AQA A-Level Sociology: Families and Households & Beliefs in Society Revision Guide

Paper 2 of AQA A-Level Sociology examines two content-rich topics: Families and Households, and Beliefs in Society. Together they account for 80 marks and a third of your entire A-Level. Both topics demand precise knowledge of sociological perspectives, named studies, and contemporary evidence -- but they also reward students who can evaluate competing arguments and reach well-reasoned conclusions.

This guide works through the key specification content for both Paper 2 topics, identifies the theories and studies you must know, and explains how to turn that knowledge into high-scoring exam answers. Whether you are starting your revision or doing final consolidation, it will help you see where the marks sit and how to reach them.

Families and Households

Perspectives on the Family

Every essay in this topic benefits from a confident grasp of how the main perspectives view the family.

Functionalism sees the family as performing essential functions for society. Murdock argued the family is universal, performing sexual, reproductive, economic, and educational functions. Parsons refined this with his "functional fit" theory -- the nuclear family suits industrial society by performing two irreducible functions: primary socialisation of children and stabilisation of adult personalities. Parsons also distinguished instrumental roles (breadwinning, performed by men) and expressive roles (caregiving, performed by women). Critics argue Parsons' model reflects a narrow, white, middle-class 1950s American ideal and treats gender inequality as natural rather than as a product of patriarchy.

Marxism views the family as serving capitalism. Engels argued the monogamous nuclear family emerged alongside private property to ensure legitimate inheritance. Zaretsky described the family as a unit of consumption that reproduces compliant workers, while Althusser identified it as an Ideological State Apparatus. Marxism can be criticised for economic determinism and for neglecting gender inequality within the family.

Feminism offers several strands the examiner expects you to differentiate. Liberal feminists focus on legal reforms and gradual progress. Radical feminists such as Delphy and Leonard argue the family is the primary site of women's oppression. Marxist feminists including Benston and Ansley argue women's unpaid domestic labour benefits capitalism. Difference feminists highlight that women's family experiences vary by class, ethnicity, and sexuality.

The personal life perspective, developed by Carol Smart, argues traditional sociology focuses too narrowly on the conventional family unit. Smart contends we should study personal life more broadly -- friendships, chosen families, same-sex partnerships, and relationships maintained through memory and technology. This perspective gives agency to individuals but can be criticised for being too broad and underplaying structural constraints.

Conjugal Roles and Domestic Labour

This area examines who does what within the household and whether the distribution of domestic labour has become more equal over time.

Young and Willmott (1973) argued the family was becoming more symmetrical, with husbands sharing domestic tasks. Ann Oakley challenged this, showing their definition of "helping" was extremely broad and that women still performed the vast majority of housework and childcare. Dunne's (1999) research on lesbian couples found a more equal division of labour, suggesting gender norms rather than biology produce inequality. Hochschild identified the second shift -- the domestic labour women perform alongside paid work. Duncombe and Marsden extended this to the triple shift, adding the invisible emotion work women perform in maintaining relationships. Pahl and Vogler found men are more likely to control household finances, and Edgell found men dominate important decision-making.

Changing Family Patterns

The examiner expects you to know the key trends in family life and to explain them using sociological concepts rather than simply listing statistics.

Divorce rates rose sharply after the Divorce Reform Act 1969. Explanations include legal changes, declining stigma, rising expectations of marriage, women's financial independence, and secularisation. Functionalists argue high divorce rates reflect higher expectations rather than declining value of marriage.

Marriage and cohabitation. Marriage rates have declined while cohabitation has risen. The personal life perspective sees cohabitation as reflecting changing attitudes towards commitment, while the New Right (Charles Murray) views declining marriage as moral decline.

Same-sex families gained legal recognition through the Civil Partnership Act 2004 and the Marriage (Same-Sex Couples) Act 2013. Weeks, Heaphy, and Donovan describe these as "chosen families." Dunne found same-sex couples negotiate roles more equally, free from heteronormative expectations.

Lone-parent families account for around a quarter of families with dependent children. The New Right argues they produce poorer outcomes for children; feminists counter that the real issue is poverty, not family structure.

