paper 2 families, households and research methods

Question 1

define birth rate

Answer 1

number of live births per 1,000 of the population per year.

Question 2

what was the birth rate in 1990 compared to 2014

Answer 2

1990 - 29
2014 - 12.2

Question 3

define death rate

Answer 3

number of death per 1,000 of the population per years.

Question 4

what was the death rate in 1990 compared to 2012

Answer 4

1990 - 19
2012 - 8.9

Question 5

what is primary data

Answer 5

data that is collected firsthand, by sociologists themselves for their own purpose

Question 6

what is secondary data

Answer 6

data that has already been collected by someone else.

Question 7

differences in childhood between societies
NON WESTERN CULTURES

Answer 7

benedict (1934):
1.) children in non western cultures have more responsibility at home and work.
2.) in many non-western cultures the expected behaviour of children was less seperated from that of the adults.

Question 8

differences in childhood between societies
WESTERN SOCIETIES / OUR CHILDHOOD

Answer 8

pilcher (1995)
1.) childhood in the west is seen as innocent and vulnerable, and needing a lengthy time of nurturing and socialisation
2.) defined as a seperate section of life to adulthood.

Question 9

differences in childhood within a society.
PROLETARIAT

Answer 9

• public school (not as good of an education)
• left behind from latest trends (bullying?)
• socialisatin not great (parents always working)

Question 10

differences in childhood within a society
BOURGEOISIE

Answer 10

• private school (better education)
• latest tech and trendy clothes ( fit in, less likely to be left out)
• good sociolisation (rich people tend to use fancy vocab and children pick it up)

Question 11

ethnic differences in childhood
BLACK FAMILIES

Answer 11

• more likely to be lone-parent and female headed
• black men more likely to be unemployes and in poverty - not able to provide for family which leads to marital breakdown

Question 12

ethnic differences in childhood
ASIAN FAMILIES

Answer 12

• more likely to be larger in size and be extended families -> because asian families have a deep respect for elderly

Question 13

different family types and their features
THE NUCLEAR FAMILY

Answer 13

• conventional patriarchal nuclear family consists of a married coupld and their dependent children (one boy, one girl), with clear-cut division of labour between bread-winner husband and home-maker wife.
• functionalism and new right have been described as modernist –>they see modern society as having a fairly fixed, clear-cut and predictable structure

Question 14

different family types and their features
LONE - PARENT FAMILIES

Answer 14

• new right –> the rise of lone parent families is bad for society
• charles murray (1984) —>the growth of these families is as a result of our over-generous welfare state/providing benefits for unmarried mothers and their children.

Question 15

different family types and their features
EXTENDED FAMILIES

Answer 15

• 3 generations living under same roof
• parsons –> the extended family is the dominant family type in pre-industrial society
  -any group of kin (blood, marriage, adoption) extended beyong the nuclear family.
  -vertical extention - grandparent
  -horizontal extention - aunts, uncles, cousins

Question 16

different family types and their features
STEP FAMILIES

Answer 16

• elsa ferri and kate smith (1998) –> step families are very similar to first families in all major respects
• they consist of step-parents, step-siblings, and half-siblings.
• allan and crow (2001) –> they may face particular problems of divided loyalties and issues such as contact w/ non-resident parents can cause tension.

Question 17

the ageing population
PUBLIC SERVICES

Answer 17

• the commonness of long term health conditions increases with age.
• older people consume a larger proportion of services such as health and social care than other age groups (more applicable to 75+ age group)
• around 55% of welfare spending is currently paid to pensioners.
• however, many people remain in relatively goof health well into old age

Question 18

the ageing population
ONE-PERSON PENSIONER HOUSEHOLDS

Answer 18

• the no. of over 65s living alone in the uk has already increased by 15% in the last decade –> percentage of single person uk household ages 65+ has increased (45% to 48%)
• among the over 75s there are twice as many women as men - described as ‘feminisation of later life’
• most of these are women because women typically live longer and are usually younger than their husbands

Question 19

the ageing population
THE DEPENDANCY RATIO

Answer 19

• further financial strain as a reslt of there being more pensioners compared to working people
  -despite the recent increases in the state pension age, its expected that the pensioner population will continue to rise
  -a lower proportion of people in work means lower tax revenues and, in all likelihood, higher public expanditure