AS Sociology Unit 1: Families & Households 17th May 2012

WILL SOMEONE PLEASE REVIEW MY QUESTIONS?
Hi, howd everyone find the test?
I thought my essays were okay-ishh. but unsure of how well i answered my small markers.

However for my Q2, i wrote that (decline in first marriages) it was because of increase in cohabitiation meaning less people marry and that the increase in divorce, put people off getting married. (i expanded the points slightly more in the exam). Does anyone reckon those points are correct?

Also, Q3, (ageing population) I wrote that, increase no. of one person household, increase no. of highly talented jobs needed, eg, doctors. and that it meant goverment needed an increase in revenue to pay out pensions. (Again, i expanded these points in the exam)

Can anyone tell me if will get full marks for them? itd be a great help if you could!!

Yeah I think for question 2 you would have got full marks and for question 3 - but not sure about more talented jobs needed? Did you mean more pressure on health services?

I'm not sure what you mean regarding the talented jobs...can you expand?

I think i put down "Due to the population getting more older, there is an increase in the need for more people to fill ascribed/talented positions such as doctors/pharamists, as they need to create more medication for these older people.
(I think it went something along those lines..) How many marks do you reckon out of 6 il get for that whole question?

i think people were getting muddled up about the question 'the effects' of an ageing population?

I assumed it meant how having an ageing population effects society, in other worse the government has more pensions to pay out however a positive effect of our ageing populating is that elderly people can still work and thus contribute to society...

Are these sorts of things right or was i wrong? Other people seem to have interpreted it different?

Not surprising since there isn't any time to 'think' in this exam. Stoopid :-/

Would be nice if somebody could post the mark bands if you know em

10/60 - U
20/60 - E etc lol

I thought it was a pretty standard paper - no big surprises.

06 For matrifocal I just said a family that is female led?

07 Secularization & it's more socially acceptable to co-habit/not get married at all (creative singleton)

08 Changes on dependancy ration, introduction of ageism and the Pensions Timebomb/drain on public finances

09 I spoke about how childhood is a social construct and there is no universal childhood. I used Stephen Waggs definition of childhood. I talked about Aires and the whole "mini adult" idea and how they used to be an economic asset whereas now they're an economic liability. I said how Opie says childhood is still a separate state from adulthood because of playground games etc. Also mentioned Postman. I talked of Sue Pilcher's 'toxic childhood' notion too. And all about our child centred society. Obviously throwing key terms in like March of Progress view too etc

10 I basically packed all of SCLY 1 into this answer and didn't focus at all on the item (because of time constraints, I had no time to read!) so I talked about how New Right is a political theory which is v closely linked with Functionalism. I talked about the functional fit and how the nuclear family is natural in their view. I then talked about the functionalist's view on the family basically. Then I went into Marxism and said how they think the family only benefits the Bourgeoise etc etc and then I moved on to Feminism and how the rising number of lone parent families which are predominantly headed by females are evidence that women are breaking away from the nuclear prison. I then mentioned about Leach & Laing's respective theories about the nuclear family; it being an 'overloaded electrical circuit' and a nexus. I don't know... I feel like my answer was pretty vague and don't know if I actually answered the question?? I'm hoping I demonstrated enough sociological knowledge to get the marks!

Hmm I thought it was okay up until the 'as they need to create more medication for these older people.'.

Two papers -

SCLY3 - 1hr 30 minutes. One 9 mark question, one 18 mark question and one 33 mark question. Total - 60 marks.

SCLY4 is more content heavy and is a 2 hour paper.

Totally screwed up the two essays on this exam

For the childhood one, I talked about changes as a result of industrialisation and the perspectives on these because that was the closest thing I could think of to 'the last 50 years or so'. It was only as I was writing the conclusion that I figured the essay wanted perspectives on the disappearance of childhood and the reconstruction of childhood, by which time it was too late *facepalm*.

And then for the diversity essay, I mentioned the New Right perspective but could think of nothing other than Chester to evaluate it with. I ended up talking about functionalism and marriage and other crap to fill the time. Again, it was only after I had finished the frigging essay that I realised what I could of said; I could have brought in the postmodernist perspectives and said although they also agree that it has led to the decline of the nuclear family, they view it more positively *facepalm x2*.

Stupid time constraints not giving me enough time to think. >

Hello U grade :'(

I did both of my essays well but as the time was short i couldn't put conclusions at the end .... is it going to have a big impact on my overall essays?

Why are you retaking it so much?

Don't worry yourself too much,its done now but remember theres paper 2 which is worth 60%!

You may lose a couple of marks, but the conclusion isn't as important as the rest of the essay so I'm sure it won't affect your mark too much