AQA A-level Sociology (7192): Paper 2 – Families and households – Study Guide

This guide covers Families and Households for AQA A-level Sociology (7192), as set out in the AQA AS and A-level Sociology (7191, 7192) specification, Version 1.2 (14 October 2021). The topic is section 4.2.2 of the A-level content (the specification-at-a-glance list also shows it as 3.2.2). It is assessed in Paper 2: Topics in Sociology, Section A, where it is one of the four option 1 topics.

Use it with the revision notes and the practice questions. For the whole course, see the AQA A-level Sociology hub and the 7192 checklist.

Coverage table

Syllabus reference	What you must know or be able to do (from the document)	Where assessed
4.2.2	The relationship of the family to the social structure and social change, with particular reference to the economy and to state policies	Paper 2, Section A (option 1)
4.2.2	Changing patterns of marriage, cohabitation, separation, divorce, childbearing and the life course, including the sociology of personal life, and the diversity of contemporary family and household structures	Paper 2, Section A (option 1)
4.2.2	Gender roles, domestic labour and power relationships within the family in contemporary society	Paper 2, Section A (option 1)
4.2.2	The nature of childhood, and changes in the status of children in the family and society	Paper 2, Section A (option 1)
4.2.2	Demographic trends in the United Kingdom since 1900: birth rates, death rates, family size, life expectancy, ageing population, and migration and globalisation	Paper 2, Section A (option 1)
4.2 (all topics)	Topic areas in relation to the two core themes; both the evidence of and the sociological explanations for the content	Paper 2

How Paper 2 works

The specification prints Paper 2: Topics in Sociology as a 2 hour written exam worth 80 marks and 33.3% of the A-level. Section A is “one from option 1: 4.2.1, 4.2.2, 4.2.3 or 4.2.4” (Culture and Identity; Families and Households; Health; Work, Poverty and Welfare). Section B is “one from option 2: 4.2.5, 4.2.6, 4.2.7 or 4.2.8” (Beliefs in Society; Global Development; The Media; Stratification and Differentiation). Each section is extended writing, 40 marks. Section B must then come from option 2.

The assessment objectives are AO1 (knowledge and understanding), AO2 (application) and AO3 (analysis and evaluation). Link each topic to the two core themes: socialisation, culture and identity; and social differentiation, power and stratification. Your teacher will confirm question styles and mark splits.

1. The family, social structure, the economy and the state

Key terms

• Functional fit: the idea that the family’s structure changes to suit the needs of the economy.
• Primary socialisation: the first learning of norms and values, mainly in the family.
• Social policy: government actions (laws, taxes, benefits) that affect families.

Functionalism. Murdock (1949) looked at 250 societies and argued the nuclear family is universal because it performs four functions: sexual, reproductive, economic and educational. Parsons (1955) argued that industrial society needed a geographically and socially mobile workforce, so the isolated nuclear family replaced the extended family. He said the family keeps two “irreducible” functions: primary socialisation and the stabilisation of adult personalities.

Evaluation. Laslett’s historical research found that nuclear households were already common in pre-industrial England, which challenges Parsons’ sequence. Young and Willmott’s study of Bethnal Green, Family and Kinship in East London (1957), found strong extended kin networks in an industrial city. Feminists say functionalists ignore who does the work of the family, and that “functions” for society can mean exploitation for women.

Marxism. Engels (1884) linked the monogamous family to private property: men needed to know who their heirs were. Zaretsky (1976) argued the family is a “refuge” from alienating work under capitalism, but only an illusion of one, and that it serves capitalism as a unit of consumption.

Evaluation. Marxists tend to ignore family diversity. Feminists argue gender, not class, is the main inequality in families.

State policies. Policies can shape family life directly (the Divorce Reform Act 1969; the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013) or indirectly through tax, benefits and childcare. Donzelot argued that health visitors, social workers and other professionals carry out surveillance of families, with poorer families watched most closely. The New Right (for example Murray) argue that generous welfare benefits create perverse incentives that reward lone parenthood and weaken the conventional family. Feminists argue that many policies assume a male breadwinner and a female carer, which keeps women dependent.

Evaluation. Critics say the New Right blame the poor and neglect low income. Supporters reply that policy should still encourage stable two-parent families.

Worked paragraph. Knowledge: Parsons argued that the nuclear family fits industrial society because workers must move to where jobs are. Application: this helps explain why the shift from farming to factories in Britain coincided with smaller, more mobile households. Analysis: if fit holds, family structure should follow economic change. Evaluation: however, Laslett’s evidence that nuclear households were common before industrialisation suggests the nuclear family may have helped industrialisation happen, not the other way round, so Parsons may reverse cause and effect.

