In this free course, Understanding society: Families, you will explore how different families have different ideas about how work in the home should be divided. You will also investigate the diversity of families. We will see how any discussion of the division of labour has to recognise that families differ in terms of shape and size.

After studying this course, you should be able to:

• demonstrate an awareness of some of the debates and key concepts involved in the study of family life;
• show the connectedness that has developed over time between the work men and women do inside the home and women’s role in paid employment
• use numerical data to show the diversity of family life in the UK and to provide a first opportunity at ‘reading’ numbers.