the family:
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Why do families exist? What do they do for society and their members? How has this function changed over time? Why? What difference does it make to be young or old? Why? These are just some of the questions that will be answered in this section.
This section ends with a 90 minute exam in the summer of Y12. The issues tested are listed below: Use the drop-down menu to go to each subsection. |
Family & Soc ChangeHow are families changing? Is this for the better or for the worse? Is there a perfect family structure?
Candidates will explore different perspectives of the role of the family in society, giving an opportunity for them to reflect on the key concepts of Power, control and resistance, and Socialisation, culture and identity. Candidates will examine the effects of social change on the diversity of family and household forms, which link to the key concept of Social change and development. 3.1 Perspectives on the role of the family • Functionalist accounts of how the family benefits its members and society and how the functions of families have changed over time, including the ‘loss of functions’ debate. • Marxist accounts of how the family benefits capitalism, including ideological control, reproduction of labour and consumption. • Feminist responses to functionalist and Marxist accounts of the role of the family. 3.2 Diversity and social change • The causes and consequences of changing patterns of marriage, cohabitation, divorce and separation. • Different family and household forms, including nuclear, extended, lone-parent, reconstituted, same-sex families, families of choice and single-person households. • Dimensions of family diversity, including organisational, cultural and class diversity. • The debate about the extent of family diversity and the dominance of the nuclear family. • New Right and postmodernist perspectives on family diversity. • The state and social policy as influences on the family. |
Family roles and changing relationships
How far is there equality in family relationships? What determines the level of power someone has?
Candidates will consider different ways in which the behaviours of some family members are controlled by others, and will examine equality in the family. These issues provide a context for the key concepts of Power, control and resistance, and Inequality and opportunity. 4.1 Gender equality and experiences of family life • Different feminist perspectives on equality and power in the family, including liberal, radical and Marxist feminist. • Conjugal roles and debates about gender equality in the family, including housework, childcare, power and emotion work. • Debates about whether the experience of family life is positive or negative for family members. 4.2 Age and family life • The social construction of childhood, and changes in the role and social position of children in the family. • The role and social position of grandparents in the family, including cross-cultural comparisons and the impact of changing life expectancy upon the family. • Social class, gender and ethnicity as factors affecting the experiences of children in the family. • Changes in the concepts of motherhood and fatherhood. |
Key concepts: It will help if you know the correct spellings and definitions of all of these terms!
• adolescence
• ageism
• age set
• age stratification
• beanpole family
• civil partnership
• child-centred families
• childhood
• chosen family
• cohabitation
• common-law family
• communes
• confluent love
• conjugal roles
• consumption
• convergence of diversity
• demographic transition
• dependency ratio
• disengagement
• divorce
• domestic division of labour
• domestic labour
• domestic violence
• double shift/dual burden
• dysfunctional family
• emotion work
• empty-shell marriage
• equalityextended family
• family diversity
• family functions
• family ideology
• female carer-core
• fertility rate
• functional fit
• functional prerequisites
• same sex families (gay and lesbian)
• gender inequality
• horizontal and vertical structures
• households
• ideological control
• industrialisation
• infantilisation
• instrumental/expressive roles
• joint/segregated conjugal roles
• kibbutzim
• kinship patterns (networks)
• life course analysis
• lone/single parent family
• loss of function
• marriage
• marital breakdown/instability
• matriarchy
• matrifocal family
• matrilineal
• matrilocal residence
• migration
• modified extended family
• monogamy
• neolocal residence
• new man
• new right
• nuclear family
• particularistic values
• partnership
• patriarchy
• patrifocal family
• patrilineal
• patrilocal residence
• pensioner household
• pester power
• polyandry
• polygamy
• polygyny
• postmodern family
• primary socialisation
• privatised family
• reconstituted family
• reproduction of labour
• rite of passage
• separation
• serial monogamy
• social construction
• symmetrical family
• triple shift
• universalistic values
• urbanisation
• youth culture
• adolescence
• ageism
• age set
• age stratification
• beanpole family
• civil partnership
• child-centred families
• childhood
• chosen family
• cohabitation
• common-law family
• communes
• confluent love
• conjugal roles
• consumption
• convergence of diversity
• demographic transition
• dependency ratio
• disengagement
• divorce
• domestic division of labour
• domestic labour
• domestic violence
• double shift/dual burden
• dysfunctional family
• emotion work
• empty-shell marriage
• equalityextended family
• family diversity
• family functions
• family ideology
• female carer-core
• fertility rate
• functional fit
• functional prerequisites
• same sex families (gay and lesbian)
• gender inequality
• horizontal and vertical structures
• households
• ideological control
• industrialisation
• infantilisation
• instrumental/expressive roles
• joint/segregated conjugal roles
• kibbutzim
• kinship patterns (networks)
• life course analysis
• lone/single parent family
• loss of function
• marriage
• marital breakdown/instability
• matriarchy
• matrifocal family
• matrilineal
• matrilocal residence
• migration
• modified extended family
• monogamy
• neolocal residence
• new man
• new right
• nuclear family
• particularistic values
• partnership
• patriarchy
• patrifocal family
• patrilineal
• patrilocal residence
• pensioner household
• pester power
• polyandry
• polygamy
• polygyny
• postmodern family
• primary socialisation
• privatised family
• reconstituted family
• reproduction of labour
• rite of passage
• separation
• serial monogamy
• social construction
• symmetrical family
• triple shift
• universalistic values
• urbanisation
• youth culture