Purple: named sociologists
Green: key concepts, statistic, specific example
Blue: AO3 evaluation
PAPER 2: FAMILIES AND
HOUSEHOLDS
Contents:
1 - Theories of the family (page 2)
2 – Couples (pages 8)
3 – Childhood (page 12)
4 - Changing family patterns (page 19)
5- Family diversity page (29)
6- Demography (page 33)
7- Named Sociologist bank (page 36)
8- Question bank (page 37)
Key:
Essential: need to know for exams
Extra: smaller, more detailed studies for the highest
grades
AO1: knowledge, memory
AO2: understanding, application
AO3: evaluation, analysis
Purple: named sociologists
Green: key concepts, statistic, specific example
Blue: AO3 evaluation
Paper structure
In the exam you will be asked 3 questions
• 10 marks – outline and explain two.....
• 10 marks – Using the item outline and explain two.....
• 20 marks – using the item and your own
knowledge, evaluate / assess......
1
,Purple: named sociologists
Green: key concepts, statistic, specific example
Blue: AO3 evaluation
Topic 1: Theories of the family
Functionalism
Essential: Murdock: the family has 4 main
roles: socialisation, economic, reproductive,
and stable satisfaction of sex drive
This means the family keeps society
functional through these four roles
How do each of these 4 roles keep
society functional?
Socialisation: adequate forms of
socialisation uphold value consensus and
prevent anomie
Economic: the instrumental role of the
male acts as the breadwinner, and keeps
business running in society
Reproductive: keeps generational growth
2
,Purple: named sociologists
Green: key concepts, statistic, specific example
Blue: AO3 evaluation
Stable satisfaction of sex drive: the
monogamous nature of the nuclear family
provides stability.
But what we need to be careful with, is that
these four roles only work for the traditional
nuclear family, based on heterosexual,
monogamous couples that conform to
traditional gender roles
So how can this help with our evaluation?
Essential: Parsons: the family structure
depends on the society its in:
Pre-industrial society: extended family
Modern society: nuclear family.
Why do we see this shift?
Pre-industrial society: agricultural work, no
welfare state, low life expectancy
Modern society: nature of work has
changed, welfare state in place as of 1942,
better technology and medicine
= less family support is needed
2 irreducible functions
3
, Purple: named sociologists
Green: key concepts, statistic, specific example
Blue: AO3 evaluation
Parsons also believes the family has 2
irreducible functions: primary socialisation
and stabilisation of adult personalities
What is the stabilisation of adult
personalities?
The work of the breadwinner, in
the ‘instrumental’ role can be stressful
The woman, in her expressive role, offers
support and comfort to her partner
Known as the warm bath theory: the idea
that coming home to your wife after a hard
day of work is calming and stress relieving
Extra: Note: what would Feminists and
Marxists say about the ‘stabilisation of adult
personalities’? Is this fair for women? What
about cases of domestic violence? How has
this dynamic changed in post-modernity?
Organic analogy
This family set up is described as the
‘organic analogy’ according to Parsons
4
