4.1 : Couples Flashcards
Define INSTRUMENTAL Role
- Husbands Role
- Breadwinner
- Provide Financially for the Family
Define EXPRESSIVE Role
- Primary Socialises Children
- Meets Families Emotional Needs
- Homemaker/Carer/Housewife
Give Two Criticisms of Parsons
- Feminists argue it only benefits men
- Young and Willmott argue that men are now taking a greater share of domestic tasks and wives are becoming wage earners
Who would Support Parsons?
New Right
Define SEGREGATED Conjugal Roles
Coupes have separate roles:
-men are breadwinners
-women are carers/homemakers
And leisure time is separate
Define JOINT Conjugal Roles
Couples share tasks and spend their leisure time together
Which social class is more like to have segregated Conjugal Roles according to YandW?
Working Class
What’s the ‘March of Progress’ view
Family gradually improving for all its members
Three Characteristics of a SYMMETRICAL FAMILY
- Women Work
- Men help with housework and childcare
- Couples spend leisure time together
Four Social Changes that have encouraged the rise in Symmetrical Families
- Changes in a woman’s position
- Geographical Mobility
- New Technology and Labour Saving Devices
- Higher standards of living
Outline Ann Oakley (1974)
Feminist perspective
- Rejects march of progress view because she believes little has changed
- Claims Y and W exaggerate their claims
- Found:
• 15% (husbands) high level of participation in housework
• 25% (husbands) high level participation in childcare
Husbands = Childcare>Housework
Meant mothers lose the rewards of childcare such as playing
What did Mary Boulton (1983) find in relation to men’s involvement in childcare?
Less that’s 20% had a major role in childcare
Two examples of sex-typing tasks (Warde and Hetherington, 1993)
- wives were 30x more like to be the last person to have done the washing
- husbands were 4x more likely to be the last person to have washed the car
What trend did Oriel Sullivan (2000) find over 1975, 1987 and 1997?
March of Progress Perspective
- Woman doing smaller share of domestic work and men doing more
- Increase in the number of couples with an equal division of labour
- Men are participating in more traditional womans tasks
In what type of couple is domestic wok more equally shared and most unequally shared?
find out.
Which of the tasks are always/usually undertaken by men or women? And how does this support woman having a dual burden?
Feminist Perspective
Men: 8 hours a week - making repairs around the house - Women: 13 hours a week - laundry - cleaning - meals - looking after ill members
ans dual burden