Couples Flashcards
Instrumental role
To achieve success at work
To provide financial support
Division of labour
Child care
Domestic labour - cooking and cleaning
Paid employment
Expressive role
Primary socialisation of the children
Meeting the family’s emotional needs
In the traditional nuclear role - TALCOTT PARSONS (1955)
The husband has an instrumental role
The woman has an expressive role
Talcott Parsons 1955 argument
This nuclear family division of labour is based on biological differences, with women “naturally” suited to the nurturing role.
He claims thats the division of labour is beneficial to both men and women
Functionalist view on couples
Stereotypical - nuclear family - wife’s the housewife.
Feminist view on couples
Equal roles or mum are subservient
Feminists may argue that right now there is patriarchal control
Marxist view on couples
Would argue the mans role is to provide and the woman is to do unpaid labour which allows the male to provide these resources
Filling in the needs for capitalism
New Right view on couples
They would value the traditional family.
The stereotypical family is the epitome
E.g singe parents viewed as less
The domestic division of labour
The roles that men and women perform in relation to housework, childcare and paid work
During the industrial revolution
The division of labour became more prominent
Elizabeth Bott (1957)
SEGREGATED and JOINT conjugal roles
SEGREGATED conjugal roles
Where the couple have separate roles: a male breadwinner and a female homemaker/ career (as in Parsons’ roles).
Their leisure activities also tend to be separate.
JOINT conjugal roles
Where the couple share tasks such as housework and childcare and spend their leisure time together.
Wilmott and Young
See family life as gradually improving for all its members (known as the MARCH OF PROGRESS VIEW)
Wilmott and Young’s investigational result
Symmetrical family - the roles of husbands and wives are now much more similar (women work, men HELP with housework, couples spend leisure time together)
They studied families in LONDON and found the symmetrical family was more common amongst younger couples, those who re geographically or socially isolated, and the more affluent
Wilmott and Youngs - REASONS FOR THE RISE IN THE SYMMETRICAL FAMILY
- Changes in women’s position in society
- More women working
- Geographical mobility (living away from communities you grow up in)
- new technology and labour saving devices (hoover, washing machine)
- Higher standards of living
EVALUATION of Wilmott and Young
Their research methods were criticised. Vague questions and unrepresentative sample