IGCSE Sociology Past Papers & Drilling (Paper 2): Family, Education and Crime

Question 1

(a) A nuclear family is parents with their dependent children; an extended family adds relatives such as grandparents, aunts and uncles, either living together or in close contact. (4 marks)

(b) Change: households are smaller and more diverse. In the survey 32% are one-person households and 12% lone-parent families while only 21% are couples with children; one-person and childless-couple households together make 59%, showing that marriage and childbearing are no longer the only route into a family. (6 marks)

(c) Two reasons: rising divorce – 30,000 marriages against 12,000 divorces a year is about 40 divorces per 100 marriages – and changing attitudes and welfare provision, which make single parenthood and cohabitation more acceptable, with women’s economic independence making single parenting viable. (8 marks)

(d) Conjugal roles have moved from a male breadwinner and female homemaker towards shared decision-making and emotional equality as women entered the labour market; domestic labour remains unequal, however – 14 hours a week against 6, so women do about 70% of the time. Symmetry is therefore visible in decisions and emotion, not in hours. (8 marks)

(e) For: the family is the agency of primary socialisation, supplying language, values and emotional security, and the survey suggests most people still see it as the strongest influence. Against: school, peers and media fill most of a teenager’s time and social media feedback is immediate, while family socialisation is shaped by class and structure (single-parent and dual-earner households have less time). Conclusion: the family remains first among agencies but no longer alone. (8 marks)

(f) For: care and housework still fall mostly on women (14 hours against 6), so symmetry exists in decisions only. Against: men’s share of housework and childcare has risen and dual-earner households are now normal, with noticeably more equal role expectations than a generation ago. Conclusion: symmetry is increasing but falls short of equality. (6 marks)

Question 2

(a) The hidden curriculum is the norms and values schools transmit outside formal lessons (punctuality, obedience, competition); meritocracy is the claim that position is allocated by ability and effort, with education as its mechanism. (4 marks)

(b) One function: socialisation and role allocation – schools teach pupils to follow rules and cooperate, then sort them by examination results into different academic and occupational routes, supplying the skills the economy needs. (6 marks)

(c) Material deprivation works through lack of resources (no computer, quiet space or tutoring), which limits study time and quality, and through stress and health (crowded housing, poor diet and sleep, part-time work), which reduces concentration. The source shows a gap of 62 – 34 = 28 percentage points, with the high-income group at 1.82 times the low-income rate. (8 marks)

(d) Teachers form expectations from dress, language and early performance and pass them on through questioning, praise and setting; pupils internalise the label and a self-fulfilling prophecy develops, so behaviour and attainment move towards the expectation. Labels can also overlap with class or ethnic bias and widen the gap. (8 marks)

(e) For: universal education and public examinations let effort produce upward movement, and the higher results of girls here (52% against 44%, boys 15.4% behind) show that systems can change group outcomes. Against: family resources and school selection reproduce advantage, with a 28-point class gap, and meritocracy assumes equal starting points when access and cultural capital are unequal. Conclusion: education provides a route for mobility but only weakly offsets structural inequality. (8 marks)

(f) For: peer groups reward or punish immediately in daily interaction (acceptance or exclusion), affecting attendance and engagement. Against: teacher expectations act through sets, written comments and references, shaping longer-term routes. Conclusion: they work differently – peers shape attitudes and short-term behaviour, expectations shape opportunity structures – so “both at once” is the fullest answer. (6 marks)

Question 1

(a) Recorded crime is the number of offences entered in police or agency records; the dark figure is crime that is undetected, unreported or unrecorded, so the real volume exceeds the statistics. (4 marks)

(b) One limitation: recording practice changes with policy – more patrols, new categories or campaigns encouraging reporting all raise the numbers without any real rise in offending, so a higher figure is not automatically a worse society. (6 marks)

(c) Crime rate = offences / population x 100,000 = 48,000 / 4,800,000 x 100,000 = 1000 per 100,000. The self-report survey (330 of 1500 admitting an offence, 22.0%) differs sharply from official records (only 45, or 3.0%, with a conviction) because just 13.6% of those admitting an offence had ever been convicted, and surveys capture undetected behaviour. (8 marks)

(d) Two factors: trust in the police and the system (distrust or hassle discourages reporting) and the nature and seriousness of the offence (larger losses or personal danger are reported more often), along with social pressure, insurance demands and the reporter’s own legal risk. Here only 53.3% of victims reported the crime. (8 marks)

(e) For: official figures are consistent, comparable and long-running, which suits analysis of trends and geography. Against: recording depends on reporting and enforcement; victim surveys (a 12.0% victimisation rate here) and self-report studies show a large unrecorded volume, and categories change. Conclusion: official statistics are necessary but not sufficient, and should be triangulated with victim and self-report surveys. (8 marks)

(f) For: poverty, unemployment, community breakdown and peer learning all raise opportunity, and the variation in crime rates between neighbourhoods supports an environmental explanation. Against: most people in the same environment do not offend, showing that personal choice, family supervision and biological factors also matter, and blaming the environment alone ignores individual responsibility and the effect of policy. Conclusion: the social environment is an important condition, not the sole cause. (6 marks)

Question 2

Victimisation rate = 180 / 1500 x 100 = 12.0%; reporting rate = 96 / 180 x 100 = about 53.3%. Nearly half of victims did not report, so those offences never enter official statistics.

Question 3

Difference = (1000 – 640) / 640 x 100 = about 56.3%. When comparing places, population structure, recording practice and reporting culture differ, so the figures alone do not settle which place is safer.