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Families

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

How have patterns of marriage, divorce and family life changed?

Changing family patterns, including falling marriage rates, rising cohabitation, the rise in divorce after the 1969 Divorce Reform Act, and the ageing population, with the reasons behind the trends.
A focused answer to the Eduqas GCSE Sociology families topic, covering changing patterns of marriage, cohabitation and divorce, the ageing population, and the social reasons behind these trends.
9 min answer →

How are roles and power divided between partners in the family?

Conjugal roles (segregated and joint), the symmetrical family thesis of Willmott and Young, Oakley's critique and the dual burden, and power and decision-making in the family.
A focused answer to the Eduqas GCSE Sociology families topic, covering segregated and joint conjugal roles, the symmetrical family thesis of Willmott and Young, Ann Oakley's critique, the dual burden and power in the family.
10 min answer →

What different forms does the family take, and why has diversity grown?

The different family forms (nuclear, extended, reconstituted, lone-parent, same-sex and single-person households) and the reasons family diversity has increased.
A focused answer to the Eduqas GCSE Sociology families topic, covering the different family forms (nuclear, extended, reconstituted, lone-parent, same-sex and single-person) and the reasons family diversity has grown.
9 min answer →

What does the family do for individuals and for society?

The functions of families, including Murdock's four functions and Parsons' two basic functions (primary socialisation and the stabilisation of adult personalities), and how perspectives evaluate them.
A focused answer to the Eduqas GCSE Sociology families topic, covering the functions of the family using Murdock's four functions and Parsons' two basic and irreducible functions, with the perspectives that evaluate them.
10 min answer →

How do the different perspectives evaluate the family?

The functionalist, Marxist, feminist and New Right perspectives on the family, and the criticisms of family life including its dark side.
A focused answer to the Eduqas GCSE Sociology families topic, covering the functionalist, Marxist, feminist and New Right perspectives on the family and the criticisms of family life.
10 min answer →