Couples Flashcards
what are the two roles identified by PARSONS in his functionalist model of the family?
instrumental role - husband - financial support - breadwinner
expressive role - wife - primary socialisation - homemaker
what do conjugal roles refer to?
the roles played by men and women within families, especially the distribution of domestic labour
how does PARSONS justify the ‘separate but equal’ conjugal roles he identifies?
based on biological differences:
women are more suited to nurturing role and men more to that of the provider.
who supports PARSONS functional model?
New Right thinkers
why do YOUNG AND WILLMOTT criticise PARSONS?
men are now taking greater share of domestic tasks and women are becoming wage earners.
what are the segregated and joint conjugal roles identified by BOTT?
segregated - couple has separate roles as in Parsons’ instrumental and expressive roles. Separate leisure activities
Joint - couples share tasks such as housework and childcare. Spend leisure time together
what did BOTT’s 1950s research show?
W/C couples organise domestic labour along segregated lines. relationship between W/C husband and wife was shaped by their proximity to other family/friends
M/C couples had joint conjugal roles - more likely to share housework, childcare and leisure time.
More likely to expeirence geographical mobility - less influenced by extended family so depend on each other (share tasks)
what view do YOUNG AND WILLMOTT take?
‘march of progress’ - see family life as gradually improving for all members
YOUNG AND WILLMOTT studied London couples.
Found the symmetrical family was common among younger couples. Its growth was the result of social changes including:
1 - slum clearance programmes 1960s relocated W/C families to council estates fragmenting extended families/ Couples had to rely on each other for social support
2 - greater educational and job opportunities om 1970s = geographical mobiliy, which isolated greater numbers of workers from extended kin
3 - women involved in work
4 - new technology/ labour-saving devices
how are the factors identified by YOUNG AND WILLMOTT interlinked?
married women bringing second wage into home raises family’s standard of living meaning couples can afford labour-saving devices. Makes housework easier, encouraging men to do more.
why does OAKLEY criticise YOUNG AND WILLMOTT?
their claims are exaggerated. Y and W found most husbands ‘helped’ their wives at least once a week, this could include taking children for a walk once. This isn’t convincing of symmetry.
She found only 15% of husbands had high participation in housework and 25% in childcare.
They are involved in the pleasurable aspects of childcare, depriving mothers of this opportunity
what did WARDE and HETHERINGTON’s 1990s research show?
sex-typing of domestic tasks = strong
wives = 30 times more likely to be the last person to have done the washing up.
husbands = 4 times more likely to have washed the car last.
They did find a slight change of attitude among younger men who were more likely to think they were doing less than their fair share.
why does GERSHUNY support march of progress view?
found in families where the wife works full-time, husbands carry out more domestic labour.
why does BOULTON criticise YOUNG AND WILLMOTT?
they fail to make distinction between childcare tasks and responsibilities.
fewer than 20% of husbands had major role in childcare
alway mother who was responsible for child’s security/well-being
what did BSAS 2013 find which supports the symmetrical family?
fall in the number of people who support breadwinner and housewife stereotypes.
1984 - 45% of men and 41% of women agreed
2012 - 13% of men and 12% of women agreed
what did BSAS 2013 find which does not support the symmetrical family or equal division of labour?
men = 8 hours of housework/week women = 12 hours men = 10 hours caring for family members women = 23 hours Also found couples continue to divide household tasks along traditional gender lines
what is the problem with surveys such as BSAS when researching divisions of labour etc.?
focus on easily quantifiable aspects which doesn’t tell us about who takes responsibility for ensuring the tasks are done
what findings support BOULTON?
FERRI AND SMITH - in dual worker families,wh fathers took responsibility for childcare in fewer than 4% of families
DEX AND WARD 2007 - 78% of fathers played with children but 1% took main responsibility when they were sick
BRUAN, VINCENT AND BALL 2001 - 67/70 families = fathers were ‘backgroud fathers’ who held ‘provider ideology’
who discusses emotion work and the triple shift?
HOCHSCHILD - emotion work - women are responsible for managing the emotions of family members as well as their own
DUNCOMBE AND MARSDEN - women perform triple shift: housework, paid work and emotion work
what has happened in late modern society according to SOUTHERTON?
emergence of 24/7 society and flexible working hours makes it harder to coordinate family’s quality time - a responsible taken by mothers
what does SOUTHERN claim about the fact men and women have equal amounts of leisure time?
they have different experiences of it.
