Couples

Question 1

What is a household?

Answer 1

A person living alone or a group of people living together. May or may not be related to one another.

Question 2

What is the domestic division of labour?

Answer 2

Refers to the roles that men and women play in relation to housework, childcare and paid work.

Question 3

What is Parsons view on the instrumental and expressive roles of the family?

Answer 3

The husband has an instrumental role, the breadwinner. The wife has an expressive role, the homemaker, a full time housewife rather than a wage earner.

Question 4

What is Parsons view on the division of labour?

Answer 4

He argues that this division of labour is based on biological differences, with women ‘naturally’ suited to the nurturing role and men to that of the provider.

Question 5

What 2 types of conjugal roles does Botts distinguish between?

Answer 5

Segregated conjugal roles, where the couples have separate roles/leisure activities. Joint conjugal roles, where the couples share tasks such as housework and childcare.

Question 6

What type of view does Young and Willmott take towards The Symmetrical Family?

Answer 6

A ‘march of progress’ view. They see family life as gradually improving for all its members; becoming more equal and democratic.

Question 7

In Young and Willmott study of families in London, what did they find regarding The Symmetrical Family?

Answer 7

The Symmetrical Family was more common among younger couples, those who are geographically and socially isolated, are the more affluent.

Question 8

What 4 social changes does Young and Willmott see as the result of the rise of The Symmetrical Family?

Answer 8

• Changes in women’s position
• Geographical mobility, living away from the communities in which they grew up
• New technology & labour saving devices
• Higher standards of living

Question 9

What does Anne Oakley say about Young and Willmott’s ‘march of progress’ view?

Answer 9

She criticises it and says their claims are exaggerated, their evidence was hardly convincing.

Question 10

In Oakley’s own research on housewives what did she find?

Answer 10

Only 15% of husbands had a high level of participation in housework, and only 25% in childcare. Husbands were more likely to share in childcare than in housework, but only its more pleasurable aspects.

Question 11

What did Gershuny say on the ‘march of progress’ view?

Answer 11

He argues that women working full-time is leading to a more equal division of labour in the home.

Question 12

What is the feminist view on women going into paid work?

Answer 12

• It has led to greater inequality in the domestic division of labour
• There is still little sign of the ‘new man’ who does an equal share of housework and childcare
• Women now carry a dual burden.

Question 13

What is Boulton’s view in taking responsibility for children?

Answer 13

Although fathers may help by performing specific childcare tasks, it is usually the mother who takes responsibility for the child’s security and well-being.

Question 14

Which 3 studies support Boulton’s view?

Answer 14

• Ferri and Smith says that fewer than 4% of husbands take responsibility in childcare.
• Dex and Ward says only 1% of fathers took the main responsibility in caring for a sick child.
• Braun, Vincent and Ball found that out of 70 families studied only 3 fathers was the main carer.

Question 15

What other aspect did Hochschild say about taking responsibility for other family members?

Answer 15

The ‘emotion work’, women are often required to perform emotion work, where they are responsible for managing the emotions and feelings of family members.

Question 16

What does Duncombe and Marsden argue?

Answer 16

That women have to perform a ‘triple shift’ of housework, paid work and emotion work.

Question 17

Overall has there been some movement towards an equal division of labour?

Answer 17

Gershuny suggests a move towards greater equality, whereas other evidence such as the British Social Attitudes survey indicates continuing inequality.

Question 18

What two explanations did Crompton and Lyonette identify for the unequal division of labour?

Answer 18

The cultural or ideological explanation: the division of labour is determined by patriarchal norms and values that shape gender roles.
The material or economic explanation: the fact that women generally earn less than men it is economically rational for women to do more of the housework and childcare.

Question 19

What evidence is there for the cultural explanation?

Answer 19

Gershuny emphasises the importance of parental role models, couples who’s parents had a more equal relationship are more likely to be equal as well.
Man Yee Khan found that younger men do more domestic work, generational shift in behaviour.
The British Social Attitudes Survey found that less than 10% of under-35s agreed with traditional division of labour, as against to 30% of the over-65s.
Dunne found that lesbian couples had more symmetrical relationships because of the absence of ‘gender scripts’.

Question 20

What evidence is there for the material explanation?

Answer 20

Kan found that for every £10,000 a year more a women earns, she does 2 hours less housework per week.
Arber and Ginn found that better-paid, middle class women were more able to buy in commercially produced products and services (domestic help).
Ramos found that where the women is the full-time breadwinner and the man is unemployed, he does as much as domestic labour as she does.

Question 21

What does Barrett and McIntosh say regarding who controls the family’s income?

Answer 21

-Men gain far more from women’s domestic work than they give back in financial support.
-The financial support that husbands give to their wives is often unpredictable and comes with ‘strings’ attached.
-Men usually make the decisions about spending on important items.

