Sociology · Year 13

Active learning ideas

Social Policy and the Family

This topic invites students to act as social critics, examining how the government's hand, whether visible or invisible, shapes the most private aspects of our lives. We will explore the political battleground of the family, where policies can be weapons for social change or tools for maintaining the status quo.

• National Curriculum Attainment Targets
• AQA A-Level Sociology: Topics in Sociology - Families and Households

• 40–60 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 3 activities

Activity 01

• Timeline Challenge
• 45 min · Small Groups

Policy Timeline Challenge

In small groups, students create an annotated timeline of key UK social policies affecting the family since the Second World War. They must identify the policy, its main features, and the likely sociological perspective that influenced it.

Analyse how social policies may reinforce a particular type of family, such as the nuclear family.

Facilitation Tip

Provide a 'policy bank' with key dates and acts to scaffold for less confident students.

What to look for

A short-answer question asking students to outline two ways in which social policies may have reinforced the nuclear family, with one specific policy example for each.

• Remember
• Understand
• Analyze
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

Activity 02

• Structured Academic Controversy
• 60 min · Whole Class

Ideology Debate: 'The State Should Not Interfere in Family Life'

Assign students to represent different perspectives (New Right, Feminist, Marxist, Functionalist). They prepare arguments for and against the motion, culminating in a structured class debate.

Explain the difference between New Right and Feminist views on family policy.

Facilitation Tip

Give students role cards with key thinkers and concepts to guide their arguments.

What to look for

An essay question such as, 'Evaluate sociological explanations for the nature and extent of state intervention in family life. (20 marks)', requiring synthesis of policies and perspectives.

• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Social Awareness
• Relationship Skills

Activity 03

• Structured Academic Controversy
• 40 min · Pairs

Pitch a Policy

In pairs, students devise a new social policy to tackle a specific family-related issue, such as child poverty or work-life balance. They must justify their policy using sociological evidence and perspectives, presenting it to the class.

Evaluate the extent to which state policies have supported family diversity.

Facilitation Tip

Encourage them to consider unintended consequences and potential criticisms from other perspectives.

What to look for

Students use a checklist based on the learning objectives to rate their confidence in explaining each sociological perspective and providing policy examples, identifying areas for revision.

• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Social Awareness
• Relationship Skills

A few notes on teaching this unit

Begin by establishing the core tension between policies that support a traditional family model and those that support diversity. Use a timeline of key policies to provide historical context. Introduce the main theoretical perspectives as different 'lenses' for analysing these policies, ensuring students can link specific thinkers, such as Murray, Donzelot, or Abbott and Wallace, to each perspective.

By the end of this topic, students will be able to critically evaluate specific UK social policies and debate their impact on family diversity using competing sociological theories. They will be able to construct nuanced arguments that go beyond simplistic 'for' and 'against' positions.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• All social policies are designed to help all families equally.

  While many policies aim to provide support, their effects are not uniform. Policies influenced by specific ideologies often benefit one type of family structure (e.g., the nuclear family) while potentially disadvantaging others, thereby shaping social norms rather than just responding to needs.

• The New Right and Feminists are complete opposites on every issue concerning the family.

  While they have fundamentally different views on patriarchy and gender roles, some radical feminists might share the New Right's concern about state dependency. They might argue that certain welfare policies reinforce women's subordination to a patriarchal state, rather than to individual men.

• A government's policies perfectly reflect its stated ideology.

  Policies are often the result of political compromise, economic constraints, and public opinion. Their outcomes can be unintended and may not perfectly align with the ideological goals of the political party in power.

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Methods used in this brief

• Timeline Challenge
• Structured Academic Controversy