COUPLES Flashcards
What does Parsons say about roles in the family?
The husband has an instrumental role - breadwinner
The wife has an expressive role - homemaker/housewife
What are the two different conjugal roles?
Elizabeth Bott:
Segregated: couple has separate roles: a male breadwinner and a female homemaker/carer
Joint: couples share tasks such as housework and childcare and spend their leisure time together
What is the symmetrical family?
Wilmott and Young - A family in which the roles of husbands and wives, although not identical, are now much more similar
What is a feminist view of housework?
Feminists reject the ‘march of progress view’, they argue little has actually changed and that men and women are still unequal within the family. Ann Oakley - march of progress is exaggerated, men ‘helping their wives out’ could simply just be walking with their child once a week, it is nothing groundbreaking to suggest equality in the family.
What is the March of Progress view?
S1: The pre-industrial family
S2: The early industrial family
S3: The symmetrical family (equal)
What is the feminist view on couples?
There is still little sign of the ‘new man’ who is helping out in the house with an equal share of the work. Studies from the British Social Attitudes Surveys show that women still do twice more housework than men do - are couples really equal?
What is the triple shift?
Originally identified by sociologists Duncombe and Marsden, the triple shift occurs when women take on not only paid (1) and unpaid (2) work, but also the responsibility of the emotional work (3) within families, managing and soothing the emotions of partners and children
What is the explanation for gender division of labour?
Crompton and Lyonette identify two different explanations:
Cultural or ideological explanation of inequality - determined by patriarchal norms
Material or economic explanation of inequality - women generally earn less than men, economically ration for women to do more housework
What is evidence for the cultural explanation of gender division of labour?
Gershuny - found that couples whose parents had a more equal relationship are more likely to share housework equally amongst themselves, parental role models are important
Gillian Dunne - lesbian couples had more symmetrical relationships because of the absence of traditional heterosexual ‘gender scripts’ or norms
What is evidence for the material explanation of gender division of labour?
Xavier Ramos - where the woman is the breadwinner and man is unemployed, he does as much domestic labour as she does
Sullivan - shows that working full time rather than part time makes the biggest difference in terms of how much domestic work each partner does
How does money management in househoulds affect households?
Pahl and Vogler identified two types of control over family income:
Allowance - men give their wives an ‘allowance’ which they budget to meet family needs
Pooling - both partners have access to income and joint responsibility for expenditure
How does decision making affect households?
Stephen Edgell found that:
- Very important decisions relating to finance was often made by the man alone or a joint decision with the man having the final say
- Important decisions such as education or holiday were usually taken jointly and on a few occasions the wife alone
- Less important decisions like home decor or clothes, usually made by the wife
What is a ‘personal life’ perspective on money?
Focuses on the meanings couples give to who controls the money. Carol Smart - gay and lesbian couples often attatch no importance to who controls the money
How does domestic violence and abuse affect families and households?
Domestic violence is far too widespread: domestic violence accounts for between a sixth and a quarter of all recorded crime, that is too much
Domestic violence does not occur randomly: follows particular social patterns with social causes. Women are more likely to experience ‘intimate violence’ across all four types of abuse - partner, family, sexual and stalking
What are official statistics for domestic abuse and violence?
Yearnshire - victims may be unwilling to report it to the police, on average a woman suffers 35 assaults before reporting it to the police
Cheal - reluctance to record or investigate domestic violence cases is due to the fact police and other state agencies are not prepared to become involved in the family
What are explanations of domestic violence?
Radical feminist explanation - emphasises the role of patriarchal ideas, cultural values and institutions
Materialist explanation - emphasises economic factors such as lack of resources
What is the radical feminist explanation for domestic violence and abuse?
Family and marriage are key institutions in patriarchal society and the main source of womens oppression. Widespread women’s domestic violence is an inevitable feature of a patriarchal society. Male domination of state institutions help to explain the reluctance of the police and courts to deal effectively with caess of domestic violence.
What is the materialist explanation for domestic violence and abuse?
Focuses on economic and material factors such as inequalities in income and housing. Domestic violence is the result of stress on family members caused by social inequality. Not all people are in equal danger of suffering from domestic violence, those with less power, wealth, status or income are at a greater risk.
What is a summary of couples for families and households?
Functionalists argue for necessity of segregated conjugal roles. ‘March of Progress’ socioligists believe families are becoming symmetrical but feminists disagree. Couples remain unequal in terms of decision making and control of resources. Radical feminists argue domestic violence is an extreme form of patriarchal power.
