Family — IGCSE Sociology (0495) questions by topic
Family terminology is tested directly: warm bath theory, cereal packet family, conjugal role and cohabitation each need a tight definition, while further questions ask you to describe types of marriage or explain why marriage feels less essential today.
Explain, describe, state, to-what-extent and define lead the command words, with marks running from 35 to 40 across the paper. Set across 15 questions from 2023 to 2025 sessions, this page suits practising definitions that link straight to a named idea, such as functionalism or the symmetrical family, then checking with instant marking whether your linking point was specific enough for the second mark.
What examiners look for
- Examiners note that a full definition of the cereal packet family scored two marks, while simply recognising it as a type of nuclear family earned one.
- Reports state that linking the cereal packet family to the media, functionalism or the ideal family was what typically pushed an answer to full marks.
- Strong answers describing types of marriage named arranged, forced, love and polygamy as distinct categories.
- On why marriage seems less essential today, examiners credited secularisation, family diversity and the role of feminism, rewarding responses that developed and substantiated these points rather than relying on common sense.
- Strong essays on changing family roles used feminism, Willmott and Young's symmetrical family, and non-nuclear family structures as well-developed examples.
May–June 2025, Paper 21
Define the term: (i) cross-cultural [2]
Answer this question and get it marked →May–June 2025, Paper 22
May–June 2025, Paper 23
May–June 2024, Paper 21
What is meant by the term child-centredness ?
Answer this question and get it marked →May–June 2024, Paper 22
May–June 2024, Paper 23
What is meant by the term symmetrical family ?
Answer this question and get it marked →October–November 2024, Paper 21
What is meant by the term 'family functions'?
Answer this question and get it marked →October–November 2024, Paper 22
What is meant by the term 'boomerang family'?
Answer this question and get it marked →October–November 2024, Paper 23
What is meant by the term 'matriarchy'?
Answer this question and get it marked →May–June 2023, Paper 21
What is meant by the term cereal packet family ?
Answer this question and get it marked →May–June 2023, Paper 22
What is meant by the term joint conjugal role ?
Answer this question and get it marked →May–June 2023, Paper 23
What is meant by the term beanpole family ?
Answer this question and get it marked →October–November 2023, Paper 21
What is meant by the term 'cohabitation'?
Answer this question and get it marked →October–November 2023, Paper 22
What is meant by the term 'family diversity'?
Answer this question and get it marked →October–November 2023, Paper 23
What is meant by the term 'dual worker families'?
Answer this question and get it marked →Other IGCSE Sociology topics
- Theory and methods (15)
- Education (12)
- Crime, deviance and social control (12)
- Media (12)
- Social inequality (12)
- Culture, identity and socialisation (12)