Name:
Mark out of 100:
Comment:
Family section
Question
Q1. Which term is commonly used by sociologists to
describe the same or disgrace attached to particular
behaviour? (1)
Q2. Which term is used to describe the criminal offence
of marrying when already married to someone else. (1)
Q3. Describe an empty nest family. (3)
Q4. Identify and describe one example of a dependent
family member.(3)
Q5. From item A, examine one strength of research using
official statistics of divorce.(2)
Q6. Identify and explain one factor that might have led
to an increase in the divorce rate between 1973 and
1993. (4)
Q7. Identify and explain one advantage of using a focus
group to investigate arranged marriage in Britain. (4)
Q8. Identify and describe the research method used by
Ann Oakley, including what you know of her perspective
on the family. (4)
Q9. Identify one type of family diversity and explain how
you’d investigate this type of diversity using
unstructured interviews. (4)
Q10. Discuss how far sociologists agree that the family is
the main source or gender inequality in British society
today. (12)
Q11. Discuss how far sociologists agree that the main
function of the nuclear family in Britain today is the
primary socialisation of children. (12)
Education section
Question
Q12. Which term is used by sociologists to describe
research in which participants are not aware that they
are taken part in a study? (1)
Q13. Which term is used by sociologists to describe the
learning that takes place when people develop
knowledge and skills by observing what is happening
around them in everyday life. (1)
Q14. Describe the gendered curriculum in education. (3)
Q15 Describe one example of a system of stratification
based on achieved status. (3)
Q16. From item C, examine one strengths of the
research. (2)
Q17. Identify and explain one possible reason why the
proportion of the young people who have received
private tuition is rising. (4)
Q18. Identify and explain one disadvantage of using a
snowball sample to investigate truancy among
secondary school students. (4)
Q19. From item D, identity and describe the research
method used by Ball, including what you know of his
perspective of education. (4)
Q20. Identify one expectation that teacher might have of
students in the top band and explain the possible impact
of this expectation of students’ educational
achievement. (4)
Q21. Discuss how far sociologists agree that students’
family backgrounds are the most important factor in
explaining differences in their educational achievements.
(12)
Q22. Discuss how far sociologists agree that feminism is
the main reason for the improvements in the
educational achievements of girls over the last 40 years.
(12)
Possible answers
Social stigma
Bigamy
Retired couple whose children have moved out of the household.
A child aged 0-15 or 16-18 in full time education that are too young to be financially independent of their parents
and they depend on their parents for emotional support
They provide quantitative data that is collected on a national level from a reputable source following official
standards, reliability, generalisation is possible, can identify trends over time, cheap source of data.
Higher expectation of marriage, legal changes, less stigma attached to divorce, impact of secularisation, the changing
social and economic status of women.
Explores how participants interact and respond to each other’s views on arranged marriages, gather qualitative data,
participants may feel more comfortable in a group setting, the focus group may generate new ideas about arranged
marriages.
The research is based on secondary sources of information/a literature review. Writing from a feminist perspective,
Oakley uses pre-existing sources including the work of other sociologists. She uses the information to provide a
critical analysis of the conventional nuclear family, including its financial inequality linked to gender. Oakley contrasts
the idea of the conventional family with the reality and argues that living in a conventional family can be stressful.
Social class, cultural, life-course, cohort and organisational diversity – 1 mark +3 marks for explaining how you would
investigate this type using unstructured interviews.
Agree: feminist perspective to argue that the nuclear family is the main source of gender inequality in society.
Delphy and Leonard’s view on economic exploitation of women within families, the views on patriarchy.
Criticism: Marxist view to argue that gender inequality within families is linked to the working of capitalism rather
than patriarchy
Functionalist view: the nuclear family is functional rather than unequal. It meets the needs of the individual and
society.
Agree: functionalists argue that the main function of the nuclear family is the primary socialisation of children
Possible answers
Covert research
Informal education
Some subjects (maths and science) are associated with masculinity and others (languages, humanities) are
associated with femininity. These stereotypes can limit students’ choices at school and future careers.
The social class system is based on achieved status. It is meritocratic and status is based on an individual’s talents
and abilities rather than their birth. Equal opportunities exists and working class students can achieve qualifications
through their own abilities, experience upward social mobility and get a middle class job.
The research covers a lot of students so the sample is likely to be representative, an opinion poll can be replicated to
check the reliability of findings, drawing on data from several sources.
Affluent parents might believe that there is more pressure on their children to achieve top grades and to get into
prestigious universities and enter a professional career. 1 mark for relevant disadvantage and 3 marks for explaining
this disadvantage.
The researcher is not in full control of the sample selection process, unlikely to generate a large sample, the
researcher might not gather sufficient data, the sample will not be representative – 1 mark for relevant disadvantage
and 3 marks for explaining this disadvantage.
Ball used participant observation. He studied banding and mixed ability teaching. Ball’s perspective is partly
interactionist because he explores the interactions between teacher and students.
Expecting students in the top band to achieve the highest grades at GCSE, expecting students to complete a lot of
homework, expecting students to stay on to study A levels – 1 mark for relevant expectation and 3 marks for
explaining the impact of expectation.
Outline the differences in educational achievements between students based on their social class, ethnicity, gender
Argue that students’ family backgrounds are the most important factor: material deprivation, cultural deprivation,
parental values, parents’ educational backgrounds.
Argue that school-based factors and processes are more important than family background: teacher expectations,
labelling and the SFP
Argue that educational policy is the most important: the impact of marketisation
Outline the improvements in girls ‘educational achievements.
Argue that these improvements are mainly due to feminism: attitudes to education, careers, financial independence
Argue that these improvements are due to more girl-friendly schooling: changing assessment patterns, feminisation
of education
Argue that the improvements are due to teacher’ higher expectations of female students, labelling and SFP
Argue that the improvements are mainly due to legislation: Sex Discrimination ACT (1975), the introduction of the
National Curriculum.
Despite these improvements, some feminists still see education as a patriarchal system: gendered curriculum.