couples Flashcards
instrumental and expressive roles
Parsons
husband has an instrumental role - achieving success at work, breadwinner
wife has an expressive role - carer and nurturer of the family, housewife
joint and segregated conjugal roles
Bott
segregated - male breadwinner and female homemaker, separate leisure activities
joint - couple share tasks such as housework and childcare and spend leisure time together
criticisms of Parsons instrumental and expressive roles
Young and Wilmott say men are taking a greater share of domestic tasks and wives are going to work
feminists disagree that the division of labour is natural, only benefits men
symmetrical family
Young and Willmott take a ‘march of progress’ view, they argue there has been a long term trend towards joint conjugal roles and symmetrical family
women go out to work
men help with housework and childcare
couples spend leisure time together
reasons for the rise in the symmetrical family
major social changes:
more women in paid work
new technology (labour saving devices)
higher standards of living
what did Young and Willmott find in their study of families in London?
symmetrical family was more common among younger couples, those who are geographically and socially isolated and the more affluent
how does Oakley criticise Young and Willmott?
says their claims are exaggerated, most of the husbands they interviewed ‘helped’ their wives at least twice a week, not evidence of symmetry
what does Oakley find in her research on housewives?
found evidence of husbands helping in the home but no evidence of symmetry
15% of husbands had a high level of participation in housework, 25% had a high level of participation in childcare
only pleasurable aspects of childcare e.g. playing with children
what does Boulton say?
Young and Willmott exaggerate mens contribution by looking at mens contribution rather than who’s responsible
a father might help with specific tasks but mother usually responsible for child’s security and well being
what is the march of progress view?
Young and Willmott - women in paid work is leading to a more equal division of housework
Sullivan - analysis of data found a trend towards women doing a smaller share of domestic work and men doing more
what do feminists think about couples becoming more equal?
women in paid work has not led to greater equality, there is little sign of a ‘new man’ and women now carry a dual burden
how does the British social attitudes survey support the feminist view of couples becoming more equal?
2012 men did 8 hours of housework a week, women did 13, men spent 10 hours on care for family members whereas women spent 23
evidence to support Boulton’s view of mother taking responsibility
Dex and Ward found only 1% of fathers took the main responsibility for caring for a sick child
Braun et al found most fathers were background fathers, they held a provider ideology: their role was breadwinner, not primary carer
what is the triple shift?
Duncombe and Marsden found women were required to carry out emotion work creating a triple shift: emotion work, domestic labour and paid work
what are two explanations for the gender division of labour?
Crompton and Lynette:
the cultural or ideological explanation
the material or economic explanation of inequality
what is the cultural or ideological explanation of inequality?
patriarchal norms shape gender roles, women perform more domestic labour because this is what society expects and has socialised them to do
what is the material or economic explanation of inequality?
women earn less than men, so it is economically rational for them to do more domestic labour while men spend more time earning money
evidence for the cultural or ideological explanation of inequality
equality will be achieved only when attitudes, values and expectations change:
- Gershuny argues that couples are adapting to women work full-time establishing a new norm of men doing more domestic work
- british social attitudes found a long-term change in attitudes, 10% of under 30s agreed with a traditional division of labour
evidence for the material or economic explanation of inequality
if women earn as much as their partners couples should do more equal amounts of housework:
- Arber and Ginn found better paid women could buy in products and services rather than carrying out domestic tasks themselves
- Ramos found where women is the breadwinner and man is unemployed they do equal amounts of domestic labour
what did Dunne find in her study of lesbian couples?
heterosexuals were socialised into gender scripts that set out different masculine and feminine roles and gender identities
lesbians did not link household tasks to gender scripts, so they were more open to negotiation and thus more equal
criticisms of Dunne
Dunne found that where one partner did more pairs work, they also did less domestic work so material factors still influenced division of labour
what did Barrett and Macintosh find?
men gain more from women’s domestic work than they give back in financial support
what did Kempson find?
women in low income families were denied their own needs to make ends meet e.g. skipping meals
what are the two types of control over family incomes?
Pahl and Vogler
the allowance system - men give their wives an allowance and keep any surplus income
pooling - where both partners have access to income and joint responsibility for expenditure (on the increase)
what did Edgell’s study of professional couples find?
very important decisions were taken by husband alone or with his final say
important decisions were taken jointly
less important decisions were made by the wife
what is the material explanation for inequalities in decision making?
men are likely to earn more so women are economically dependent on them and have less say in decision making
what is the cultural explanation for inequalities in decision making?
feminists argue that patriarchal society instills the idea that men are decision makers through gender role socialisation
what is the personal life perspective of money?
Nyman says money has no fixed meaning and different couples define it differently, this reflects the nature of the relationship
Smart found that same sex couples often give a different meaning to the control of money, they did not see it as meaning equality or inequality
(use to evaluate cultural and material explanations)
evidence that domestic violence is not just the behaviour of a few disturbed individuals
widespread - crime survey found two million people reported having been victim of domestic abuse during 2013
doesn’t occur randomly - mainly violence by men against women, one third of all female homicides were by a partner of former partner
why do official statistic on domestic violence understate the true extend of the problem?
under reported
under recorded
why are domestic violence cases under reported?
least likely violent crime to be reported, on average a women suffers 35 assaults before making a report
because victims fear is is too trivial or from fear of reprisals from their abuser
why are domestic violence cases under recorded?
police and prosecutors reluctant to record, investigate or prosecute cases
Cheap says because they don’t want to become involved in the ‘private sphere’, and assume victim is free to leave (not true because financially dependent)
what are two explanations of domestic violence?
the radical feminist explanation
the materialist explanation
what is the radical feminist explanation for domestic violence?
they see domestic violence as the result of patriarchy:
- men oppress women, mainly through the family, domestic violence enables men to control women
- men dominate the state explaining why the police and courts fail to take domestic violence seriously
supported by Dobash and Dobash who found violence was triggered when husbands felt their authority was being challenged
criticisms of the radical feminist explanation of domestic violence
doesn’t explain violence by women against men, children or lesbian partners
Elliot argues that not all men benefit from it
what is the materialist explanation of domestic violence?
women, children and poor and lower classes at risk because of social inequality
Wilkinson and Pickett argue that these parters are a result of stress on the family caused by social inequality. families that lack resources e.g. low income, poor housing - suffer more stress increasing risk of violence
what are criticism of the materialist explanation of domestic violence?
doesn’t explain why women rather than men are the main victims
how is the materialist explanation of domestic violence supported?
marxist feminists also see inequality producing domestic violence.
Ansley argues that male workers exploited at work take out their frustrations on their wives who are ‘takers of shit’
