Childhood, gender, demographic changes

Question 1

Functionalist view on the idea of a family

Answer 1

Put forward by Parsons, he believed that the family was a nuclear family consisting of a male breadwinner, female carere and their children. He claimed men had an instrumental role in the family whereas women were described as having an expressive role

Question 2

Describe changes in the domestic divisions of labour:

Answer 2

1) Women work full time
2) Both parents share cooking and cleaning responsibilities
3) Many children go to nursery from a young age
4) Because of unemployment, men spend more time at home

Question 3

The symmetrical family

Answer 3

The term was used and popularized by Young and Willmott (1973). They argued that the working class communities that they researched in the 1950s in Benthal Green were characterised as having little to no cross over between gender roles.
They believed that by the 1970’s this was being replaced by a privatised nuclear family which was characterised by symmetry. Although they noted that women still carry the majority of the tasks, this is changing.

Question 4

Jonathan Gershuny

Answer 4

(1992) research provided the support for the work of Young and Willmott. He stressed that the progressing change of gender roles is changing but slow and lagged behind the growing women’s role in the workplace.

Question 5

Challenges to the symmetrical family

Answer 5

Ann Oakley (1974) argued that Young and Willmotts question of ‘Does your partner help at least once a week with household jobs’. She argues this is hardly reliable of symmetry.
In her own research she found that women still did the majority of household jobs.
The idea of housework was wrapped up in the feminine identity, even for women.

Question 6

Evidence that childhood is a social construction

Answer 6

1) the differing status, responsibility and treatment of children
2) The way this has changed through history
3) the differences in a child’s status and responsibilities in todays societies