2. Marriage, cohabitation, divorce, childbearing, the life course and diversity

Patterns. Fewer people marry, and they marry later. Cohabitation is now common, both before marriage and as an alternative to it. Same-sex marriage (2013) and opposite-sex civil partnerships (from December 2019) widened legal choices in England and Wales. Women are having fewer children and having them later, and a large share of births are outside marriage.

Divorce rose sharply after the Divorce Reform Act 1969 came into force in 1971. The Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020 came into effect on 6 April 2022, removing the need to prove fault. The ONS reported 80,057 divorces in England and Wales in 2022, the lowest number since 1971. In 2019, 62% of opposite-sex divorces were petitioned by wives.

Explanations for divorce. Legal change made divorce easier and cheaper. Secularisation and declining stigma removed social pressure to stay married. Fletcher (1966) argued that rising expectations of marriage make people less willing to accept an unhappy one, not that marriage is valued less. Women’s greater financial independence means they can leave unhappy marriages. Feminists see high divorce partly as a response to inequality inside marriage.

Diversity. Rapoport and Rapoport (1982) identified five types: organisational, cultural, social class, life-stage and cohort. Chester (1985) argued the main change is a “neo-conventional family” where both partners work, so diversity is overstated. Brannen (2003) described the “beanpole family”: many generations, few relatives in each.

New Right view of diversity. The New Right see the conventional nuclear family, with married parents, as the best setting for raising children, and link the growth of lone-parent families to social problems. Critics reply that low income, not family type, explains much of the disadvantage, and that this view stigmatises lone parents.

Postmodern and late-modern views. Giddens (1992) described the “pure relationship”, which lasts only as long as both partners are satisfied. Beck and Beck-Gernsheim (1995) argued that individualisation makes relationships more fragile. Stacey described “divorce-extended families”, where ties continue through former in-laws.

The life course and personal life. Life course analysis (associated with Hareven) studies the turning points people move through and the meanings they give them. Smart (2007) set out the sociology of personal life, which focuses on the relationships people themselves see as important, such as friends, kin linked through donor conception or relatives who have died. Nordqvist and Smart (2014) studied families formed through donor conception. Weeks wrote of “families of choice” among gay and lesbian people.

Evaluation. The personal life approach captures meaning, but can underplay structural limits such as income and law. Postmodern views may exaggerate choice.

Worked paragraph. Knowledge: Chester argued that the neo-conventional family remains the norm. Application: a couple who cohabit, both work and later marry is still a nuclear family at one life stage. Analysis: snapshot statistics count many people as “non-nuclear” who are only between stages. Evaluation: yet the Rapoports show cultural and class diversity that Chester’s model does not capture, so “diversity” depends on how you measure it.

3. Gender roles, domestic labour and power

Key terms. Conjugal roles: the roles of partners in the home. Bott (1957) separated segregated roles from joint roles. Dual burden: paid work plus housework. Triple shift: paid work, housework and emotion work.

March of progress. Young and Willmott (1973), in The Symmetrical Family, argued roles were becoming more similar, with wives working and husbands helping at home. Gershuny (1994) argued for “lagged adaptation”: men slowly increase their share as women work longer hours. Sullivan (2000) found a trend towards more equal division.

Feminist critique. Oakley (1974) interviewed 40 London housewives and found little evidence of symmetry. She criticised Young and Willmott for counting a husband as helping if he did a task at least once a week. Duncombe and Marsden (1995) identified the triple shift, adding emotion work. Crompton and Lyonette (2008) contrast a cultural explanation (norms tell women to do housework) with a material one (women earn less, so it is “rational” for them to do more).

Power and decision-making. Edgell (1980) found husbands in middle-class couples had the final say on very important decisions. Pahl (1989) showed how money is managed: allowance systems give the earner control, while pooling is more equal. Dunne (1999) found lesbian couples shared tasks more equally, suggesting inequality comes from gender scripts.

Domestic violence. Dobash and Dobash (1979) argued that violence against wives reflects patriarchal power. Wilkinson (1996) linked it more to stress from social inequality, which helps explain why risk is higher in poorer households. Note that men can also be victims; good answers recognise both explanations.

Evaluation. Time-use surveys can miss who takes responsibility for planning. Liberal feminists see gradual change; radical feminists see patriarchy persisting. Hakim’s (2000) preference theory challenges feminists: many women choose home-centred or adaptive lifestyles, so some inequality reflects choice. Feminists reply that these preferences are shaped by limited childcare and lower pay.

