Cambridge A-Level Sociology: The Family (9699)

Paper 2 – The Family is worth 60 marks, 1 hour 30 minutes, and is one of the two compulsory AS Level papers in Cambridge International AS & A Level Sociology (9699), alongside Paper 1, Socialisation, Identity and Methods of Research. Each carries 50% of the AS award and 25% of the full A Level. Candidates answer four questions: Section A has three compulsory questions, and Section B is one essay (26 marks) chosen from two.

Where this fits in 9699

The Family splits into two topic areas, each with two named sub-topics – Theories of the family and social change (3.1, 3.2), and Family roles and changing relationships (4.1, 4.2) – and together the two areas draw on four of the syllabus’s key concepts, not just one pair of them. Theories of the family and social change (3.1, 3.2) is linked to Power, control and resistance; Socialisation, culture and identity; and Social change and development. Family roles and changing relationships (4.1, 4.2) is linked to Power, control and resistance; and Inequality and opportunity.

Syllabus coverage

CAMBRIDGE A-LEVEL SOCIOLOGY (9699) — PAPER 2 THE FAMILY

• 3.1 Perspectives on the role of the family — functionalist, Marxist and feminist accounts of what the family does for its members and for society
• 3.2 Diversity and social change — changing patterns of marriage, cohabitation, divorce and separation; family and household forms; dimensions of diversity; the New Right/postmodernist debate; the state and social policy
• 4.1 Gender equality and experiences of family life — feminist perspectives on power in the family, conjugal roles, and whether family life is experienced positively or negatively
• 4.2 Age and family life — the social construction of childhood, the position of grandparents, and how class, gender and ethnicity affect children’s experience of family life

3.1 Perspectives on the role of the family

Three theoretical traditions frame this sub-topic, and each is examined for what it claims the family does:

• Functionalist accounts explain how the family benefits both its individual members and society as a whole, and trace how the functions performed by families have changed over time – including the “loss of functions” debate, which argues that institutions such as schools and the welfare state have taken over roles the family used to perform alone.
• Marxist accounts explain how the family benefits the capitalist economic system specifically, through ideological control, the reproduction of labour (raising the next generation of workers), and consumption (the family as a unit that buys goods).
• Feminist perspectives respond critically to both of the above, challenging the functionalist and Marxist accounts for treating the family as broadly beneficial while overlooking inequality within it.

3.2 Diversity and social change

This sub-topic covers the causes and consequences of changing patterns of marriage, cohabitation, divorce and separation, and the range of family and household forms this produces – nuclear, extended, lone-parent, reconstituted and single-person households, with the syllabus noting that other forms (such as same-sex families and families of choice) may also be taught where appropriate to the local context and not restricted by law or regulation. Diversity itself is examined along several dimensions (organisational, cultural, class), and candidates engage with the debate over how far family diversity has actually gone and whether the nuclear family remains dominant. New Right and postmodernist perspectives offer contrasting views on this diversity – broadly, the New Right treats growing diversity as a social problem, while postmodernist accounts treat it as evidence of greater individual choice – and the state and social policy are examined as an active influence shaping family form, not just a neutral backdrop to it.

4.1 Gender equality and experiences of family life

Feminism is examined here in more internal detail than in 3.1: liberal, radical and Marxist feminist perspectives offer different explanations of inequality and power within the family, rather than being treated as a single unified position. Conjugal roles – how domestic labour and decision-making are divided between partners – are examined through housework, childcare, power and emotion work (the often-unequal effort of managing a family’s emotional life). The sub-topic closes on a genuinely contested question the syllabus frames as a live debate: whether the overall experience of family life is positive or negative for its members, rather than assuming an answer either way.

4.2 Age and family life

Childhood is examined as a socially constructed category – what counts as childhood, and how children are treated, has changed over time and varies between societies, rather than being a fixed biological fact. The role and social position of grandparents is examined including cross-cultural comparison and the impact of rising life expectancy on family structure. Social class, gender and ethnicity are all examined as factors shaping how children actually experience family life, and the sub-topic closes with changing concepts of motherhood and fatherhood – how these roles have been redefined over time rather than remaining fixed.

Assessment objectives on Paper 2

Paper 2 uses the same three assessment objectives as every other paper in the qualification: AO1 (Knowledge and understanding), AO2 (Interpretation and application), and AO3 (Analysis and evaluation). Section A’s three compulsory questions typically draw more heavily on AO1 and AO2 – demonstrating and applying knowledge of theories and evidence – while the Section B essay, worth 26 marks on its own, is where AO3 carries the most weight: explaining the strengths and limitations of the perspectives covered in 3.1 and 4.1, and reaching a reasoned conclusion rather than simply describing each perspective in turn.

How to approach it

Learn 3.1’s three perspectives (functionalist, Marxist, feminist) as a set that can be directly compared and contrasted, since Section B essays on the family reward exactly this kind of cross-perspective evaluation rather than a description of one theory in isolation. Treat 3.2’s diversity content and 4.1/4.2’s roles-and-relationships content as related but distinct: 3.2 is about the forms families take, while 4.1 and 4.2 are about what happens inside those forms, along lines of gender and age specifically. Because feminism reappears across both halves of the paper (as one perspective in 3.1, then in finer internal detail in 4.1), keep a running note of which feminist strand – liberal, radical or Marxist – makes which specific argument, since conflating them is a common source of lost marks in essay answers.

Official syllabus

Cambridge International AS & A Level Sociology (9699) syllabus for examination in 2024, 2025 and 2026 (Version 3) — official syllabus PDF, section 3 (“Subject content – Paper 2: The Family”). Verified 2026-09-02.