couples

Question 1

what does Parsons argue about instrumental and expressive roles in a traditional nuclear family?

Answer 1

there is a clear division of labour where the husband has an instrumental role so he can provide for the family being a breadwinner while the wife has an expressive role to meet the family’s emotional needs as a homemaker to look after children, cook and clean

Question 2

how is Parsons’ idea of a division of labour criticised?

Answer 2

Young argues men are now taking on a greater share of domestic tasks as women are becoming wage earners
also, feminists argue the division of labour only benefits men

Question 3

what does Bott argue about joint and segregated conjugal roles?

Answer 3

there are two types of roles within marriage
segregated conjugal roles aids where the couple have separate roles (Parsons idea)
whereas with joint conjugal roles couples share tasks

Question 4

what does Young and Willmott argue about the symmetrical family?

Answer 4

take a ‘march of progress’ view and see family life as improving and becoming more equal as women can now go out to work, men help more with childcare and housework and couples now spend their leisure time together instead of separately

Question 5

what do feminists argue about housework?

Answer 5

reject a march of progress view as they argue little has changed and men and women are still unequal because society still views family as male dominated or patriarchal

Question 6

how does feminist Anne Oakley critique Young and Willmott?

Answer 6

she argues their idea is exaggerated and found that only 15% of husbands had high levels of participation in housework and only 25% had high levels of participation in childcare

Question 7

what do feminist sociologists argue about couples becoming more equal?

Answer 7

there is still little sign of the ‘new man’ who does an equal share of housework and childcare, while women now carry a duel burden

Question 8

how much do men do?

Answer 8

a survey found that in 2012, men on average did 8 hours of housework a week whereas women did 13 hours

Question 9

what does Boulton argue about childcare?

Answer 9

it is usually the mother who takes most responsibility for a child’s security and well being

Question 10

what does Smith note about childcare?

Answer 10

found that fathers took responsibility for childcare in fewer than 4% of families

Question 11

what did Ball find about fathers and childcare?

Answer 11

only three families out of 70 studied was the father the main carer as the others were seen as ‘background’ fathers

Question 12

what does Hochschild argue about emotion work?

Answer 12

‘emotion work’ is taking responsibility for family members
feminists argue women are often required to perform emotional work as well as physical where they have to manage the feelings and emotions of other family members (‘takers of shit’)

Question 13

what is Marsden argue about the triple shift?

Answer 13

the triple shift is where women have to perform housework, paid work and emotion work

Question 14

what does Southerton argue about taking responsibility for ‘quality time’?

Answer 14

women often have the responsibility of managing and organising the family’s quality time together, which has become more difficult in today’s late modern society due to recent social changes as people’s time is becoming more fragmented

Question 15

what does Crompton identify about the gender division of labour?

Answer 15

the cultural explanation of inequality (the division of labour is determined by patriarchal norms and values that shape gander roles)
the material explanation of inequality (economically rational for women to do more housework while men earn money)

Question 16

what evidence is there for the cultural explanation of inequality?

Answer 16

Gershuny found that couples whose parents had equal relationships are more likely to share housework equally themselves, suggesting that parental role models are important

Question 17

what evidence is there for the material explanation of inequality?

Answer 17

Kan found that for every £10,000 a year more a woman earns, she does two hours less housework per week
Sullivan shows that working full-time rather than part-time makes the biggest difference in terms of how much domestic work each partner does

Question 18

what do feminists argue about the gender division?

Answer 18

women still continue to shoulder a duel or triple burden as domestic tasks continue to remain gendered
argue the root of the problem is patriarchy

Question 19

what does Pahl identify about money management?

Answer 19

the allowance system - where men give their wives an allowance out of which they have to budget to meet family’s needs
pooling - where both partners have access to income and joint responsibility which is most common

Question 20

what did Edgell’s find bout decision making?

Answer 20

very important decisions such as finance or moving house are usually taken by the husband alone or jointly with the husband having the final say
important decisions such as holidays or education are taken jointly
less important decisions such as food or children’s clothes are usually made by the wife

Question 21

what does Edgell argue about men making decisions?

Answer 21

men are more likely to take the decision because they earn more and women seem to be dependant of them economically

Question 22

what do feminists argue about inequalities in decision making?

Answer 22

argue that in patriarchal society, the idea that men are the decision makers is deeply ingrained in both men and women, instilled through gender role socialisation

Question 23

what is a ‘personal life’ perspective on money?

Answer 23

this focuses on the meanings couples give to who controls the money

Question 24

what does Smart note about ‘personal life’ perspective on money?

Answer 24

Smart found that some gay men and lesbians attached no importance to to who controlled money and were happy to leave this to their partners

Question 25

what did the the crime survey for england and wales find about domestic violence victims?

Answer 25

two million people reported having been victims of domestic abuse in 2012

Question 26

what did Coleman find about domestic abuse patterns?

Answer 26

women are more likely to have experienced ‘intimate violence’ across all four types of abuse (partner abuse, family abuse, sexual assault and stalking)

Question 27

what did Dobash and Dobash find about domestic abuse?

Answer 27

found that violent incidents could be set off by what a husband saw as a challenge to authority

Question 28

what did the crime survey for england and wales find about the gender gap in domestic abuse?

Answer 28

7.3% of women compared to 5% of men reported having experienced domestic abuse in 2012

Question 29

what did Allen find about domestic abuse?

Answer 29

women were much more likely to be victims of multiple incidents of abuse and sexual violence

Question 30

what did Yearnshire find about domestic abuse?

Answer 30

on average a women suffers 35 assaults before making a report

Question 31

what does Dar argue about domestic violence?

Answer 31

argues victims are less likely to report the offence because abuse may be continuous so they live in fear

Question 32

what do radical feminists argue about explanations for domestic violence?

Answer 32

widespread domestic violence is inevitable in a patriarchal society

Question 33

what are criticisms of the radical feminist view on domestic abuse?

Answer 33

radical feminists fail to explain child abuse by a woman, violence against men and violence within lesbian relationships

Question 34

what are some groups that the office of national statistics suggest are more at risk than women to domestic violence?

Answer 34

young women, low classes and deprived, low income, high levels of alcohol or drugs, illnesses or disabilities

Question 35

what is the materialist explanation for domestic violence?

Answer 35

focuses on economic factors such as inequalities in income
some families have fewer resources than others which give these families more worries about money, jobs and housing which may spill into domestic abuse due to tempers

Question 36

what are criticisms about the materialist explanation for domestic violence?

Answer 36

does not explain why women are more of a victim than men

Question 37

what do marxist feminists say about domestic abuse?

Answer 37

see inequality causing domestic violence as wives are ‘takers of shit’ when men come home from work and take their frustrations out on their wives