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Families

Family diversity and global family forms

  • 3 things to know
  • Component 1

Overview

Families 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.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

How did Berthoud (2000) describe differences in family patterns between ethnic groups in Britain?

Key term

What is polygamy, and how do polygyny and polyandry differ?

Numbers

What were the effects of the one-child policy on Chinese families?

Questions from this subtopic

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.

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Socialisation, Culture and Identity
Families
Education
Sociological Research Methods

Cram a whole paper in one sitting

Sort every topic into what you know and what you do not, then drill only the weak ones.

A rate this low risks an sample.
unrepresentativeaccurateethical

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Rapid timed gap-fills on the terms and numbers you need to recall without thinking.

AThe response rate is 23%.
BThe working is 184 ÷ 800 × 100 = 23%.
CA rate this low risks an unrepresentative sample.

Build It gets the exam shape right

Assemble a full-mark answer from its marking points, in the order an examiner wants them.

Polygyny means one husband married to several wives at once.
TrueFalse

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Spot the fault in a statement. The traps are the mistakes students actually make.

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Short focus games to reset attention, so the next set lands better than the last.

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