1⃣ Couples 1)domestic division of labour Flashcards
What are the two conjugal (marital) roles that parson identified
The instrumental role:
- male breadwinner
- provides for the family financially
The expressive role:
-female nurturer and carer
Name a sociologist who has a functionalist view of ‘domestic devision of labour’
parson
Who does parson think the gender division of labour is functional for?
Family members and wider society
Why does parson see this division biologically based
Women are naturally suited to nurturing
Men are naturally suited to providing
So everyone benefits from this specialisation
Who agrees and disagrees with parsons instrumental and expressive roles
The new right agrees- best way of organzing family life
March of progress and feminism disagrees.
Feminism thinks division of labor is not ‘natural’ and only benefits men
What is the march of progress view
They see the conjugal role becoming more equal in modern society
Name a sociologist who identifies two types of conjugal role & what are they
-Bott(1957)
-segregated conjugal role:
~sharp division between make breadwinner and female homemaker
~similar to parsons instrumental and expressive role
~husband and wife spend free time separately
-joint conjugal role
~couples sharing domestic task
~spending time together
March progress view: name another sociologist who found segregated conjugal roles
- young willmott
- found segregated conjugal role in working class extended families in Bethnal Green
-men were the breadwinners:
~not involved in the home
~spending there leisure with work mates
-females were full time housewives and childcarers
~female relatives helped eachother
~spent their leisure together
The symmetrical family
-young and willmott
- see long term trends with joint conjugal role and symmetrical family, where roles are more similair and equal:
~most women now go out to work
~men help with housework and child care
~couples spend leisure time together. Men have become more house centred and the family more privatised
Reasons why the symmetrical family and joint conjugal role has arisen
-married women bringing in second wages
~raises families living standards
~makes home more attractive, so they spend more time at home
-couples can afford more labour-saving devices
~makes housework more easy
~encourages men to do more
Describe the feminist view of house wife role
-oakley
-housewife role is primary role for women
-the result of industrialisation and factory production in the 19th century
~led to separation of paid work from the home
-women were excluded from the work force & unable to leave from the house
~men became sole breadwinners & women economic dependance
-the housewife role is socially constructed
~not natural, unlike functionalist and the new right view
Oakley vs young and willmott vs boulton
-oakley found no evidence of symmetry in domestic labour
-argues that young and willmott exaggerates mens role
~although husbands help, this could include just ironing their own shirt once a week
-boulten
~need to look at who is responsible for task
~not just who performs them
~wife seen as responsible for children welfare, even if men help
~less than 20% of husbands had a major role in childcare
Give recent evidence of gender division of domestic labour
-future foundation (2000)
~study of 1,000 adults
~60% men to more housework than their father
~75% women do less housework than their mother
-ONS 2000/01
~still gender difference of amount of time spent on domestic labour
~average women spend over two and a half hrs a day
~on housework, cooking, washing up
~men one hour a day
~car maintenance and DIY
