Answer five 2 mark questions in 10 minutes. TASK ONE: Answer five 2 mark questions in 10 minutes.

2 mark questions Explain what is meant by ‘primary socialisation’ (Item 2A, line 7). (2 marks) (specimen paper) Explain what is meant by the ‘expressive role’ (Item 2A, line 5). (2 marks) (January 2009) Explain what is meant by ‘serial monogamy’ (Item 2A). (2 marks) (June 2010) Explain what is meant by ‘net migration’ (Item 2A). (2 marks) (January 2011) Explain what is meant by the ‘social construction’ of childhood (Item 2A). (2 marks) (June 2011

What’s the missing word? TASK TWO: What’s the missing word? TRENDS TRENDS

The number of traditional nuclear family households has _______

Divorce rates have _________

There are ______ first time marriages, but ______re-marriages There are ______ first time marriages, but ______re-marriages. People are marrying later in life

________ couples are cohabiting

Women are having _______children and having them later

There are _____ births outside marriage

There are ______ lone-parent families

______ people live alone

There are _____ stepfamilies, and _____ couples without children

Guess the perspective/sociologist TASK THREE: Guess the perspective/sociologist FAMILY DIVERSITY

Overview of family diversity argument

Family diversity is a bad thing Family diversity is a good thing _________ and ________ commentators believe that family diversity is not to be encouraged. This is because they see the traditional nuclear family consisting of a married couple with children and a _______ division of labour as being ‘natural’ and ‘normal’. They argue that the division of labour between an ‘instrumental’ male income-earner role, and an ‘_______’ female housewife role is ‘natural’. This is because it is based on biological differences between men and women which makes them suitable for each role. ___________ and ______ sociologists reject the view of the functionalist and New Right. They argue instead that a family is whatever arrangements those involved choose to call a family. ? and ? are in favour of increasing family diversity because it brings people the freedom of choice to choose whatever arrangements best suit their needs. It also frees women from the oppression of the traditional patriarchal family.

Family diversity is a bad thing

________theories Evaluation According to __________, the nuclear family is uniquely suited to meeting the needs of modern society for a geographically and socially mobile workforce. It also performs two ‘irreducible functions’ of the ________socialisation of the children and the stabilisation of adult personalities, and these contribute to the overall stability and effectiveness of society.   For functionalists then, the nuclear family with a ________ of labour between husband and wife is best suited to perform its functions effectively in a modern society. All other types of family are seen as abnormal, inadequate or _______ because they are less able to perform the functions required by the family. However, functionalists tend to ignore the ‘_______ ________’ of the family – conflict between husband and wife, male dominance, child abuse, and so on. They give insufficient attention to the dysfunctions of the family – the harmful effects it may have on the wider society. Also, since _______ wrote in the in the 1950s, many western societies, including the UK, have become multicultural. Religious and ethnic subcultural differences may mean that Parsons’ version of the family is no longer relevant in contemporary society.

_____ ______theories Evaluation The ________ _____ argue that the decline of the traditional nuclear family and the growth of family ________ are the cause of many social problems, such as higher crime rates and educational failure.   They see lone-parent families, for example, as ‘unnatural’ and harmful to children because they cannot discipline their children properly and are a burden on the welfare state. These high levels of benefits undermine the traditional family by discouraging men from working to support their families, and they encourage a ‘dependency culture’ of living off welfare benefits. However, there is little or no evidence that lone-parent families are part of a ‘________ culture’, nor that their children are more likely to be delinquent than those brought-up in a two-parent family of the same social class. Feminists argue that the traditional nuclear family favoured by the _____ _____is based on the _________ oppression of women and is a fundamental cause of gender inequality. In their view it prevents women working, keeps them financially dependent on men, and denies them an equal say in decision-making. Rhona and Robert ________ see increasing family diversity as a response to people’s different needs and wishes, and not as abnormal or a deviation from the assumed norm of the nuclear family.

Robert __________ Evaluation Robert ________ argues that the extent and importance of family diversity has been exaggerated.   Like __________, Chester sees the nuclear family as being dominant, but he recognises that the traditional nuclear family has changed to what he calls a ‘neo-__________’ family in which both spouses go out to work and the division of labour is more ________ and shared. _________ argues that the so-called ‘family diversity’ is more about the lifecycle than people choosing to live in new family arrangements. Most people in _______-person households are either elderly widows or younger or divorced people who aspire to live in a nuclear family. However, the Rap_______ deny that this is the case and argue that diversity is of central importance in understanding family life today. They believe that we have moved away from the traditional nuclear family as the dominant family type, to a range of different types. Families in Britain have adapted to a society in which cultures and lifestyles are more diverse.

