation and stabilisation of personalities, and the fit thesis), Marxists (Engels, Zaretsky), feminists (liberal, Marxist, radical and difference), the New Right (defending the traditional nuclear family), and the personal-life perspective (Smart). The relationship between family structure and industrialisation is contested by Laslett and Anderson, who challenge the simple extended-to-nuclear story.

Couples and childhood

Couples. The symmetrical family debate (Young and Willmott versus Oakley), the dual burden and triple shift (Duncombe and Marsden), the control of money and decisions (Pahl, Edgell), and domestic violence (Dobash and Dobash).
Childhood. The social construction of childhood (Benedict, Aries), the march of progress versus conflict debate, child liberationism, and the debate about whether childhood is disappearing (Postman).

Demography and diversity

Demography. The falling birth rate and death rate since 1900, declining family size, rising life expectancy, the ageing population (the dependency ratio, beanpole families and the pivot generation), and migration and globalisation.
Family diversity. Changing patterns of marriage, divorce (the 1969 Reform Act), cohabitation and childbearing; the Rapoports' five types of diversity; and the modernist (New Right, Chester's neo-conventional family) versus postmodernist (Stacey) and individualisation (Beck, Giddens) debate.

Social policy shapes families through divorce law, benefits, tax and parental leave. Functionalists see policy as supportive, the New Right (Murray) warns of perverse welfare incentives, feminists (Land) argue policy assumes a patriarchal family, and Marxists argue it serves capitalism.

How Families is examined

A typical AQA profile for the Families topic:

The 10-mark "outline and explain" question. Two developed reasons, effects or ways, with named concepts.
The 20-mark "applying material from the item" essay. Evaluating a view (for example on the symmetrical family, the social construction of childhood, or family diversity) with named studies and a justified conclusion.

Check your knowledge

A mix of recall and application questions covering the Families topic. Attempt them under timed conditions, then check against the solutions.

Outline Parsons' two "irreducible functions" of the family. (4 marks)
Explain what is meant by the dual burden. (4 marks)
Explain what is meant by the social construction of childhood. (4 marks)
Outline two reasons for the decline in the UK birth rate since 1900. (4 marks)
Explain what is meant by the dependency ratio. (4 marks)
Outline two reasons for the rise in divorce since the 1960s. (4 marks)
Explain what Chester means by the neo-conventional family. (4 marks)
Explain what the New Right means by perverse incentives in welfare. (4 marks)

Solutions

Q1: The primary socialisation of children and the stabilisation of adult personalities (the family as a "warm bath").
Q2: Women doing paid work and the bulk of the domestic work (housework and childcare), so they carry a double load.
Q3: Childhood is defined and given meaning by society rather than being a fixed natural stage; it varies cross-culturally (Benedict) and historically (Aries).
Q4: For example the changing position of women (education and careers) and the falling infant mortality rate, so families need fewer children.
Q5: The ratio of the working (economically active) population to the dependent (non-working) population, such as children and the elderly.
Q6: For example legal changes (the 1969 Divorce Reform Act) and the changing position of women (more independence, more women initiating divorce).
Q7: A dual-earner nuclear family that most people still live in or aspire to at some stage of the life course, so the nuclear family is not dead.
Q8: Murray's argument that welfare benefits reward behaviour such as lone parenthood, creating a dependency culture and an "underclass", so the New Right favours cutting benefits.

Sources & how we know this

AQA A-level Sociology (7192) specification — AQA (2015)