couples Flashcards
define household
1 or more people living together. can be family or friends
define domestic division of labour
domestic division of labour = the roles that w + m play in relation to housework, child care or paid work
define reconstituted
a family consisting of children from previous relationships (step family)
outline Parsons (Fu) view on the male and female roles
- husband has the instrumental role (breadwinner)
- wife has the expressive role (house worker, child carer)
what is Parsons explanation for his roles
- its based on biological differences, as women are naturally suited to the nurturing role and men to that of a provider
- the DoL is beneficial to both men and women and wider society
what are AO3 evaluations for Parsons view
- Young + Wilmott: men now take a greater share of domestic tasks + more women are in paid work
- Feminists: the DoL is not natural and only benefits men
outline Bott’s (Fu) view on the male and female roles
- segregated conjugal roles = the couple has separate roles. men are the breadwinners, women are the home makers. leisure time is separate
- joint conjugal roles = the couple shares tasks (housework, childcare). spends leisure time together
outline Young + Wilmott’s study of 1950 w/c families
- in their study of w/c families in 1950 East London, men were the breadwinners and played little part home life and spent leisure time with colleagues
- women were full time housewives and had limited leisure time with female kin
what is Young and Wilmott’s (Fu) view on the family
- they take a March of Progress view
- the family is more symmetrical (husbands + wives roles are now more similar)
- family life is improving for all parties, becoming more equal and democratic
what are Young + Willmott’s (Fu) explanations of the symmetrical family
- the roles are becoming more equal + there are more symmetrical families due to social changes like;
- changes in w’s positions; in paid work, although part time rather than full time
- geographical mobility; more couples living away from where they grew up, less etx failure to help, breaks trad influence
- new tech; (e.g. washing machine) allows for easier childcare/ housework in which m can take on
what is the feminist view of housework
- they reject the March of Progress view and say that little has changed
- m + w remain unequal with women still doing most housework
- this inequality stems from the patriarchal society
what does Oakley (Fem) say about men and women’s roles in the family
- criticises Young and Wilmott by saying that little has changed; family is still unequal
- women still do most of the housework and childcare
- men are still the primary breadwinners
what is Oakley’s (feminist) explanation + stats for the family roles
- the family and society are male dominated/ patriarchal
- 15% of men take an active role in housework
- 25% of men take an active role in childcare, but more so of the ‘fun’ parts
what does Boulton (feminist) say about families becoming more equal
- men are starting to contribute more, but not much; she found less than 20% of husbands had a major role in childcare
- Y + W exaggerate men’s contribution by looking at the tasks involved in childcare rather than the responsibilities
what does Warde + Hetherington say about household tasks
- sex typing of domestic tasks remains prevalent, e.g. w were 30x more likely to be the last person to have done the washing
- m only carry out ‘female’ tasks when their partners weren’t around to do them
- however, there was a slight change in attitude among younger men
state the 2 sides to the debate of the impact of women in paid work
1) March of Progress: w in paid work leads to a more equal share of domestic tasks/ childcare
2) Feminist: w now have to carry a dual burden of paid and domestic work
what is the MoP view on the impact of w in paid work
- it leads to a more equal division of labour - men become more involved in housework + childcare whilst w become more involved in paid work
what is the Feminist view on the impact of w in paid work
- w going into paid work hasnt led to a more equal division of labour, but a ‘dual burden’
- there is little evidence of the ‘new man’ who does an equal share of domestic tasks
- overall, women do 2x as much domestic tasks as men
- British Social Attitudes survey: 60% of women felt this division of labour as unjust
define dual burden
when women do both paid (employment) and unpaid work (housework, childcare)
are w/c or u/c women more likely to have a dual burden
- w/c women; as u/c women can afford dishwashers, childcare services, cleaners, which can alleviate the burden of childcare and housework
outline Hochschild’s concept of emotional work
- Feminists: w are often required to perform the emotional work, where they’re responsible for managing the emotions of family members
what did Duncombe + Marsden (1995) say the triple shift was
- emotional work = caring for other family members emotionally (e.g. delegating sibling arguments)
- housework = unpaid work in the home
- paid work = paid employment
outline the responsibility of quality time
- Southerton: mothers are often held with the responsibility of organising the family’s quality time
what did Crompton + Lyonette (2008) say about the gender division of labour
there are 2 explanations for an unequal division of labour:
- cultural/ ideological explanation: unequal roles are caused by patriarchal norms, values and socialisation
- material/ economic explanation: women perform more domestic roles, as generally, men earn more money + are more busy due to paid work
