Sociology of Family
Past Paper Questions
Two Mark Questions
1. Explain What is meant by a household (Jan 2002)
One person living alone or a group of people, related or not, living at the same
address, sharing the accommodation and some meals
2. Explain what is meant by the marriage rate (Allan, page 31)
The number of marriages per thousand of the population in a given year
3. Explain what is meant by the ‘gendered division of labour’(Allan, p. 40)
Where the labour in the house is divided along gender lines, e.g., the women does
the housework
4. Explain what is meant by conjugal roles (Allan p. 52)
Refers to how the work in the house is divided between the parterners or husband
and wife.
5. Explain what is meant by representations of the family (Allan, page 59)
How the family is portrayed in the media, e.g., the cereal package family
6. Explain what is meant by the isolated nuclear family (Allan, page 68)
Husband, wife and children living separately from the extended family
7. What is meant by the patriarchal family (Webb page 8)
Male dominated family
8. Explain what is meant by primary socialisation (June 2001)
Socialisation that takes place at a very young age in the family
9. Explain what is meant by the term structurally isolated nuclear family (Jan
2001)
Mother, father and children, living in isolation from the extended family structures
10. Explain the difference between family and household (ZZ)
In a family the members are related by blood, legal or other sociallyconstructed
ways with a sense of responsibility towards one anoher
11. Explain what is meant by the term ‘reconstituted family
12. Explain what is meant by the term patriarchal family (May 2002)
Four Mark Questions
13. Suggest two reasons for the trend towards smaller families (Allan, page 23)
14. Suggest two reasons why the number of lone parent families has risen in the
last twenty-five years (Allan , page 31)
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15. Suggest two possible problems faced by mothers wishing to re-enter the
labour market (Allan page 40)
16. Identify two criticisms that have been made of the ideas of Wilmot and Young
on the symmetrical family (Allan page 52)
17. Give examples of four family rituals (Allan page 59)
18. Identify two traditional family values, which some people believe have
declined in recent years (Allan, page 67)
19. Suggest two criticisms which feminist sociologists might make of the view
that husbands and wives are now equal (
20. Suggest two features of the typical cereal package family (Webb, page 15)
21. Explain the difference between the infant mortality rate an the birth rate (Jan
2001)
22. Identify four types of family structure that exist in contemporary society (Zig,
Zag)
23. Identify four ways in which gender roles within the family have changed over
the last fifty years (Zig, Zag)
24. Identify two forms of family diversity (Jan 2002)
25. Suggest two reasons for the increase in one person households (Webb,
Teachers pack page 68)
26. Explain the difference between joint conjugal roles and segregated roles (May
2002)
Six Mark Questions
27. Identify three reasons for the increase in one-person households (Allan page
23)
28. Identify three inequalities that may exist between men and women in families
(Allan page 31)
29. Identify three reasons for the growing participation of women in the labour
market in the last 50 years (Allan page 40)
30. Suggest three ways in which women’s domestic roles have changed over the
last 50 years (Allan page 52)
31. Identify three ways in which social historians have shown that family life in
the past should not be thought of as a golden age (Allan page 59)
32. Suggest three ways in which the quality of family life has improved over the
last fifty years (Allan page 67)
33. Suggest three reasons why children’s position in the family has changed
(Webb, page 8)
34. Suggest three government economic or social policies which might influence
the structure of the family or the roles and relationships of its members (Webb,
page 15)
35. Identify four functions of the family (June 2001)
36. Suggest three reasons why birth rates have fallen since the 19th century (Jan
2001)
37. Identify three ways in which the perception of children’s roles within the
family has changed in the last fifty years
38. Suggest three reasons for increasing divorce rates
39. Suggest three reasons why lone parent families are usually headed by females
(Jan 2002)
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40. Suggest three reasons for the decline in the proportion of traditional
households make up of a married couple with dependent children (Webb,
Teachers pack, page 68)
41. Suggest three reasons why the family may have become ‘symmetrical’ (May
2002)
Eight Mark Questions
42. Identify and briefly explain two reasons why functionalist sociologists have
emphasised the importance of the traditional nuclear family (Allan page 23)
43. Identify and explain two reasons for the rise in divorce rate since 1970 (Allan
page 31)
44. Identify and briefly explain two criticisms of the functionalist view of the
family (Allan page 40)
45. Identify and briefly explain two reasons why a quantitative examination of
time spent over domestic tasks might not give an accurate picture of conjugal
roles and the domestic division of labour (Allan page 52)