Family diversity is a good thing

David _______: Family practices Evaluation ______ argues that family diversity has increased as a response to society becoming more fragmented. He uses the concepts of family practices to describe how we create our sense of ‘being a family member’ through actions such as feeding children or doing DIY.   He sees the family as ‘what people do’ rather than as a concrete ‘thing’ or structure. Similarly, he argues that things like the family, friendships, and other forms of relationship have become less clear-cut and the boundaries between them blurred because today’s society is more fragmented. However, ________ sociologists argue that although life courses and family practices are the actions of individuals, they take place in the context of the wider social structure and norms. For example, gender norms and differences in job opportunities in wider society may dictate that males will be the major income-earners and women the homemakers, and this will influence individuals’ expectations of each other within the family.

David ______ Evaluation David ______ argues that family diversity has increased because we now have more choice over the type of family we create. As a result family life has become more diverse than ever. In today’s ________ society, there is no longer one single type of family that is dominant – only families plural.   However, some sociologists point out that greater freedom of choice in relationships means a greater risk of instability, since these relationships are more likely to break up.

______Giddens Evaluation Giddens argues that family diversity has increased because there is more equality between men and women. As a result, the basis of marriage and the family have changed into one in which the couple are free to define their relationship themselves, rather than acting out roles that have been defined in advanced by law or tradition. For example, they can now choose whether to marry or cohabit. However, Giddens himself points out that with more choice, personal relationships inevitably become less stable. Relationships can be ended more or less at will by either partner.  

Judith ________ Evaluation ________ argues that changes in the position of women has increased the diversity of family types. Stacey’s research found that women have been the main agents of change in the family. Many of the women she interviewed rejected the traditional stay-at-home role and instead created new types of family that better suited their choice to work, return to education, divorce and re-marry. One of these new family types Stacey calls the ‘divorce-extended’ family whose members are connected by divorce rather than marriage. The key members are normally female and may include former in-laws such as ex-mother and daughter in-laws. Such families illustrate the idea that postmodern families are diverse and that their shape depends on the active choices people make about how to live their lives – for example, whether to divorce, cohabit, come-out as gay etc.  

Jeffrey _______ Evaluation _______ identifies a long-term shift in attitudes towards sexual and family diversity since the 1950s. These have become more favourable towards issues such as cohabitation and homosexuality. As such family diversity has increased.   However, despite these changing attitudes, family patterns tend to be fairly traditional. Most people still live in a family; most children are brought up by couples; most couples marry and many divorcees re-marry. Also, some sociologists have suggested that these changes have led to a ‘crisis of masculinity’ in which some men experience anxiety about their role. As such, the result of this could be an increase in domestic violence in an attempt to re-assert their traditional masculinity.

PAIRS (One face the board) - WHO AM I? YES/NO TASK FOUR: PAIRS (One face the board) - WHO AM I? YES/NO Are Domestic Roles Becoming More Equal ?

Willmott and Young Wilmott and Young argue that the extended family has been replaced by a privatised nuclear family characterised by ‘symmetry’. Modern marriage is characterised by ‘joint conjugal roles’ meaning that women are now going out to work and men are doing a fairer share of domestic tasks. Moreover, couples are now more likely to share both leisure time and decision-making.

Oakley Oakley argues that Young and Wilmott’s claim of increasing symmetry in based on suspect methodology. Their conclusions were based on one interview which was worded in such a way that could exaggerate the amount of housework done by men.

British Social Attitudes Survey 2007 The recent British Social Attitudes Survey found more sharing of child-rearing than household tasks, although there was some movement towards a more equal division of labour over time.

Hardill In her study of 30 dual-career professional couples, Hardill found that the important decisions were usually taken either by the man alone or jointly, and that his career normally took priority when deciding whether to move house for a new job.

Pahl and Vogler Pahl and Vogler focus on how each partner’s contribution to the family income affects decision-making within the family. They found that ‘pooling’ incomes through, for example, a joint bank account, was on the increase and was more common among couples who both work full-time. However, they found that men usually made the major financial decisions.

Giddens In recent decades the family and marriage have been transformed by greater choice and more equality between men and women.

Beck Greater gender equality and greater individualism have led to a new type of family which Beck calls the ‘negotiated family’, which is more equal than the traditional patriarchal family. These do not conform to the traditional family norm,and who does what domestic task varies according to the wishes and expectations of their members. Gershuney

Gershuny Gershuny found that the husbands of working women continued to do less than half the total paid and unpaid work of their partners. However, although the ‘dual burden’ of paid and domestic work remained for women, men did seem to be doing more housework when their wives were in paid work.

Dunscombe and Marsden Dunscombe and Marsden identify another element of women’s domestic work – ‘emotion work’. Many women in their study expressed dissatisfaction with their partner’s emotional input into the relationship and the family. Most men did not acknowledge that emotion work needed to be done to make the relationship work. They also found that many women ended up doing a triple shift: having completed their paid employment they not only have to do most of the housework, they also have to do the emotion work.