Worked paragraph. Knowledge: Crompton and Lyonette offer a material explanation. Application: in a household where the woman earns more, the material view predicts she will do less housework. Analysis: if she still does more, cultural norms matter more than income. Evaluation: studies of same-sex couples, such as Dunne’s, support the cultural view because equality is easier to achieve without gender scripts.

4. The nature of childhood and the status of children

Key terms. Social construction: something defined by society, not fixed by biology. Child-centredness: family life organised around children’s needs. Age patriarchy: Gittins’ (1998) term for adult control over children.

Childhood as constructed. Ariès (1960) used paintings and diaries to argue that in medieval Europe children were treated as “mini-adults”. Shorter (1975) argued high infant mortality encouraged emotional distance. Benedict (1938) and Punch (2001), who studied children in rural Bolivia, show how children elsewhere take on responsibilities early.

Evaluation. Pollock (1983) used diaries to argue that childhood existed in earlier centuries too, just in a different form. Ariès relied on limited sources.

Changes since 1900. Laws separated children from adults: free secondary education for all (Education Act 1944), the school leaving age raised to 16 in 1972, the Children Act 1989 and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989). Pilcher (1995) stressed the separateness of childhood, shown in laws, dress and products.

Is childhood disappearing? Postman (1982) argued television removed the “information hierarchy” between adults and children, so childhood is disappearing. Palmer (2006) described “toxic childhood” caused by technology and consumerism. Opie (1993) pointed instead to a lively children’s culture of games and rhymes.

Conflict view. The march-of-progress view says children are better cared for than ever. Conflict sociologists (Gittins; Firestone) argue that “protection” is also control, and that childhood varies by gender, class and ethnicity.

Worked paragraph. Knowledge: Postman argued that television dissolves the boundary between adulthood and childhood. Application: unrestricted phone access gives children adult content. Analysis: if the boundary rests on information, the internet should weaken it further. Evaluation: however, laws on schooling and child protection have extended childhood, so legally it is longer than ever even if culturally it is blurring.

5. Demographic trends since 1900

Key terms. Birth rate: live births per 1,000 of the population per year. Death rate: deaths per 1,000 per year. Total fertility rate: average number of children a woman would have over her lifetime. Dependency ratio: dependants (children and older people) compared with the working-age population.

Births and family size. Births fell across the century, with baby booms after both World Wars and a peak in 1964. Fertility has been below the replacement level of about 2.1 children per woman since the 1970s. Explanations: changes in women’s position (education, careers, contraception, abortion law), lower infant mortality, children becoming an economic cost rather than an earner, and child-centredness.

Deaths and life expectancy. The death rate fell. McKeown (1976) credited better nutrition more than medicine. Public health measures, better housing and later the NHS (1948) also mattered. ONS national life tables put UK life expectancy at birth at 78.6 years for males and 82.6 years for females in 2020 to 2022.

Ageing population. Lower fertility and longer lives mean a higher average age. Consequences include more one-person pensioner households, more care by relatives (often women) and a rising dependency ratio. Phillipson (1982) argued that older people are marginalised under capitalism because they are no longer productive. Postmodernists argue that age identity is now more fluid.

Migration and globalisation. After the arrival of the Empire Windrush in 1948, migration from the Caribbean and South Asia added to cultural diversity of families. Cohen (2006) distinguished citizens, denizens and helots. Ehrenreich and Hochschild (2003) described “global care chains”, where women migrate to do care work, leaving their own children with relatives. Views of migration’s impact are contested: some stress economic and cultural gains, others pressure on services.

Worked paragraph. Knowledge: the ageing population increases the number of older dependants. Application: a “sandwich” carer may look after a parent and a child at once. Analysis: this shows a demographic trend reshaping gender roles, since women do most unpaid care. Evaluation: yet many older people also give care, for example grandparents doing childcare, so they are not simply a burden.

Common errors

• Writing “Parsons said the family has four functions”. That is Murdock; Parsons gave two irreducible functions.
• Treating a fall in marriage as proof marriage is unpopular. Fletcher’s point is that expectations rose.
• Confusing the birth rate with the total fertility rate.
• Quoting Young and Willmott without Oakley’s critique of their measure.
• Giving one side only on contested policy or migration debates.

Related: Methods in Context, education, Crime and Deviance, course structure.

Official syllabus

AQA AS and A-level Sociology (7191, 7192) specification, Version 1.2 (14 October 2021), section 4.2.2 Families and Households, assessed in Paper 2: Topics in Sociology.