Question 22

What did Kempson find among low income families?

Answer 22

He found that women denied their own needs, seldom going out, skipping meals or eating small portions of food in order to make ends meet.

Question 23

What 2 types of control over family income did Pahl and Vogler identify?

Answer 23

Pooling, where both partners have access to income and joint responsibility for expenditure.
The allowance system, where men give their wives an allowance out of which they have to budget to meet the family’s needs (the man having surplus income for himself)

Question 24

What did Edgell’s study find?

Answer 24

Very important decisions, were either taken by the husband alone or jointly but with the husband having the final say (eg finance).
Important decisions, were usually taken by jointly and seldom by the wife alone (eg children’s education/holiday).
Less important decisions, were usually wife made (eg house decor/clothes).

Question 25

What did Edgell say that the reason was for his studies?

Answer 25

Men are likely to take the decisions because they earn more, being dependent on them economically means having less say in decision-making.

Question 26

How did Gershuny and Laurie support Crompton and Lyonette’s findings?

Answer 26

In the patriarchal society, the cultural definition of men as decision-makers is deeply ingrained in both men and women and instilled through gender socialisation.

Question 27

Why can pooling still lead to inequality according to Pahl?

Answer 27

If both partners have a joint responsibility for expenditure but one partner earns twice as much as the other, is this equality?

Question 28

How does Vogler et al studies support Weeks et al?

Answer 28

Vogler et al found that cohabiting couples were less likely to pool their money (from a desire to maintain independence). Weeks et al found that the typical pattern was pooling some money for household spending but having separate accounts for personal spending, reflects a value of co-independence.

Question 29

How do sociologists challenge the view that domestic violence is not just from disturbed or ‘sick’ individuals?

Answer 29

• Domestic violence is far too widespread to be simply the work of a few disturbed individuals. The Crime Survey for England found that 2 million people reported having been victims during the previous year.
• Domestic violence does not occur randomly but follows social patterns which has social causes, one of these patterns being violence by men against women. Coleman and Osborne found that a third of all female homicide victims are killed by a partner/former partner.

Question 30

What did Dobash and Dobash find?

Answer 30

That violent incidents could be set off by what a husband saw as a challenge to his authority. They argue that marriage legitimatises violence against women by conferring power and authority on husbands and dependency on wives.

Question 31

What did the Crime Survey for England and Wales find? What problems are there regarding the gender gap?

Answer 31

They found a relatively narrow gender gap 7.3% of women compared to 5% of men reported having experienced abuse. But just knowing how many victims there are tells us nothing about the frequency, severity or effects that they suffer.

Question 32

Which study found a significant gender gap?

Answer 32

Ansara and Hindin, found that women suffered more severe violence and control, with more serious psychological effects.

Question 33

What are the 2 main reasons as to why official statistics understate the true extent of domestic violence?

Answer 33

1. Victims may be unwilling to report, on average a woman suffers 35 assaults before making a report. Some victims may believe the matter is too trivial.
2. Police and prosecutors may be reluctant to record/investigate, as they are not prepared to become involved in the family.

Question 34

What 3 assumptions do police make on family life which makes them reluctant in reporting domestic abuse cases?

Answer 34

1. Family is a private sphere, access should be limited.
2. Family is a good thing so they neglect the ‘darker side’.
3. Individuals are free agents, they are free to leave.

Question 35

Similar to Crompton and Lyonette explanations for the DDL, identify 2 types of explanation of domestic violence?

Answer 35

The radical feminist explanation, this emphasises the role of patriarchal ideas and cultural values.
The materialistic explanation, this emphasises the economic factors such as the lack of resources.

Question 36

What is the radical feminist explanation for domestic violence?

Answer 36

Millett and Firestone interpret findings such as those of Dobash and Dobash evidence of patriarchy, they see men as the enemy and exploiters of women. Radical feminists see the family and marriage as the key institutions in patriarchal society and the main source of women’s oppression. Radical feminists give a sociological rather than psychological explanation for domestic violence, making social norms about marriage a reason.

Question 37

What are the criticisms of the radical feminist explanation?

Answer 37

Elliot rejects their claims that all men benefit from violence against women, not all men are aggressive and most are opposed to domestic violence. They also fail to explain female violence such as child abuse by women. 18% of men have experienced domestic violence since the age of 16.

Question 38

What is the materialistic explanation for domestic violence?

Answer 38

Focuses on economic and material factors such as inequalities in income. Wilkinson and Pickett see domestic violence as the result of stress on family members caused by social inequality. Those on low income are likely to experience higher levels of stress which reduces their chance of maintaining stable, caring relationships.

Question 39

What are the criticisms for the materialistic explanation for domestic violence?

Answer 39

They do not explain why women rather than men are the main victims. Ansley describes wives as the ‘takers of shit’, she argues that domestic violence is the product of capitalism.