Family Diversity

The Rapoports (1982) identified five types of diversity: organisational, cultural, class-based, life-course, and cohort -- challenging the assumption that the nuclear family is dominant. The beanpole family has become more common as people live longer but have fewer children. Reconstituted families (stepfamilies) have increased with rising divorce and remarriage. The New Right argues diversity is harmful, while postmodernists such as Stacey see it as reflecting greater individual choice.

Childhood

This area requires you to understand that childhood is socially constructed -- the experience of being a child varies across time and between cultures, and cannot be reduced to a fixed biological stage. Aries argued that in medieval Europe the modern concept of childhood did not exist -- children were treated as "little adults." The march of progress view holds that children's position has steadily improved through education, legislation, and child-centred families. The conflict view challenges this: Marxists highlight class inequality in childhood experience, feminists note gendered differences, and Postman argues the boundary between childhood and adulthood is being eroded by exposure to adult media content.

Demography

Demographic trends are central to understanding changes in family structures. You need to know the key trends and their sociological explanations.

The birth rate has declined due to changing women's roles, reliable contraception, falling infant mortality, and the rising cost of children. The death rate has fallen through public health improvements, better nutrition, and medical advances. The resulting ageing population affects the dependency ratio and creates a "sandwich generation" caring for elderly parents and dependent children. Migration has increased cultural diversity in family forms and created transnational families.

Beliefs in Society

Beliefs in Society is the second section of Paper 2. It is one of the more theoretically demanding topics on the specification, requiring you to engage with abstract debates about the nature and function of religion in society. Students who revise this topic systematically -- mastering the key theories, knowing the evidence on secularisation, and understanding contemporary developments -- are well placed to score highly.

Theories of Religion

As with Families and Households, the major theoretical perspectives provide the foundation for your answers.

Functionalism: Durkheim argued religion reinforces collective consciousness -- studying Aboriginal totemism, he concluded worshippers are really worshipping society itself. Malinowski extended this, arguing religion helps individuals cope with life crises and uncontrollable outcomes. Parsons identified two functions: legitimising central values and providing meaning in the face of suffering. Critics argue functionalism ignores how religion can divide and oppress, and cannot explain secularisation.

Marxism: Marx described religion as "the opium of the people" -- dulling the pain of exploitation by promising afterlife rewards and legitimising inequality as divinely ordained. However, neo-Marxists offer nuance. Maduro argued religion can inspire revolutionary movements, and Gramsci suggested it can harbour counter-hegemonic ideas. Liberation theology in Latin America demonstrates religion mobilising the poor against oppression. Marxism can be criticised for reductionism and for failing to account for religion's persistence in communist societies.

Feminism highlights patriarchy in religion: sacred texts presenting women as subordinate, exclusion from leadership roles, and restrictions on women's autonomy. De Beauvoir argued religion compensates women by promising heavenly equality. However, Woodhead distinguishes "religious feminism" -- where women use religion as empowerment -- from purely oppressive forms.

Weber argued that Calvinist beliefs in predestination created psychological anxiety that drove disciplined, profit-oriented work -- the "spirit of capitalism." This directly challenged the Marxist view that religion merely reflects the economic base. Critics including Kautsky and Tawney questioned Weber's causal direction and noted capitalism predated Calvinism in parts of Europe.

Religious Organisations

Churches are large, bureaucratic, state-linked organisations claiming a monopoly on truth (Troeltsch). Denominations are established but tolerant of other viewpoints; Niebuhr argued sects evolve into denominations over time. Sects are small, exclusive groups demanding high commitment, often with a charismatic leader -- vulnerable to Weber's routinisation of charisma. Cults are loosely organised and individualistic; Stark and Bainbridge distinguish audience cults, client cults, and cult movements.

New Religious Movements (NRMs) are classified by Wallis into three types: world-rejecting (demanding total commitment, rejecting mainstream society), world-accommodating (focused on restoring spiritual authenticity), and world-affirming (accepting societal goals but offering spiritual means of achieving them). People join NRMs through relative deprivation, rational choice, or -- as Barker found with the Moonies -- idealism and desire for community.

Secularisation

The secularisation debate is one of the most heavily examined areas in Beliefs in Society. You need to know the key arguments on both sides and the evidence supporting each.

For secularisation: Wilson linked it to rationalisation and scientific thinking. Bruce argues individualism, diversity, and rationalisation have undermined religion's social significance -- multiple competing truths mean none can claim a monopoly. Evidence includes declining UK church attendance, fewer baptisms and church weddings, and reduced religious influence on politics.

