couples

Question 1

household

Answer 1

a person living alone or a group of people living together may or maynot be related to each other

Question 2

nuclear family

Answer 2

a monogamous marriage between man and a woman with a child or children sharing a residence

Question 3

parsons’ instruments role

Answer 3

husband is geared towards succussing at work to provide for the family financially, the breadwinner

Question 4

parsons’ expressive role

Answer 4

the wife has the role of the homemaker, focuses on the primary socialisation of the children and meeting the family’s emotional needs

Question 5

parsons’ biological difference

Answer 5

women are ‘naturally suited’ to the nurturing role and men to that of the provider, the division is beneficial to women, men, children, wider society

Question 6

what two criticisms have been made of parsons?

Answer 6

Michael Young and Peter Willmott argue men are now taking a greater share of domestic tasks and more wives are becoming wage owners

Question 7

do feminist sociology reject parsons’ view?

Answer 7

yes, they do not believe divisions are natural and only benefit men

Question 8

segregated conjugal roles

Answer 8

couples have separate roles, a male breadwinner and female homemaker, leisure activities are also separate

Question 9

joint conjugal roles

Answer 9

couple share tasks such as homework and childcare and spend their leisure time together

Question 10

stage one the pre-industrial family

Answer 10

unit of economic production, no separation between work and home, live with or close to other family members

Question 11

stage two the early industrial family

Answer 11

work and home seperated, women domestic, men work, women rely on other female relations support, female relations bonded, men excluded

Question 12

stage three the symmetrical family

Answer 12

unit of consumption, less gender segregated roles in employment and domestic chores, smaller, children are dependants not financial assets, joint conjugal roles, more time together

Question 13

stage four the asymmetrical family

Answer 13

willmott and young predicted husband and wife would spend more time apart, especially rich business men, stratified diffusion - changes in family life among the higher class which others would adapt

Question 14

why is stage three the most important?

Answer 14

we can see it becoming more common and see its evolution over time

Question 15

Why are families engaging in joint conjugal roles more?

Answer 15

• changes in women’s positions, married women going to work
• geographical mobility, more couples moving away from where they grew up
• new technology and labour saving devices
• higher standards of living

Question 16

ann oakley

Answer 16

criticises young and willmott’s view, believes the families not symmetrical and argues that their claims are exaggerated

Question 17

what did oakley find in her own research?

Answer 17

only 15% of husbands had high participation in housework, 25% in childcare, more likely to spend time playing with their children to ‘take them of her hands’ leaving the mother with more time for house work and she loses the rewards of childcare

Question 17

mary boulton (1983)

Answer 17

found less that 20% of husbands had a major role in childcare, argues Young and Wilmott exaggerate men’s contribution by looking at tasks rather than responsibilities in childcare, mother is always responsible for child’s security and well-being

Question 18

Alex Warde and Kevin Hetherington (1993)

Answer 18

sex-tying of domestic tasks remained strong, women 30x more likely to last wash dishes, men 4x more likely to last fix car, men only carry out tasks when female partner is not there, found slight change men no longer assumed women should do housework

Question 19

march of progress view (MoP)

Answer 19

optimistic view, argue women working is leading to a more equal division of labour at home, men are becoming more involved in housework and childcare

Question 20

jonathan gershuny (1994) MoP

Answer 20

argues that woman working full time is leading to more equal division of labour in the home, using time studies he found these women did less domestic work that other women

Question 21

oriel sullivan (2000) MoP

Answer 21

analysis of nationally representative data collected in 75’ 87’ and 97’ found a trend towards women doing a smaller share of domestic work and men doing more

Question 22

british social attitudes survey (2013)

Answer 22

found a fall in the number of people who think its a mans job to earn money and a womens job to look after the family