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Use this sheet to help you in remembering the key studies. Applications of studies and concepts is
vital in the examination. What you are most likely to find in the examination is that the questions
will get you to be applying material from more than one sub topic; so don’t fall into the trap of just
referring to studies / concepts from one sub topic (Sociologists do not want you to pigeon hole).

The secret behind being a good Sociology student can be summed up in the below illustration;

Knowing and challenging your concepts

Applying to

the question

Knowing and challenging

your studies (so important!) Knowing and challenging the theories

THEORY – se. Important advice. Don’t generalise about feminism – the best students will be using
the term ‘feminisms’ in recognising that feminism is composed of many types; including Radical,
Marxist, Liberal and Black Feminism.

DEMOGRAPHY

Changes in the birth rate

Study Concept / fact / argument
Brass and Kabir (1978) Argue that the trend in smaller families
began in urban areas not rural areas.

Changes in the death rate

Tranter Over 3/4s of the decline in the death rate
was attributable (linked with) to a fall in the
number of deaths from infectious diseases.
McKeown (1972) Believes improved nutrition accounted for

up to half the reduction in death rates.
An ageing population

Townsend Believes that the statutory retirement age
has created a period of dependency as
people are expected to stop working then.
Hirsh (2005) Believes we should focus more resources on
retraining older people so they continue
earning.
Important advice with demography;

When revising give a lot of attention to;

1. The statistics – build this into your revision cards.

2. Link to what theory argues what (regarding the consequences) – your essay on this
will help a lot.

3. Consider, what implications such changes will have on the family – including in terms
of conjugal roles and childhood.

FAMILY DIVERSITY

Rhona and Robert Rapoport (1982) Argue that there are five types of diversity;
organisational, cultural, economic, life
course and cohort.
Diversity and Location

Eversley and Bonnerjea Suggest diversity varies across location with
6 different areas of Britain offering different
types of family organisation; the affluent sun
belt, the ‘geriatic wards’, older industrial
areas, declining industrial areas, rural areas
and inner cities.

Class diversity

Young and Willmott ‘Stratified diffusion’
Edgell Gendered approach to decision making
O’Brien and Jones Found little change in kinship patterns.
Found dual income families becoming more
common in the study originally studied by
Young and Willmott

Kinship diversity

Philipson and Downs (1999) and 0’Brien and Found that children and grandchildren saw
Jones (1996) their elderly relatives on a frequent basis
whereas.....
ONS Survey data (2003) Found that 61% of grandparents saw their
grandchildren once a week and also used
new technology like e mail to keep in
contact.
Finch and Mason 90% had received or given financial help to
extended family.

Ethnicity and family diversity

Modood (1997) Found that White’s and Caribbean’s had
higher rates of divorce and cohabitation than
other groups.
90% of South Asian families with children
had married parents, compared to 75% of
white and 50% of Caribbean families.
South Asian families

Westwood and Bhachu (1988) Most Asian families are now based on the
nuclear family but strong kinship ties and
respect for the elderly.
Ballard (1990) Many children conformed to wider culture
part of the time but at home conformed to
their ethnic subculture.
Berthoud and Beishon (1997) British South Asians are more likely to marry
and earlier than whites. Separation and
divorce rare.
Bhatti (1999) Study of Pakistani and Bangladeshi Muslims
found more loyalty to the family.

West Indian families

Barrow (1982) West Indian families are more likely than any
other ethnic group to be single-parent
families.
Berthoud and Beishon (1997) Found a low emphasis on long term

partnerships, especially marriage
Dallos and Sapsford (1995) Warn about ethnocentricity (seeing your
culture as superior)

Cypriot families

Oakley (1992) `Found extended kin important in Cypriot
families.

Chinese families

Chan and Chan (1997) Argued that the family is very important in
Chinese culture with all working to support
the business economically.