Against secularisation: Davie describes "believing without belonging" -- belief persists even without attendance. Hervieu-Leger argues religion is changing form through individualised "spiritual shopping." Stark and Bainbridge contend that religious decline in one area is compensated by growth elsewhere. Global evidence complicates the thesis further -- religion remains a powerful force in the United States, Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Berger later acknowledged secularisation may be a specifically European phenomenon.

Religion and Social Change

This area examines whether religion acts as a conservative force that preserves the status quo or as a force for social change.

As a conservative force: functionalists argue religion promotes social stability by reinforcing shared values and norms. Marxists see religion as conservative in a different sense -- it prevents change by legitimising inequality and discouraging resistance. Feminists argue it conserves patriarchal structures by sacralising male authority and female subordination.

As a force for change: Weber's Protestant ethic thesis is the central example. The American civil rights movement, where Martin Luther King Jr. drew on Christian theology, demonstrates religion driving progressive change. Liberation theology mobilised the poor in Latin America. Worsley's study of millenarian movements in Melanesia interpreted them as pre-political responses to colonial oppression.

Science and Ideology

The specification asks you to consider the relationship between science, religion, and ideology as competing belief systems.

Popper argued science is distinguished by falsifiability. Merton identified its norms: communism, universalism, disinterestedness, and organised scepticism. Kuhn challenged this, arguing science operates within paradigms that are not purely rational -- shifts are influenced by social factors and power. Postmodernists (Lyotard) argue science is just another meta-narrative. Mannheim distinguished between ideologies (justifying the powerful) and utopias (seeking transformation), while feminists argue much "objective" science reflects patriarchal assumptions.

Globalisation and Religion

Globalisation has transformed the religious landscape in several ways that the specification requires you to understand.

Giddens defines fundamentalism as a reaction against globalisation's uncertainty, seeking a return to literal truths of faith. Bruce argues it arises where tradition is challenged by modernity or external globalising forces. Huntington's "clash of civilisations" predicted cultural and religious identity would drive post-Cold War conflict -- widely criticised for oversimplifying and treating civilisations as monolithic. Religious revival in the global South -- Pentecostalism in Latin America and Africa, political Hinduism in India -- challenges the assumption that modernisation inevitably leads to secularisation.

Exam Technique for Paper 2

Understanding how Paper 2 works is just as important as knowing the content. Many students lose marks not because they lack knowledge, but because they do not answer in the way the mark scheme rewards.

Paper 2 is 2 hours, 80 marks, split equally between both sections. Each section builds from short-answer questions to a 20-mark essay.

For 10-mark "analyse" questions, you must use the item -- underline key phrases and refer to them explicitly. Develop two well-supported points with theory, evidence, and evaluative comment.

For 20-mark essays, structure clearly: define key terms in your introduction, write three or four paragraphs that each present a point (AO1), develop it with named studies (AO2), and evaluate it using contrasting perspectives (AO3). Your conclusion must offer a reasoned judgement -- the mark scheme rewards clear, justified positions, not fence-sitting.

Spend no more than 15 minutes on the shorter questions and at least 35-40 minutes on the essay, which carries half the marks in each section.

Related Reading

• AQA A-Level Sociology Revision Guide -- an overview of the entire AQA A-Level Sociology specification, covering all six topics and general exam technique.
• A-Level Revision Strategy: From Mocks to Finals -- a practical, week-by-week plan for organising your revision before the exam.

Prepare with LearningBro

Both Paper 2 topics require you to combine detailed factual knowledge with sharp analytical writing. The best way to prepare is through structured, active revision that tests your understanding rather than relying on passive re-reading of notes.

LearningBro offers dedicated courses for each Paper 2 topic, with practice questions that mirror the structure and demand of the real exam:

• AQA A-Level Sociology: Families and Households -- structured revision covering all specification content, from functionalist and feminist perspectives on the family through to demographic change and the personal life perspective.
• AQA A-Level Sociology: Beliefs in Society -- comprehensive coverage of theories of religion, secularisation, religious organisations, and the relationship between religion, social change, and globalisation.

Each course builds your knowledge and exam technique simultaneously, so you are not just learning content -- you are learning how to turn that content into marks. Try a free lesson and see how it works.

Good luck with your revision.