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Families and relationships (Component 1, Section B)

5 dot points across 5 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

How have changes in birth rates, death rates, life expectancy and migration reshaped families and households?

Component 1 Section B: demographic change and its impact on family life, including changes in the birth rate, death rate, life expectancy, the ageing population and migration, and their effects on family structure.
An OCR A-Level Sociology Families and relationships guide to demographic change. Covers the falling birth and fertility rates, the falling death rate and rising life expectancy, the ageing population, migration, and their effects on families (the beanpole family and the sandwich generation), with the reasons and exam skills Section B rewards.
14 min answer →

How diverse have families become, and why have patterns of marriage, cohabitation and divorce changed in contemporary society?

Component 1 Section B: family diversity and changing patterns of family life, including the decline of marriage, the rise of cohabitation, divorce, lone-parent and reconstituted families, and the postmodern view of family choice.
An OCR A-Level Sociology Families and relationships guide to family diversity and changing patterns. Covers the Rapoports' types of diversity, the postmodern family (Stacey), trends in marriage, cohabitation and divorce, lone-parent and reconstituted families, and the reasons behind the changes, with the theorists and exam skills Component 1 Section B rewards.
15 min answer →

What functions does the family perform in contemporary society, and do sociological perspectives agree about whether those functions are positive?

Component 1 Section B: the functions of the family in contemporary society, including the functionalist, Marxist, feminist and New Right perspectives on what the family does and whom it benefits.
An OCR A-Level Sociology Families and relationships guide to the functions of the family. Covers the functionalist view (Murdock and Parsons), the Marxist view (Engels and Zaretsky), feminist critiques and the New Right (Murray), with the theorists, evaluation and exam skills Component 1 Section B rewards.
15 min answer →

How is power distributed within families, and is childhood a natural stage or a social construction that is changing?

Component 1 Section B: power, decision-making and domestic violence within families, and the social construction of childhood, including historical change and contemporary debates about the position of children.
An OCR A-Level Sociology Families and relationships guide to power and childhood. Covers decision-making (Edgell), control of money (Pahl and Vogler), domestic violence (Dobash and Dobash), the social construction of childhood (Aries), the disappearance of childhood (Postman) and toxic childhood (Palmer), with the exam skills Section B rewards.
15 min answer →

Has the domestic division of labour between partners become more equal, or do women still carry a dual or triple burden?

Component 1 Section B: conjugal roles and the domestic division of labour, including the march of progress view of the symmetrical family, feminist critiques, and the concepts of the dual burden and triple shift.
An OCR A-Level Sociology Families and relationships guide to conjugal roles and the domestic division of labour. Covers the symmetrical family (Young and Willmott), feminist critiques (Oakley), segregated and joint roles (Bott), the dual burden and triple shift (Duncombe and Marsden), and Dunne on same-sex couples, with the exam skills Section B rewards.
15 min answer →