Couples Flashcards
What is domestic division of labour?
Refers to the roles that men & women play in reletion to housework, childcare, & paid work
What is the instrumental role?
( males function) earning an income to provide for survival & enforcing discipline to maintain order.
What is the expressive role?
( Females function) nurture & care for the home. Being the home maker.
What does parsons argue between spouses ( and who agrees)?
That the division of labour is rooted biologically.
( conservative thinkers such as the Neoliberal/ New right agree with this.
Criticism of parsons
Women now increasingly work; arguably the ‘old’ system benefits men more than women.
What does Elizabeth BOTT argue?
She distinguished two types of conjugal roles;
1. Segregated conjugal roles
2. Joint conjugal roles
What is segregated conjugal roles?
Traditional nuclear family
What is joint conjugal roles?
Couples who share tasks such as housework & childcare, whilst also spending leisure time together
What does young & wilmott argue?
Found that: women were working more; men were doing more around the house; couples had become more ‘privatised’
What is the march of progress approach?
families are becoming less patriarchal and more symmetrical.
Who criticised Young & Wilmotts argument of the march of progress?
Anne Oakley
Why did Anne Oakley criticise the march of progress?
Argued that the husbands interviewed helped ‘once a week’ - which is hardly ‘symmetrical’ !
What does Anne Oakley study show?
Many of those interviewed felt they were “good fathers” - because they played with children in evenings or at weekends, but this tends simply to ‘free up’ time for wives to do more housework.
What did Man yee - kan (2001) show?
Found that better- paid, younger, more educated women do less housework per week.
What did Gershuny (1994) show?
Couples whose parents had a more equal relationship were more likely to have a more equal relationship themselves.
2 explanations to more equal relationships?
- A gradual change in society’s values
- Changes in parental models
What did rosemary Compton (1997) argue?
Argued that changes in the domestic division of labour were connected to economic factors.
E.g. as women earn more, so men do more work at home
What does British social attitudes (2013) survey show?
Fall in the number of people who think it’s a man’s job to be a breadwinner & a woman’s job to be a homemaker.
What is a dual burden & who argues this?
Ferrie & smith argue today women carry a ‘dual burden’ of paid work & housework
what did morris (1990) show?
Even unemployed men avoid housework- although this is refuted by RAMOS (2003) who found total equality in this situation.
What did Duncome & Marsden (1995) argue?
Found that women undertake the majority of this work - hence the ‘ triple shift’ of paid work, housework, & emotional labour.
What did Dunne (1999) argue?
Argued that the division of labour continues (in straight couples) because of deeply ingrained gender scripts
What did weeks (1999) argue?
Argues same- sex relationships offer more opportunities to negotiate roles
What did Barrett & Mcintosh (1991) argue?
The financial support men give comes with strings attached
What does kempson (1994) show?
In W/C families women deny their own needs
Who interviewed separated women that stated their children were better off on benefits
Graham
What did Pahl & Vogler ( 1993) look at?
Looked at how each partner’s contribution to family income affects decision - making.
What are the 2 types of control over family income?
- Pooling
- Allowance
What is a pooling system?
Joint responsibility for expenditure
What is an allowance?
Husband earns, pays wife allowance for all expenditures, keep surplus for self
What did Vogler (1994) show?
Sharp increase in pooling (19% - 50%) decrease in allowance systems (36% - 12%)
What is more common in dual earner households?
Pooling system but men are still making major financial decisions.
What does Hardill ( 1997) show?
Men’s careers still take priority
What does Finch show?
Women’s lives are shaped around their husbands career
How did Edgell rank decisions into?
- VERY IMPORTANT (financial, taken by husband)
- IMPORTANT (Children & holidays, taken jointly)
- LESS IMPORTANT ( decor/ clothes/ food, taken by wives)
What does Nyman ( 2003) suggest?
That money has no automatic, fixed or natural meaning to it & every couple defines this & who controls it in a different way.
What did weeks find as a ‘personal life’ perspective on money?
Found that ‘Co- independence’ in couples where there’s some sharing, but both partner retains control over some money & retains a sense of independence
How does women’s aid federation (2008) define dv as?
“Physical, psychological, sexual or financial violence that takes place within an intimate or family- type relationship & forms a pattern of coercive & controlling behaviour. It may involve partners, ex partners, household members or other relatives…”
What did home office (2013) find?
“Around 1.2 million women suffered domestic abuse over 400,000 women were sexually assaulted, 70,000 women were raped & thousands more were stalked.”
What did Mirrlees - Black (1999) show?
99% of all incidents against women are committed by men
What did Dobash & Dobash say set off Dv incidents?
By what a husband saw as a challenge to authority ( e.g. wife asking why the husband was late home)
What did Dobash & Dobash show that legitimates violence?
That marriage legitimates violence by conferring power & authority on husbands & dependency on wives
Male victims of DV
One in three victims of domestic abuse in Britain are males but refuge beds for men are critically scarce.
What did Stephanie Yearnshire ( 1997) find?
Found that on average a Women will suffer abuse 35 times before making a report.
What does Millett & Firestone ( 1970) argue?
Argued that all societies have been founded on patriarchy
Men are the enemy- they are the oppressors & exploiters of women
Explanation of DV according to Marxist feminist
DV is the product of capitalism; male workers are exploited at work & take this out on their wives
Criticism of Marxist feminist explanation of DV
They don’t explain why women are abusive to their male partners or why not all men are abusive
Materialist explanation of DV
Inequality means that some families have fewer resources than others & those living on low incomes or in overcrowded accommodations are likely to experience high levels of stress
How does Wilkinson & Pickett view DV?
See DV as the result of stress on family members caused by social inequality
