CAIE
Sociology
(9699)
2025
May/June Paper 22
Questions & Answers
Q1.
Short Answer
4 marks
Describe two ways social policies may impact upon the family.
Model Answer:
One way is through policies that support marriage or parenthood, such as tax benefits or maternity/paternity leave, which can encourage family formation and affect family roles.
Explanation: This describes a valid way social policy can shape family life by influencing decisions and responsibilities within families.
Model Answer:
Another way is through welfare and child protection policies, which can reduce poverty, change dependency patterns, or intervene in family life by regulating parenting and care.
Explanation: This is a second valid impact, showing how state policy can alter family behaviour and structure.
Q2a.
Structured
8 marks
Explain two reasons why fewer people are getting married.
Model Answer:
One reason is the decline in the influence of religion and traditional norms. As society becomes more secular, marriage is seen as less essential, so more people choose cohabitation or remain single.
Explanation: This is a standard sociological explanation for declining marriage rates.
Model Answer:
Another reason is changing gender roles and greater female independence. Women are more likely to have education, careers and financial independence, so they may delay marriage or not see it as necessary.
Explanation: This explains a second distinct reason for fewer marriages.
Q2b.
Structured
6 marks
Explain one strength and one limitation of postmodernist views on family diversity.
Model Answer:
One strength is that postmodernist views recognise the wide variety of family forms in contemporary society, such as lone-parent families, same-sex families and reconstituted families, rather than assuming one dominant model.
Explanation: This is a strength because it reflects the diversity and fluidity of modern family life.
Model Answer:
One limitation is that postmodernism may overstate choice and ignore structural constraints such as class, gender and poverty, which still shape family life and limit how far people can freely choose family forms.
Explanation: This is a valid limitation because it points to the continuing influence of social structures.
Q3a.
Essay
10 marks
'The main role of the family is to benefit society.' Explain this view.
Model Answer:
Functionalists argue that the family benefits society by socialising children into shared norms and values, stabilising adult personalities, and providing emotional support. It also helps maintain social order by teaching discipline and cooperation, and by reproducing the next generation of workers and citizens.
Explanation: This is the main sociological view supporting the statement, especially from functionalist theory.
Q3b.
Structured
6 marks
'The main role of the family is to benefit society.' Using sociological material, give one argument against this view.
Model Answer:
A Marxist argument is that the family does not mainly benefit society as a whole, but instead serves the interests of capitalism by reproducing labour power and passing on private property and class inequality.
Explanation: This is a clear sociological counter-argument to the functionalist view.
Q4.
Essay
26 marks
Evaluate the view that roles in the family are still based on traditional gender identities.
Model Answer:
An evaluation would consider evidence that some families still follow traditional gender roles, with women doing more domestic labour and childcare, but also evidence of greater equality, dual-earner families, and changing attitudes. Feminist perspectives, the symmetrical family debate, and postmodern views can be used to assess whether traditional gender identities still dominate.
Explanation: This is the expected evaluative direction for the essay question.
Q5.
Essay
26 marks
Evaluate the view that the nuclear family is the dominant family type.
Model Answer:
An evaluation would examine whether the nuclear family remains dominant by comparing it with evidence of family diversity, including lone-parent, reconstituted, same-sex and extended families. It would also consider whether the nuclear family is still the most common or socially preferred family form in some contexts, and use sociological perspectives to assess the claim.
Explanation: This captures the main lines of argument expected in the essay.