Need help with AS Sociology AQA

(Original post by bwilliams)
Hi Scarlet

Merry Christmas!

Family diversity is a tricky topic within the Families unit. Essentially, when discussing family diversity in the exam you will need to show evaluation and analysis of how diverse families are now compared to how they have been previously. It is unlikely to get an essay question on diversity, but likewise I definitely would not bank on it not coming up! Here is an example of an essay question that could come up.

Evaluate sociological contributions to our understanding of family diversity. [20 Marks]

However they word a family diversity 20 mark question, you will need the same knowledge. In sociology especially AQA you will notice they change the wording of questions, but they are essentially asking the same question! This is what can throw people off, especially in this topic area.

To tackle this question I would be using the standard essay plan with a viewpoint that is evaluated by either an opposing view or a view that supports or extends the original argument. See my post here on essay writing: click here.

Sociologists you should be looking into for information on this (see your AQA text book) are Rapoports and Rapoports (1982), Cheal (2002), Beck (1992) and May (2013). I would be stating how family is diverse in our post modern society and I would be using examples in the exam such as: Gay Marriage (link to social policy), cohabitation and gender. I would then be evaluating these views with New Right and Functionalists. I have attached a BRIEF essay plan to this post to help you but if there is anything that does not make sense then feel free to PM me.

That's all well and good BUT, this is AQA so it won't stop there. They may put in a family diversity question alongside another topic E.g. Evaluate how migration affects family diversity, Evaluate how gender roles affect family diversity, Evaluate how social policy affects family diversity etc. So you will need to be very clued up on your other topics and how these all link to the change in family diversity over the past 70 years (this is usually why it is taught last).

This is brief so if you have any specific family diversity questions feel free to reply to this post and I will do my best to answer. If any of this is confusing then please PM me for more info as you're more than welcome to do so. Good luck with your AS in the summer.