Couples

Question 1

According to Parsons what roles do the husband and wife play within a household?

Answer 1

The husband has an instrumental role (being successful at work, being the breadwinner) and the wife has an expressive role (socialization of children, meeting the family’s emotional needs, being the homemaker).

Question 2

What are the two types of conjugal roles identified by Elizabeth Bott?

Answer 2

Segregated conjugal roles where the couple holds separate roles within the household (+leisure activities tend to be separate) and
joint conjugal roles where the couple shares tasks such as housework and childcare (+leisure time spent together).

Question 3

What do Young and Willmott argue about the domestic division of labour?

Answer 3

‘March of progress’ view; there’s a long-term trend away from separated conjugal roles, towards joint conjugal roles and the ‘symmetrical family’.

Question 4

Describe the ‘march of progress’ view.

Answer 4

This view sees family life as gradually improving for all its members (becoming more equal and democratic) and sees men as taking a greater share of domestic tasks while women are becoming more involved in paid work outside the home.

Question 5

What is meant by the term ‘symmetrical family’?

Answer 5

A family in which the roles of the husband and wife, are much more similar than they have been in the past.

Question 6

In what ways is the family now more symmetrical?

Answer 6

Women go out to work, men help with housework and childcare, and couples spend their leisure time together (rather than separately with workmates or female relatives).

Question 7

What did Young and Willmott find in their study of families in London?

Answer 7

The symmetrical family was more common in younger couples, those who are geographically and socially isolated, and those who were better off.

Question 8

According to Young and Willmott, what caused the rise of the symmetrical nuclear family?

Answer 8

Changes in the position of women, an increase in geographical mobility, and higher standards of living.

Question 9

What view do feminists take on housework?

Answer 9

Feminists reject the march of progress view, arguing that little has changed and that men remain superior, with women still doing most of the housework.

Question 10

What do feminists argue causes the inequality present in regards to housework?

Answer 10

Both the family and society as a whole are male-dominated and patriarchal, with women occupying subordinate and dependent roles.

Question 11

Which sociologist criticises Young and Willmott’s view that family is now symmetrical? Why?

Answer 11

Oakley (1974) argues that their claims are exaggerated. While the husbands interviewed claimed they ‘helped’ their wives at least once a week, Oakley sees this evidence as hardly compelling of a symmetrical family since this could include simple tasks which require little effort on their part (e.g. taking the kids for a walk or making breakfast one day). It was always the mother who was responsible for the child’s security and well-being.

Question 12

What did Warde and Hetheringon find in their research?

Answer 12

They found that sex-typing of domestic tasks remains strong (e.g., wives were 30x more likely to be the last person to have done the washing, while husbands were 4x more likely to be the last person to wash the car).

Their general findings were that men would only carry out routine ‘female’ tasks when their partners were not around to do them; however, younger men no longer assumed that women should do the housework, and were more likely to think they were doing less than their fair share.

Question 13

What two questions stem from the impact of paid work? (March of Progress/Feminism)

Answer 13

‘Is paid work leading to a more equal division of domestic tasks?’ (March of Progress), and ‘does it simply mean that women now carry a ‘dual burden’?’ (Feminism)

Question 14

What did Sullivan find in her national analysis of representative data collected in 1975, 1987 and 1997?

Answer 14

There was a trend toward women doing a smaller share of the domestic work, and an increase in the number of couples who had an equal division of labor, with men participating more in traditional ‘women’s’ tasks.

Question 15

What did the British Social Attitudes survey (2012) find?

Answer 15

A fall in the number of people who think it’s the man’s job to earn money, and the woman’s job to look after the home and family.

In 1984, 45% of men and 41% of women agreed with this view, but by 2012 this had dropped to only 13% of men and 12% of women.

Question 16

Why do feminists argue that women going into paid work has not led to greater equality in the domestic division of labour?

Answer 16

There is still little sign of a ‘new man’ and women continue to hold a ‘dual burden’.

Question 17

What is meant by the term ‘dual burden’?

Answer 17

Women go out to do paid work while also being responsible for domestic work.

Question 18

What did the 2012 British Social Attitudes survey find about domestic work?

Answer 18

Men carry out 8 hrs of housework per week while women complete 13 hrs; men complete 10 hrs of care for families, compared to 23 hrs for women; women did twice as much as men, and 60% of women felt this division of labor was unjust because they were doing more than their fair share.

