Couples

Question 1

What are parsons roles?

Answer 1

Instrumental= Male, provide economic support for the family, breadwinner

Expressive= Provide emotional support, socialisation of children, homemaker, housewife

Question 2

What is Young and Willmott’s view?

Answer 2

Family is improving for all its members, becoming more equal and democratic. More joint conjugal roles, symmetrical family

Question 3

What are some features of the symmetrical family

Answer 3

• Equal division of labour within the home, e.g housework (domestic duties) and childcare
• Equal division of labour outside of the home, dual-worker partnerships
• Equal division of power when making decisions for major events or about money
• Couples spending more leisure time together

Question 4

What does Oakley argue about the symmetrical family?

Answer 4

• Young and Willmott’s claims are over- exaggerated only 15% of men participated in housework and 25% childcare

Question 5

What are the 2 types of roles identified by Bott?

Answer 5

Segregated conjugal roles: separate, male breadwinner, female homemaker. Spend leisure time apart

Joint conjugal roles: Share housework & childcare, spend leisure time together

Question 6

What has caused the rise of the symmetrical family?

Answer 6

• Changes in women’s position
• Geographical mobility
• New technology
• Higher living standards

Question 7

What is the march of progress view?

Answer 7

• Gershuny, women working full time is leading to a more equal division of labour in the home.

Studies found these women did less domestic work

Question 8

Feminist view on women going into paid work:

Answer 8

• no greater equality
• no sign of the ‘new man’
• women carry dual burden

2012 survey, men 8 hours housework weekly, women 13 hours

Question 9

What is Boultons view on childcare?

Answer 9

• fathers may help with childcare but mothers take responsibility for security and wellbeing

Dex & Ward, 78% played with children, 1% took responsibility when caring for sick child

Question 10

What is the dual burden and triple shift?

Answer 10

Dual burden: paid work and unpaid domestic work

Triple shift: Housework, paid work, emotion work

Question 11

How is leisure time between men and women different?

Answer 11

Men= uninterrupted consolidated blocks

Women= punctuated by childcare, dual burden

Question 12

What are Crompton and Lyonettes explanations for the gender division of labour?

Answer 12

Material explanation= women earn less, economically rational to do more housework and childcare

Cultural explanation= society expects women to perform more domestic labour, determined by patriarchal norms

Question 13

Evidence for cultural explanation:

Answer 13

Gershuny, couples whose parents had a more equal relationship, share housework equally themselves (role models)
- social values adapting to women working full time

Question 14

Evidence for material explanation

Answer 14

Kan, for every £10,000 a year more a woman earns, 2 hours less of housework per week

Question 15

What do Barrett and McIntosh say about decision making?

Answer 15

• men gain more from domestic work, than they give in finances
• financial support is unpredictable, ‘strings’ attached
• men make decisions about spending on important items

Question 16

What are the two types of control over income (Pahl & Vogler)

Answer 16

allowance system: men give wives a budget to meet family’s needs, any surplus for himself

pooling: both partners, joint income and responsibility for expenditure

Question 17

What did Edgell find on decision making?

Answer 17

• very important decisions: job, moving house, husband alone or joint, husband final say

important: education, holidays, joint or wife

less important: children’s clothes, food, by the wife

(men take decisions due to earning more and wives being dependent)

Question 18

What did Smart find on who controlled the money in a relationship?

Answer 18

• some gay men and lesbians attached no importance to who controlled the money, happy to leave this to each other

Question 19

What do sociologists argue about domestic violence being only a few ‘sick’ individuals?

Answer 19

1. too widespread, crime survey for England and Wales, 2013, 2 million reported being victims in the previous year
2. doesn’t occur randomly, follows patterns, men against women. Coleman & Osborne, 2 women a week are killed by a former/partner

Question 20

Who says that marriage legitimises violence?

Answer 20

Dobash & Dobash

Question 21

What did Walby and Allen find on domestic violence?

Answer 21

Women more likely to be victims of multiple incidents of abuse/ sexual violence

Question 22

Why may official statistics understate domestic violence?

Answer 22

Yearnshire, victims unwilling to report to the police, women suffer 35 assaults before reporting

Cheal, police reluctant to investigate, family is a private sphere, family is a good thing (neglect darker side) if women want to leave they can (not true, finances)

Question 23

Radical feminist explanation of domestic violence

Answer 23

• marriage and family key institutions maintaining oppression
• its inevitable, men dominate women through violence
• male domination in institutions explains why the police are reluctant to investigate

evaluation:
- fail to explain female violence, e.g child abuse. crime survey, 18% men experienced dv since 16
- Elliot, not all men are aggressive, most oppose dv

Question 24

Materialist explanation of domestic violence

Answer 24

• WIlkinson & Pickett, dv result of stress on family members from social inequality, fewer resources

increase of violence due to:
- worries about money, jobs and housing
- lack of money and time causing stress

• those with less power/ status/ wealth at greater risk

evaluation:
- doesn’t explain why women are the main victims if caused by social inequality
- marxists feminists agree. Ansley, wives are takers of shit. dv is the product of capitalism, men take out work frustration on wives