Couples Flashcards
Domestic division of labour
roles that men and women play in relation to housework, childcare, and paid work.
Talcott Parsons
- Functionalist model of the family
- Clear division of labour between spouses
Parons - What role does the husband have?
Instrumental
Parsons - What does the husband do?
- Achieving success at work so that he can provide for the family
- Breadwinner
Parsons - What role does the wife have?
- Primary socialisation of the children
- Meeting the family’s emotional needs
- Homeowner, a full-time housewife rather than a wage earner.
Why does Parsons argues this division of labour is based on biological differences?
- Women ‘naturally’ suited to the nurturing role
- Men to that of provider
Who also agrees with Parsons?
New Right
Who are the two sociologists that criticise Parsons?
- Young and Wilmott
- Feminist sociologists
Criticisms of Parsons: Young and Wilmott
- Men are now taking a greater share of domestic tasks
- More wives are becoming wage earners
Criticisms of Parsons: Feminist sociologists
- Reject Parsons’ view that the division of labour is natural
- It only benefits men
Conjugal roles
roles within marriage
Bott = two types of conjugal roles
- Segregated conjugal roles
- Joint conjugal roles
Bott - Segregated conjugal roles
- couples have separate roles:
- Male breadwinner
- Female homemaker/ carer
Bott - Joint conjugal roles
- couple share tasks like housework and childcare
- Spend their leisure time together
Young and Wilmott - pattern of segregated conjugal roles in their study of traditional working-class extended families in Bethnal Green, east London, in the 1950s.
- Men were breadwinners
-> Played little part in home life
-> Spent their leisure time with workmates in pubs and working men’s clubs - Women were full-time housewives with sole responsibility for housework and childcare, helped by their female relatives.
-> Limited leisure women had was also spent with female kin.