outline evidence/ theorists that back up the cultural explanation for the unequal division of labour
- Gershuny: couples whose parents had a more equal relationship are more likely to share housework themselves - shows parental models are important
- Dunne: within lesbian couples with children, there was a more equal division of labour than in hetero sexual couples
outline evidence/ theorists that back up the material explanation for the unequal division of labour
- Kan: for every £10,000 a w earns per year, she does 2 hours less housework per week
- Arber + Ginn: m/c w are able to rely on products + services (nannies, day care, ready meals) in order to spend less time on domestic tasks whilst holding down a career
what did Barrett + McIntosh (1991) say about households
- men gain more from w’s domestic work than they give back in financial support
what did Kempson (1994) say about women in low income families
in low income families, women were more likely to deny their own needs (e.g. going out, eating less) to make ends meet
define Vogler’s term Pooling
- pooling = where both partners have access to income and joint responsibility with funding (e.g. a joint bank account)
- pooling is on the increase
define Vogler’s term Allowance System
- allowance system = when men give women an allowance out of which they have to budget to meet the families needs, and the man keeps the surplus for himself
what does Hardill say about decision making
- important decisions were either taken on by the man alone or jointly
- the man’s career usually took priority when deciding if to move house
what did Finch (1983) say about women’s life structures
- women lives tend to be structured around their husbands career
what were Edgell’s (1980) tiers of decision making
- very important decisions: e.g. finance, moving house; decided by the husband alone or joint
- important decisions: e.g. holiday location; decided jointly or by the wife alone
- less important decisions: e.g. home decor; decided by the wife
what is the material reason for inequalities in decision making
- men earn more, and so women are financially dependent on them, so they have less input in decisions
what do feminists say about the explanation for inequal decision making
- inequalities are caused by the patriarchal society - the idea that m are the dominant, decision makers is instilled into both men and women’s minds
outline the ‘personal life’ perspective on money
- focuses on the meaning given to who controls the money in couples
- 1 partner controlling the money doesn’t necessarily equate to inequality
- Smart: some gay men + women attached no importance to who controlled the money - they didn’t see this control as inequality
define domestic violence
- controlling, coercive or threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between people who have been intimate partners or live together
what is the common view of DV
- DV is the behaviour of a few disturbed / sick individuals and its causes are psychological rather than social
what are sociological evaluations of the common view of DV
- DV is too far widespread: Crime Survey for England and Wales; 2 million people reported having been victims of DV
- DV doesn’t occur randomly: it follows particular social patterns which have causes - Dobash + Dobash: DV is initiated by women questioning their partners authority
what are the issues of using official statistics for DV
- victims may be unwilling to report DV to the police
- Yearnshire: a woman experiences 35 assaults before making a report. DV is the crime least likely to be reported
- police/ prosecutors may be unwilling to reluctant to record, investigate and prosecute these cases
- Cheal: this is due to how state agencies dont want to get involved in family affairs; as the family is a private sphere, so access to it is limited. also, the family is a good institution, in which the darker side is neglected
what percentage of crime does DV account for
- 25%
what are England/Wales Crime survey stats on DV for men and women per year
- 1.5M women experience DV
- 700K men experience DV
outline the radical feminist (Millett + Firestone) explanation for DV
- Millett + Firestone: all societies have been founded on patriarchy in which DV is inevitable to maintain men’s power
- the family + marriage are the key institutions in women’s oppression. m dominate w with the threat of DV
- the male domination of state agencies explains why so few DV are prosecuted
what is the AO3 evaluation of the radical feminist view of DV
- Elliot: rejects the idea that all men benefit from DV. Rad F ignore that most men oppose DV
- Rad F also fail to explain DV on men from women (18% of men have experienced DV) or DV in lesbian relationships
outline the materialist explanation for DV
- material factors like inequalities in income + housing can explain why some groups are more at risk than others - those with less power, money and status
- Wilkinson + Pickett: DV is the result of stress on family members caused by social inequality
- w/c families on lower incomes heightens stress and so lessens their likelihood of maintaining a stable relationship
what is the AO3 evaluation of the materialist view of DV
- Wilkinson + Pickett fail to explain why women are at more of a risk than men to be DV victims
what does Ansley say about DV
- wives are ‘takers of shit’
- DV is the product of capitalism; male workers are exploited in the workplace and take their frustrations out on their wives
