Families

What Families covers

Families is examined in Component 1, Understanding Social Processes. It covers family diversity and global family forms, social change and family structures, conjugal roles and family relationships, theories of the role of the family and criticisms of the family.

The 5 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• Family diversity and global family formsFamilies and households, nuclear, extended, reconstituted, lone-parent, same-sex, cohabiting and beanpole families, ethnic minority family forms, polygamy, arranged marriage and China's one-child policy.Open →
• Social change and family structuresHow norms, secularisation, laws, feminism, the economy, technology and immigration changed families, the Rapoports' five types of diversity, divorce, cohabitation, later marriage, singlehood and family size.Open →
• Conjugal roles and family relationshipsSegregated and joint conjugal roles, Willmott and Young's symmetrical family and stratified diffusion, Oakley, Edgell, Pahl, the New Man, dual-career families, child-centred families, boomerang children and the sandwich generation.Open →
• Theories of the role of the familyConsensus and conflict views, Parsons' two basic functions, Marxists, Engels and Zaretsky, feminists, Delphy and Leonard, Oakley's conventional family, and the New Right.Open →
• Criticisms of the familyLoss of functions and Fletcher's reply, isolation from kin, dysfunctional families, Laing and Leach, Oakley on housework, marital breakdown, domestic abuse and Dobash and Dobash, and Chester on family decline.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Families further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

• Nuclear family vs Extended family

  Nuclear family: two generations of a couple and their dependent children under one roof. Extended family: a household that also includes grandparents, aunts, uncles or cousins.

• Segregated conjugal roles vs Joint conjugal roles

  Segregated conjugal roles: separate tasks and leisure for husband and wife, such as breadwinner and housewife. Joint conjugal roles: housework, childcare, decisions and leisure shared by both partners.

• Polygyny vs Polyandry

  Polygyny: one husband married to several wives at once. Polyandry: one wife married to several husbands at once.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   How do sociologists usually define a family?

   Model answer

   A family is a group of people linked by blood, marriage, civil partnership or adoption. Many sociologists also count committed partners who live together as a family.

2. 2

   Distinguish between a family and a household.

   Model answer

   A household is one person living alone, or a group sharing a home and its living space. Household members need not be related, whereas family members are linked by kinship or partnership.

3. 3

   Define the nuclear family.

   Model answer

   A nuclear family is two generations living together: a couple and their dependent children. Functionalists have long treated the nuclear family as the typical family of industrial Britain.

4. 4

   What is the difference between a vertically and a horizontally extended family?

   Model answer

   A vertically extended family adds further generations, such as grandparents living with parents and children. A horizontally extended family adds relatives of the same generation, such as a parent's brother or sister.

5. 5

   Define a reconstituted family.

   Model answer

   A reconstituted family, or stepfamily, forms when at least one partner brings children from an earlier relationship. Children in reconstituted families may move between two households after divorce or separation.

6. 6

   What is a lone-parent family, and who usually heads one in the UK?

   Model answer

   A lone-parent family is one parent living with dependent children, without a partner. ONS figures show most lone-parent families in the UK are headed by mothers.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Families revision questions

What does Families cover in Eduqas GCSE Sociology?

5 subtopics: family diversity and global family forms, social change and family structures, conjugal roles and family relationships, theories of the role of the family and criticisms of the family. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Families organised?

By the Eduqas C200QS specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.