Important points of evaluation with regard to ethnicity and family diversity – avoid
generalisations and do not fall into the trap of using the term ‘ethnics’ which students have
done in the past.

Life Course and Family Diversity

(*this is an important issue and a new part of the syllabus.)

Sociologists such as Tamara Haraven uses the term life course diversity in describing how
family circumstances change over time.

David Cheal (a post modernist) Argues that the directions we take are now
unpredictable.
Ulrick Beck ‘Risk society’
Jorgenson Argues that the term family is no longer
appropriate (can’t generalise by it).
Gittins There is no single definition of the family.
Stacey Because of the uniqueness of the family,
every family is an alternative family!
Bauman Liquid moderns / liquid love.
Giddens Confluent love

Those that talk about life course diversity are most likely to be post modernists and
interactionists. Remember the term ‘fractured tranisitions’ as well.

Marriage

Know the facts here. This essential. Pay particular attention to contemporary trends

(Consider what Functionalists, Feminists, the New Right, Interactionists and Post Modernists
say about such changing positions of marriage).

Useful advice for you – consider how such changing positions of marriage may affect; a)
conjugal roles, b) childhood.

Divorce

Know the facts here. This is essential. Note, especially, contemporary trends. Know as well
the legislation that has been put in place – especially the 1969 divorce act.

say about such changing positions of divorce).

Useful advice for you – consider how such changing positions of divorce may affect; a)

Hetherington (2002) Divorce has had little long term damage to
children.

Cohabitation

Know the facts here. This is essential.

say about such changing positions of cohabitation).

Useful advice for you – consider how such changing positions of cohabitation may affect; a)

Singlehood

Know the facts here.

say about the rise of singlehood in relation to a) society and b) the family).

Lone parent families

Study Concept/ fact / argument

John Redwood – (New Right) Teenage mums should put their children up
for adoption.

Linda Lee Porter (on single mums on council estates) – they

are ‘ idle sluts who aren’t fit to look after a
dog let alone a child’

Patricia Morgan (1999), Dennis and Erdos, Strong link between divorce and high
Farrington patterns of crime.

Civitas (Institute for the study of civil society) Parents brought up by lone parents are not
as well supported educationally.

Nona Dawson Highlights how we should be more
empathetic to single parents.

Polly Toynbee 3% of unmarried mothers are teenagers and
the figure is decreasing.

Beresford (1999) We should not judge lone parent families
(i.e. we should avoid being ethnocentric).

Riley and Shaw There is no link with lone parent families and
criminality

Burghes and Roberts It is right that we are concerned but one is
seriously wrong in how they express such
concern. (Should avoid creating a moral
panic)

Key points - Know the facts here. This is essential.

say about such a change.).

Useful advice for you – consider how such a family may affect childhood.

Reconstituted families


say about the rise of reconstituted families).

Useful advice for you – consider how such changes may affect; a) conjugal roles, b)
childhood.

Sexual diversity –


Weeks et al Many gay and lesbians are developing new
ways of understanding the family. Also
found that same sex partnerships tend to be
more democratic and egalitarian.

Study Concept / fact / arguments

Fitzgerald Most studies show that children raised by
gay and lesbian parents are no different than
those raised by heterosexuals.

Key advice –


say about the rise of gay and lesbian families).

Useful advice for you – consider how such changes may affect; a) conjugal roles, b)
childhood.

Finally, with this sub topic, pay particular attention to page 59 – 62 in your booklet on
Families and Households – provides a very good summary. See Moodle to test yourself on
some of the key statistics.

CONJUGAL ROLES

Household Chores – (showing equality)

Study Concepts / facts / arguments

Anne Oakley (to a degree) (1975) Found greater equality in domestic chores
among the middle classes

Willmott and Young (1975) ‘Symmetrical family’

British Social Attitudes Surveys Some evidence of equality – me doing more
than before

Showing inequality –


Alan Warde and Kevin Hetherington (1999) Sex typing of tasks remains strong

Bonke (1999) Children made a small contribution to
domestic labour, peaking with 2 ½ hours a
week.

