Whats In Each Topic?

Question 1

What’s in Topic 1 in couples?

Answer 1

• Domestic Division of Labour -

traditional segregated conjugal roles; march of progress view versus feminist view.

• Finances (+ the meaning of money) and decision-making.

• Domestic violence - radical feminist explanation and materialist explanation (inequalities in income leads to stress).

Question 2

What’s in Topic 2- Childhood

Answer 2

• Childhood is a social construct - modern western notion of childhood, cross-cultural differences in childhood, historical differences in childhood.

• Reasons for changes in the position of children e.g. industrialisation & compulsory schooling, laws.

• March of progress view of childhood (things are better) versus conflict view (inequalities between children, between adults and children, toxic childhood.

• The future of childhood - childhood is disappearing, the new sociology of childhood.

Question 3

What is in Topic 3: Theories of the Family

Answer 3

Functionalist - Murdock’s 4 functions, Parsons remaining 2 functions & functional fit theory.
• Marxist - 3 functions of the family: inheritance of.private property, ideological functions, a unit of consumption.
Feminist - patriarchy - 4 different type of feminist views.
• The personal life perspective on families - individuals define what they mean by family.

Question 4

What’s in Topic 4: Demography

Answer 4

Births - total fertility rate gone down; reasons for decline in birth rate e.g, changes in women’s position, effects of changes in fertility e.g. on the family.
• Deaths - reasons for decline in death rate e.g. improved nutrition & medical improvements; increase in life expectancy & differences based on class, gender & region.
• The ageing population - reasons for it; effects of an ageing population e.g. increase in one-person pensioner households, positives of an ageing population versus the negatives.
• Migration - impact of migration on the family & dependency ratio; the impact of globalisation on migration e.g. different migrant identities, feminisation of migration, impact of migration of politics.

Question 5

Whats in Topic 5: Changing Family Patterns

Answer 5

Divorce - explanations for it.
Reasons for changns of marriage and cohabitation:
- Same-sex relationships & chosen families.
• One-person households and reasons for the changes e.g. living apart together.
• Childbearing and reasons for changes; lone-parent families and reasons for the increase, New Right views.
• Stepfamilies and reasons for the patterns of these families.
• Ethnic differences in families I.e. Asian families & black families.
• The extended family - it’s virtually non-existent versus it still exists in different forms.

Question 6

What’s in Topic 6: Family Diversity

Answer 6

Different perspectives on different family types:
Modernist view - functionalism and the New Right; Chester & the Rapoports.
Late modern views - the individualisation thesis & postmodern views - fragmentation & rapid social change.

Question 7

What’s in Topic 7: Social Policies

Answer 7

Historical examples of families and social policy.
• Different perspectives on social policy: functionalism, New Right & its influence on policies, feminism, Marxism & policing of families.