Sociology · May / June 2025 · Paper 22 · Question 1
0495
As printed in the paper
Show the answer and mark scheme
1(a)(i)[2]
Define the term ‘warm bath’ theory. Award one mark for a partial definition, e.g. a happy family life. Award two marks for a clear definition, e.g. the functionalist theory that the family soothes away the pressures men face at work, making them feel relaxed and happy.
1(a)(ii)[2]
Define the term lone parent family. Award one mark for a partial definition, e.g. single parent. Award two marks for a clear definition, e.g. one parent and their dependent children living together.
1(b)[2]
Give two examples of family diversity. Award one mark for each correct example (up to a maximum of two). Possible responses:
family type e.g. nuclear, extended etc.;ethnic differences e.g. family sizes differ according to ethnic group, division of labour differs by ethnicity;social class differences e.g. different family types for working and middle class;cross-cultural differences e.g. Christian – European as not patriarchal, South Asian typically patriarchal;married or unmarried/cohabitation;with or without children e.g. DINK families;types of marriage e.g. monogamous, polygamous, arranged etc;family roles and relationships e.g. joint or segregated conjugal roles;any other reasonable response.1(c)[6]
Describe three ways socialisation in the family can be different for girls and boys. Award one mark for each point correctly identified (up to a maximum of three). Award one mark for each point that is developed (up to a maximum of three). Possible responses:
manipulation – parents encourage and praise some activities and discourage others, e.g. boys may be praised for risk taking behaviour, girls may be discouraged from even trying it;canalisation – parents channel their children towards activities they consider appropriate, e.g. boys may be taken to football and girls to ballet lessons;verbal appellations – how parents speak to their children – the word ‘naughty’ may be used more with boys and ‘pretty’ for girls – this sets very different expectations;different activities – boys and girls will be encouraged to take part in very different activities by their family, e.g. girls help mother with the cooking, boys help father with DIY tasks in the home;sanctions and rewards – parents may impose rougher and tougher sanctions on boys than girls;punishment and reward may also be closely linked to expectations of femininity and masculinity e.g. boys will be chastised if they ‘act like a girl’;
role models – girls and boys, particularly in primary socialisation, look up to and imitate their parents – if these are gender stereotypical roles then it is likely that the children will internalise these as social norms;any other reasonable response.1(d)[6]
Explain three limitations of the Marxist view of the family. Award one mark for each point correctly identified (up to a maximum of three). Award one mark for each point that is developed (up to a maximum of three). Possible responses:
social class focus – the Marxist view of the family is too narrow, focusing almost exclusively on work and the economy and the links to the family;gender blind – feminists would criticise Marxists for ignoring all the gender inequalities and female oppression found within the family;too negative – functionalists would criticise Marxists for ignoring all the positive functions of the family, the important role it plays in society and the happiness it brings its members;macro level – Marxism can be criticised for ignoring the importance of families and the relationships within them to people at a personal level (micro);no practical alternative to the family – Marxism may criticise the family, but it fails to offer a practical alternative to how we should live, even non- capitalist societies have families;family diversity – much of Marxist theory on the family focuses on the nuclear family but families are now more diverse and Marxism has not really considered this in its discussions;any other reasonable response.1(e)[8]
Discuss why alternatives to marriage are becoming more common. Use Table A to mark answers to this question. Possible responses:
cohabitation – when two people live together in a sexual relationship but are not married to each other. This is an increasingly common occurrence, particularly in the West as values change and this non- married choice becomes more widely accepted;singlehood – singlehood is now often a positive choice for women (feminism) as they are able to focus more on their careers, putting this before marriage and children, without social stigma;financial independence of women – as women become more established and secure within the job markets in some societies, so their need to get married (for financial security from a husband) declines as they can provide for themselves;lone parents – there are many lone parents who have never been married due to factors such as feminism encouraging them to believe they don’t need a man to be a family. Single parent families are both common and successful in many Afro-Caribbean communities where the woman brings up a child single-handedly;the growth of the welfare state – this reduces the need for marriage as individuals and their dependents will be looked after by the state – alternatives thus start to increase in popularity as the need for marriage is reduced;secularisation – as many societies become more secular (less religious) so the pressure and expectations of marriage start to reduce, allowing for greater freedom of choice and less stigma;civil partnerships – a formal union of commitment. It may be preferred over marriage by couples who want a formal and legal status for their relationship but who reject the institution of marriage (maybe due to traditional gender roles and/or its links with