Speakman and Marchington (1999) Some men used ‘learned helplessness’ when
trying to avoid domestic tasks.

Equal Opportunities Commission ‘Chores gap’ is worsening.

Important points of juxtaposition – Oakley’s study is somewhat dated. She also used a
small, unrepresentative sample. Young and Willmott’s study challenged because they made
big assumptions about what was meant by ‘equality’.

One could also argue what about children who do domestic chores – none of the studies
really look into this. With regard to Speakman and Marchington, how do you investigate
‘learned helplessness’?

The big problem with researching domestic chores is that you can’t study first hand what is
happening and so are reliant on diaries, questionnaires etc – open to getting invalid results.

Finance – (showing equality)


Vogler Pooling of income (sharing) of income more
common among couples where both worked
full time.

Pahl (1993) Some trend towards equality

Showing inequality


Pahl (1993) In most cases, men had more power. Men
also spent more on themselves

Allan and Crowe (2001) Many women gain satisfaction from their
self sacrifice.

Charles (1990) Found women often put their partners and

children’s preferences first.

Vogler Men still made all the important financial
decisions.

Important points of juxtaposition – To what extent can such patterns be changed? Women
may naturally want to spend on their children / partners.

Furthermore, many of these studies are outdated and more contemporary evidence shows
a trend towards equality.

Such studies also ignore how financial decisions may be affected by changing economic
circumstances. One student also made the comment that by men making the important
financial decisions that may help women not hinder them.

Finally, there is the problem of accessibility in investigating financial spending – it’s a very
private matter.

Childcare

Showing equality;

Study Concepts / arguments / facts

Jonathan Gershuny Found women and men spend 4 times longer
on childcare than they used to.

Showing inequality;


Gershuny (again!) Women spend 4 times longer on childcare
than they used to – hardly evidence of
equality! (Not Gershuny’s argument though!)

Boulton (1983) Men often helped but never took primary
responsibility for childcare.

Elsi Ferri and Kate Smith (1996) Little evidence of more equal sharing –
women’s employment seems to have had
little impact on the sharing of tasks.

Tunaley at al (1999) Grandparents getting more involved as more
mothers working late.

Equal Opportunities Commission (Now Mothers spend 12% more time looking after
Equality and Human Rights Commission) their children than fathers do.

Kilkey (2005) There is a ‘time famine’ with men.

Important points of juxtaposition – Among some couples the notion of increased paternal
involvement may cause tensions between mothers and fathers. In some cases, it’s because
women feel more protective of the traditional maternal role, which they do not want to
concede to fathers. This is juxt to those studies that suggest their needs to be more
equality.

Many of the studies (e.g. Gershuny’s) use diary entries to record who does what with
childcare – such diary entries can be invalid because women may underestimate the time
that they spend on childcare and men may overestimate.

Furthermore, the notion of ‘childcare’ is open to interpretation.

Decision making

Showing equality;


Abbey National (2002) Found that couples quite happily share big
decisions.

Showing inequality


Edgell (1980) Gendered approach to decision making
evident.

Hardhill (1997) In 2/3rds of all cases the dual income
couples she studied, the male’s career took
precedence.

Juxtaposition to the studies – Edgell’s study over 20 years old and very small and
unrepresentative (only 38 middle class couples studied).

Davis argues that non decision making should be examined (which is what all studies fail to
examine).

Decision making is very subjective too.

Effects of work outside the home

Showing equality


Martin and Roberts (1984) Found that men are more likely to be
involved in housework and childcare if the
wife works full time.

Jonathan Gershuny (1992) Lagged adaptation – men are catching up
with the housework when women stay in full
time work.

Crompton (1997) Believes that men are doing more because of
women’s increased earning power and
pressure rather than changing values.

Man Yee Kan (2001) If both partners had university degrees there
was more equality.