46. Identify and explain two ways in which the realities of family life for many
people differ from the romanticised view often portrayed in the media (Allan
page 59)
47. Identify and briefly explain two social policies designed to strengthen the
family unit (Allan page 68)
48. Identify and briefly describe two factors which may have produced greater
equality between roles of husband and wife (Webb page 8)
49. Identify and briefly describe two ways in which the family might be shaped by
the needs of capitalism (Webb page 15)
50. Identify and briefly explain two reasons why childhood as a separate agestatus is a relatively recent phenomenon (June 2001)
51. Identify two laws or Government policies that may affect role and
relationships within the family and briefly describe how each of these does
this (Jan 2001)
52. Identify and briefly explain two criticisms of the view that children of
divorced parents are likely to suffer adverse effects in later life (Zig, Zag)
53. Identify and briefly describe two criticisms of the view that a family consists
of two adults of different sexes and their dependent children (Zig, Zag)
54. Identify and explain two reasons for the increase in the divorce rate since the
1970s (Jan 2002)
55. Identify and briefly explain two reasons why information about the size and
type of family and household structure is important to government agencies
(Webb, Teachers pack page 68)
56. Identify and briefly explain two reasons why the position of children has
changed in the last hundred years (May 2002)
Question E
57. Examine the claim made by some feminist sociologists that marriage and
family life can be disadvantageous to women (Allan page 24)
58. Outline the arguments and evidence for the view that the rise in the divorce
rate does not necessarily mean that people are disenchanted with the
institution of marriage (Allan page 31)
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59. Explain the reasons for the fall in the fertility rate in Britain over the last 100
years (Allan page 40)
60. Identify and explain some of the changes that have taken place in family
structure over the last fifty years (Allan page 52)
61. Outline the arguments and evidence for the view that the roles of both men
and women in the family have changed significantly in the last fifty years
(Allan page 59)
62. Examine the sociological reasons for the decline in the popularity of marriage
over the last 30 years (Allan page 68)
63. Outline the arguments and evidence for and against the functionalist view of
the relationship between industrialisation and family structures (Webb page 9)
64. Examine the arguments and evidence for the view that both childhood and
housewife role are socially constructed (Webb page 15)
65. Examine the contribution of feminist sociologists to the study of family life
(jan 2001)
66. Examine the claim that the nuclear family is the ideal family unit Zig and Zag)
67. Examine the claim that the family is the primary provider of live and
emotional support for the individual (ZZ)
68. Examine the arguments and evidence in favour of the view that childhood is
socially constructed (Jan 2002)
69. Examine the view that social policies on the family reflect an ideological view
of the ideal family type (Webb, Teachers Pack , page 68)
70. Examine the reasons for changes in the patterns of marriage, cohabitation and
divorce in the last hundred years (May 2002)
Question F
71. Assess the view that the media and some politicians present and ideological
view of the family (Allan page 24)
72. Assess the contribution made by feminist sociologists to the study of the
family (Allan page 31)
73. Asses the claim that industrialisation led to the break up of the extended
family (Allan page 41)
74. Assess the view that the extended family no longer plays a significant role in
family life in modern Britain (Allan page 52)
75. Assess the view that the family in modern society has been stripped of so
many of its functions that it can no longer be seen as a significant social
institution (Allan page 59)
76. Assess the view that the distinctiveness of childhood has been undermined
(Allan page 68)
77. Assess sociological explanations of changes in the rates of marriage and
divorce (Webb page 11)
78. Assess sociological contributions to an understanding of the diversity of
family forms found in society today (Webb page 15)
79. Asses the view that industrialisation led to the nuclear family replacing the
extended family as the main form of household structure (Jan 2001)
80. Assess the claim that there is a causal relationship between changing family
structures and a decline in moral standards (ZZ)
81. Assess the view that the extended family network is no longer an important
feature of British family life (ZZ)
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82. Assess the usefulness of functionalism for an understanding of the family. (Jan
2002)
83. Assess the view that roles and relationships in the family cannot be understood
without reference to the concept of patriarchy. (Webb, Teachers Pack, page
68)
84. Assess the view that despite industrialisation and urbanisation, the extended
family never disappeard, and …it continues to thrive today. (May 2002)
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