religion, both of which are reducing in society);communes – some people choose to live communally, with or without children, and to not have an exclusive partner at all – this may be due to a rejection of capitalist norms and values and the pressures that this economic system brings;globalisation – this process means that individuals across the world are now exposed to many alternatives to marriage and can thus start to make informed decisions about their own futures without the restrictions of just their community or their country’s ‘normal’ way of life and the associated expectations;shared households – the increased cost of living and economic uncertainty for many individuals and communities has meant that many people choose to live with others (friends or strangers) rather than to seek out a more traditional relationship based on marriage;high divorce rates – with so many marriages now ending in divorce it may be that marriage is being rejected in favour of other alternatives because people do not see the point when its success rate as an institution is so low;cost of marriage – due to consumer culture marriage has become a costly business and for many people this makes it unaffordable or a waste of money – thus individuals choose alternatives instead that meet their needs just as well;any other reasonable response.1(f)[14]
Evaluate the view that children are an essential part of family life. Use Table B to mark answers to this question. Possible responses for:
nuclear family – many sociologists, e.g. The New Right, see the nuclear family as the ideal family type that we should all live in – this includes having children as an essential part of family life;family function of reproduction – functionalists see one of the main family functions being to reproduce and have children. This shows how essential children are to family life;family function of primary socialisation – Parsons – this is thought to be one of the main reasons why we should have a family, the family’s essential job being to raise and socialise children into functioning, healthy adults;child-centredness – families are said to have become more centred on the needs and desires of the child, demonstrating the integral and essential role children must play in the family;cereal packet family – Leach – the media still shows us the perfect family represented with a mum, dad and children. This is the ideal that many people aspire to and is still the norm in media representations with children as an essential part of family life;Marxism – children are an essential part of the family as they are the new generation to be socialised into the doctrines of capitalism and who will accept their future position as exploited workers for the ruling class;legislation and rights for children – these have been increased to ensure that children are as protected as possible as they are recognised as such an essential part of family life, e.g. UN Rights of the child, legislation regarding employment and education and children's rights when it comes to divorce and custody cases;contraception – the widespread availability of contraception means that children are carefully thought about today and are conceived when the time is right as their childhood is thought to be so important to the family;adoption and IVF – as family diversity increases new ways of having children are developed to ensure that all families, regardless of structure and type, can have children – thus demonstrating the importance of children to the family;any other reasonable response. Possible responses against:childless by choice – feminists argue that many women choose not to have children in order to focus on their careers and to avoid the patriarchy and inequalities in society, e.g. DINK families, China – children are thus not essential;future world – with climate change and an increasingly dangerous world, there is a belief that not having children is the best option for the future so that we are not bringing children into such a world, children are not therefore essential;family diversity – postmodernists believe that we are free to choose the type of family that best suits our needs and not having children is one such option;it does not prevent happiness or success or family life;
economic burden – it costs a lot of money to raise children as in modern industrial societies they no longer do paid work or contribute to the family income, education is expensive, children are dependent on parents for longer and with pester power in the media parents are pressured into buying everything their child wants – children are not essential;feminism – not having children allows women to mitigate and lessen the chances of the dual burden or triple shift and so can enjoy a happier life in which children are not seen to be essential;still a family – definitions of what we mean by a family have evolved and most people now recognise that children are not essential, i.e. one can live in a family without having children;singlehood – it is now widely accepted and without stigma for a woman not to have children, in fact this trend is growing all the time and therefore shows that children are not essential to family life e.g. celebrity childless female role models;changing family functions – it is no longer necessary to have children in order for them to look after you in old age as we now have other institutions that will do this, e.g. hospitals, care homes etc. – thus children are no longer essential;falling birth and fertility rates – the patterns and trends demonstrate that there are now less births than in the past and that the average number of children per woman continues to fall, illustrating the decline in importance of children to family life;any other reasonable response.
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