Couples Flashcards
What did parsons believe about the roles of men and women in the home ?
That they were distinct and separate from one another, the husband had an instrumental role and the wife had an expressive role
What are the two types of conjugal roles bott distinguishes between ?
Segregated conjugal roles where the couple have separate roles
Joint conjugal roles where the couple share tasks
What is the symmetrical family and who argued it ?
Young and willmott argued the family is progressively getting better for all its members, by symmetrical they mean a family that don’t have identical roles but ones that are now much more similar
What is a feminist view on housework ?
Anne Oakley (1974) criticises young and Wilmots theory, she says the argument for the symmetrical family is exaggerated and that there is some trend towards husbands helping but not equally
What is the march of progress view on couples & domestic labour ?
They argue that women going out to work is leading to a more equal division in labour at home
What is the feminist view on couples and domestic labour ?
that women going into paid work has not lead to greater equality in the division of domestic labour
What is the triple shift ?
The belief that women have to preform paid work, housework and emotional work between family members
What are the two different explanations for the unequal division of labour presented by Compton and Lyonette ?
Cultural and ideological explanations
Material and economic explanations
what is some evidence for the cultural explanation ?
Gurshuny found that couples who’s parents had a more equal relationship are more likely to share housework between themselves
What is some evidence for the material explanation ?
Xavier Ramos found that where women is a full-time bread winner and the man is unemployed he had done as much domestic labour as she has
What are the two types of control over family income the feminist sociologists pahl and vogler identify ?
The allowance system
Pooling
What did edge’s study of professional couples find ?
Very important decisions were taken by the husband alone or joint with the husband having the final say
Important decisions were taken jointly, usually never by the wife alone
Less important decisions were usually made by the wife
What is the personal life perspective on money ?
Focuses on the meanings couples give to who controls the money, from this perspective the meanings money may have in a relationship cannot be taken for granted
What is a common view regarding domestic violence ?
That it is the behaviour of a few disturbed sick individuals and that its causes are psychological rather than sociological
How have sociologists challenged this view of domestic violence ?
Saying domestic violence is far too widespread and that it doesn’t occur randomly