Ramos (2003) Where the man was unemployed and his
partner worked full time there was equality
in domestic labour.

Showing inequality

Martin and Roberts (1984) Still, 54% of full time and 77% of part time
women still did all or most of the housework.

Lydia Morris (1990) Even where the woman works and the
husband doesn’t men still did little
housework as their masculinity has been
threatened.

Gershuny (1992) Note the use of the term lagged adaptation
– it’s very gradual!

Juliet Schor (1993) Middle class women are relying on working
class women to do cleaning etc rather than
making use of their man!

Sullivan (1996) Men spend more time in paid work and
more time socialising, sleeping etc but

women spend more of their time on
housework and childcare.

Juxtaposition of the studies – One could argue that we should look at total workload and
not just work done in the home or outside the home. America’s National Bureau of
Economic Research (2007) did this and found that there is equality with the total workload
done by men and women.

Note, again, how many of the studies are dated and may just provide a snapshot of any one
point in time.

Emotion work and violence

Showing equality


Modern man / new man / millennium man!

Showing inequality


Duncombe and Marsden ‘Triple shift’ – housework, paid work and
emotion work

Dobash and Dobash Interviewed 118 battered women in a
women’s refuge and found that domestic
violence begins early in relationships. For
further information see domestic violence
section.

Juxtaposition to the studies – Researching emotion work and domestic violence is very
difficult because of problems of accessibility and ethical issues. The other problem of
researching domestic violence is that one relies on memory – memory is not the most
reliable of things!

With regards to Dobash and Dobash’s study, what about male victims of domestic violence?

Some really important points of evaluation to remember regarding revising conjugal
roles–

Remember that interactionists would argue that we cannot generalise about patterns
within the family (so a good source of juxtaposition to use)

While Functionalists and the New Right talk of the naturalistic fallacy (i.e. such roles are
natural) – this really challenges those studies that highlight the importance of achieving
equality.

Note that looking at inequalities in conjugal roles is the forte of feminism – though do bear
in mind that feminism is a combination of various types and so it’s argument is hardly clear.

Finally, remember the argument that ‘equality’ is inherently difficult to measure (i.e. it’s
difficult to operationalise). ‘Equality’ itself is somewhat of a moving goal.

Finally, really really important advice from the Examiner – don’t just criticise the studies
for being dated – good students will criticise how one did their research. Page 19 and
page 20 in the Families and Households book (part 2) will help you a lot with this.

THE NEW MAN

Studies Concepts / facts / arguments

Young and Willmott ‘Symmetrical family’

Thompson (2005) Found that 8/10 dads said that they’d be
happy to be at home to care for their child
and invest more time in them.

Gray (2006) Found that dads spent more quality time
with their kids and that this was done out of
choice.

Hannah Betts Must not generalise with masculinity and see
them as a similar (homogeneous) group –
many types of masculinity – including poster
boys, supergeeks, toxic batchelors and
poster boys!

When revising the new man, consider, a) what would each theory say and b) how does it
affect 1) conjugal roles and 2) Childhood?

THE DARK SIDE OF THE FAMILY


Dobash and Dobash (1979) Concluded that only 2% of assaults in the U.K
are reported to the police. Found that
women experience at least 2 attacks a week.
Also discovered that for 70% of the women
interviewed arguments with their husbands
nearly always ended in an attack.

Hammer and Saunders & Radford (1987) Found that women’s behaviour is very much
restricted by fear of men.

Pahl (1985) 62% of women suffered violence for 3 or
more years.

Wilkinson (1996) Suggests that domestic violence is the result
of stress on family members caused by
poverty

Abbott and Wallace Believe that the main trigger for domestic
violence is the perception that the woman is
failing in her duties.

Millett and Firestone (both Radical Believe that men dominate women through
Feminists) violence or the threat of it.

Faith Robertson Elliot Reminds us that not all men are aggressive.