Question 19

What does the 2012 British Social Attitudes survey claim about couples?

Answer 19

They continue to divide household tasks along traditional gender lines with patterns being as much the same in 2012 as they were in 1994.

Question 20

What do surveys such as the 2012 British Social Attitudes survey fail to mention about domestic labor?

Answer 20

Qualitative differences in the tasks that men and women perform; Allan argues that women’s tasks, such as washing and cleaning, are less intrinsically satisfying.

Question 21

What do surveys such as the 2012 British Social Attitudes survey tend to focus on? What is the problem with this?

Answer 21

Easily quantifiable aspects such as who performs which tasks and/or how much time is spent doing them (gives no details about who is responsible for ensuring that tasks are completed).

Question 22

What does Boulton point out about childcare?

Answer 22

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

Question 23

What studies are there to support Boulton’s view?

Answer 23

Ferri and Smith (1996), Dex and Ward (2007), and Braun/Vincent/Ball (2011)

Question 24

What did Ferri and Smith’s (1996) study find?

Answer 24

Fathers took responsibility for childcare in fewer than 4% of families

Question 25

What did Dex and Ward’s (2007) study find?

Answer 25

Fathers took only 1% of main responsibility when it came to caring for their sick child, even though they had quite high levels of involvements with their children (e.g., 78% played games with their children)

Question 26

What did Braun, Vincent and Ball’s (2011) study find?

Answer 26

The father was the main carer in only 3 in 70 families, and most were ‘background fathers’; (caring for their child was more so about their relationship with their partner, not their responsibility to their child). Most fathers held ‘provider ideology’ (saw themselves as breadwinner) while the mothers saw themselves as primary carers. This ideology was underpinned by ideas about ‘intensive mothering’ in the media telling women how to be good mothers.

Question 27

What does Hochschild (2013) propose is another aspect of taking responsibility for other family members?

Answer 27

‘Emotional work’

Question 28

What do feminists note about emotion work?

Answer 28

Women are often required to perform it, and in doing so they are responsible for managing emotions/feelings of family members (e.g., handling jealousies/squabbles between siblings), ensuring everyone is happy, and exercising control over their own emotions.

Question 29

What is a ‘triple shift’?

Answer 29

Duncombe and Marsden (1995) argue that women have to perform a ‘triple shift’ of housework, paid work, and emotion work.

Question 30

What does Southerton (2011) claim?

Answer 30

According to Southerton, scheduling and managing family time is a responsibility that also falls to the mother.

He also notes that while most studies show that men and women share a similar amount of leisure time, they have different experiences e.g., men are likely to experience chunks of leisure time whereas women’s leisure time is often split up by childcare.

Furthermore, women are more likely to multi-task meaning that they carry a dual burden which increases the volume of tasks that they manage.

Question 31

Are couples becoming more equal?

Answer 31

Evidence suggests that they may have been a slight movement towards equal division of labour (though not much).

There some evidence supporting both sides of the argument e.g., Gershuny’s findings suggest a move towards equality while the BSA survey indicates that inequality is continuing.

In terms of housework, and childcare in particular, equality appears to be way off.

Question 32

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

Answer 32

The cultural or ideological explanation: the division of labour is determined by patriarchal norms and values that shape cultural gender norms. Women perform more domestic labour since that is how they have been socialised by society and they are expected to do so.

The material or economic explanation: Since women generally earn less than men, it is economically rational for women to do more of the housework and childcare, allowing men to spend more time doing paid work and earning a wage.

Question 33

What evidence does Gershuny (1994) give to support Crompton and Lyonette’s (2008) cultural explanation for the unequal division of labour?

Answer 33

Couples whose parents had a more equal relationship are more likely to equally share housework between themselves, suggesting that parental role models are important. He argues that social values are gradually adapting to women going out to work, and society is establishing a new norm that men should do more domestic work.

Question 34

What evidence does Man Yee Kan (2001) give to support Crompton and Lyonette’s (2008) cultural explanation for the unequal division of labour?

Answer 34

Younger men do more domestic work.

According to the Future Foundation (2000), most men claimed to do more housework than their father and most women claimed to do less than their mother; this suggests a generational shift in behaviour is occurring.

Question 35

What evidence does The British Attitudes survey (2013) give to support Crompton and Lyonette’s (2008) cultural explanation for the unequal division of labour?