Cheal (1991) Reminds us that domestic violence remains
hidden because we tend to uphold the
nuclear family view of family life.

Critical Psychiatry –


Leach ‘Runaway world’, ‘emotional overload’,

Laing Family more capable of causing
schizophrenia than it is in socialising
children.

Cooper ‘ideological conditioning device’, ‘break and
mould’, ‘chronic murder of the self’.

When looking at the dark side of the family consider; a) what impact it has on conjugal roles,
b) childhood.

CHILD ABUSE


Russsell Says that child abuse cases have quadrupled
between 1900 to 1970.

Gittins Says that as most abusers are men we
should create male free environments.

Elliot Argues that child abuse is used by the middle
class to control working class families.

Consider, when revising the dark side of the family, what the different theories would say.
It’s also important to consider a) the key facts b) the problems of researching the dark side
of the family.

CHILDHOOD

The history of childhood


Philipe Aries Childhood is a ‘social construct’.
Industrialisation changed childhood.

Cunningham (2006) Saw the c19th view of childhood as
promoting the welfare view of the child.

Pollack Argues childhood always existed (juxt to
Aries)

Remember the problems of using diaries and photos / pictures when researching
childhood?

Childhood and the state


Wendy Stainton Rogers Identifies 2 images of childhood in modern
western society – either innocent and

needing protection or wicked and sinful and
needing punishment.

The overly positive view of childhood


Aries and Shorter Argue that today children are more valued,
better prepared for and educated, enjoy
better health care and have more rights than
before.

Talcott Parsons and George Peter Murdock ‘March of progress’

Opie and Opie Children still have their own unique,
independent culture

The conventional approach to childhood (believe that childhood is special and needs to be
protected but is under threat)


Norbert Elias The increasing privatisation of the family
may be putting more pressure on the child.

Postman (1994) Childhood under threat because of TV!
(playing the role of a surrogate parent!)

Melanie Philips (1997) Innocence of childhood has been
undermined by two trends – too many rights
given to children, 2) Media and peer groups.

Sue Palmer (2007) Toxic Childhood – technology corrupting
childhood – making children more impulsive
and self obsessed.

Pugh (2002) ‘consumption as compensation’ – children
are cash rich but time poor.

Key theory to the above – the New Right (although they would see privatisation of the
family as a good thing).

The alternative approach to childhood (believes that the above see children as passive
and unaware if what’s happening to them when in fact children are very self aware. This
approach also argues that we must not generalise with childhood).


Morrow Found children are very self aware.

Townsend et al (2003) 1/3rd of children globally suffer from
absolute poverty. 375m use unsafe water
resources.

Jefferies et al (2002) Found that children who had experienced
poverty had significantly fallen behind
children from middle class backgrounds in
terms of maths and reading by age 7.

Caroline Woodruffe (1993) Children of unskilled manual workers are
over 3 times more likely to suffer from
hyperactivity and 4 times more likely to
experience conduct disorders.

Howard (2001) Found that children born to poor families
were more likely to die in infancy, be ill more
frequently, be shorter, fall behind in school
and more likely to be put on the child
protection register.

NOTE – THE THEORY OF LIBERTARIANISM – It is good that children grow up and that they
are exposed to the adult world!

NOTE TOO MARXISTS AND FEMINISTS agree with the above theory but for different reasons
(Marxism – so that children see how unfair society is, feminism – so that children see
beyond patriarchy).

Important study when evaluating;


Nick Lee Childhood, like adulthood, is becoming more
unstable and uncertain but this does not
mean childhood is dying; just adapting.

FAMILY POLICY

Important – do note that this is largely New Labour v New Right but when revising this sub
topic, consider;

a) What the sociological theories say about family policy,

b) What links New Right and New Labour policies have on a) conjugal roles, b)
childhood.

c) I’d also give attention to the new coalitions policies on the family.

____________________________________________________________

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