Men - consolidated ‘blocks’
women - punctuated with childcare
why did the dual burden exist in families with unemployed males according to McKee and Bell?
they already felt emasculated by not being the breadwinner and so resisted pleas by wife to do childcare/housework
what is the ‘parntership penalty’ and ‘marriage penalty’ according to CRAIG?
women do twice as much housework as men
PP - the inequality begins when a couple move in together and before they have children
MP - when the couples marry the wife’s unpaid domestic labour rises while the husbands reduces
what did the survey of 1000 people by women’s hour 2014 find?
modern marriage is characterised by ‘chore wars’ > equality.
evidence of persistent conflict between couples. 2/3 of the women admitted to regualar arguments with male partner over housework.
what explanations for the unequal division of labour did CROMPTON and LYONETTE find?
cultural/ideological explanation - DOL is determined by patriarchal normas and values shaping gender roles.
material/economic explanation - women generally earn less making it economically rational for men to spend more time earning money.
what evidence is there for the cultural explanation?
GERSHUNY - couples whose parents had equal relationships are more likely to share housework themselves suggesting parental role models = important
BSAS 2013 - 10% of under 35s agree with traditional division of labour against 30% of over 65s indicating a long-term change in gender role socialisation.
what evidence is there for the material explanation?
KAN - for every £10,000/year more a woman earns, she does 2 hours less housework
ARBER AND GINN - better-paid M/C able to buy labour-saving devices, ready meals, domestic help.
SULLIVAN - working full-time makes the biggest difference in terms of how much domestic work each partner does
what does CROMPTON conclude about material explanations for unequal division of labour?
no immediate prospect of equal division if this depends on economic equality between sexes as women are more likely to work part-time and earn more than men in 1/8 households
How does DUNNE provide evidence for cultural explanations?
studied 37 lesbian couples with dependent children
found they had more symmetrical relationships because of the absence of ‘gender scripts’ allowing them to negotiate more equal relationships.
Where one worked more than another, domestic tasks were unequal showing the impact of material explanation
what evidence is there that family members don’t share resources equally?
KEMPSON - among low income families, women denied their own needs to make ends meet. e.g. small portions/skipping meals
what systems of finance control are identified, and who by?
PAHL AND VOGLER (feminists) -
allowance system - wives receive allowance with which they meet family’s needs and man retains surplus income for himself
pooling - both partners have access to income and joint responsibility for expenditure. on the increase
what did PHAL AND VOGLER discover about pooling?
men still made major financial decisions
what did EDGELL’s study (1980) of professional couples find?
very important decisions (change of job, moving house) were take by husband alone or jointly with husband having final say important decisions (child's education/holidays) taken jointly and seldom wife alone less important decisions (food/clothes purchases) were usually made by the wife
study repeated by HARDILL 17 years later - M/C wives, even in dual-career families still deferred major decisions to husbands
what does NYMAN note in relation to finance organisation?
money has no automatic, fixed or natural meaning and different couples can define it in different ways.
what is the personal life perspective on money?
focuses on the meanings couples give to who controls the money. The meaning of money cannot be taken for granted.
why is the personal life perspective valid?
controlling money might not be a sign of inequality:
SMART - some gay people attached no importance to who controlled the money - it did not mean equality/inequality.
why do sociologists challenge the idea that domestic violence is the behaviour of a few disturbed individuals?
Too widespread
Does not occur randomly but follows social patterns e.g. mainly men against women
how much violent crime does domestic violence account for according to Women’s Aid Federation (2014)?
1/4
who claims two women per week are killed by a partner/ former partner?
COLEMAN AND OSBORNE
what were violent incidents caused by according to DOBASH AND DOBASH?
what a husband saw as a challenge to his authority, such as a wife asking why he was home late.
Marriage legitimates violence against women by conferring power and authority on husbands and dependency on wives.
Why does DAR claim it can be difficult to count separate domestic violence incidents?
abuse may be continious or may occur so often that the victim cannot reliably count.
why might official statistics understate the extent of domestic violence?
- victims may be unwilling to report to police
- police may be reluctant to investigate
how many assaults does a woman suffer on avg. before making a report according to YEARNSHIRE?
- it is the violent crime least likely to be reported
what three assumptions do the police make according to CHEAL that causes reluctancy to investigate domestic violence?
- family is private sphere so access by state agencies should be limited
- family is a good thing so ignore the ‘darker side’
- individuals are free agents so if a women was experiencing abuse she would leave.
why is the assumption that women can leave domestic abuse misconstrued?
male violence is coupled with economic power - abused women are often financially dependent.
what two explanations of domestic violence can be identified?
radical feminist explanation emphasising the role of patriarchy
materialist explanation emphasising economic factors such as lack of resources
what is the radical feminist explanation of domestic violence?
see the men as the oppressors and expoliters of women and the family and marriage as sources of oppression.
widespread DV is intevitable in patriarchal society - it serves to preserve the power men have.
link patterns of DV to dominant social norms about marriage
male domination of state institutions explains the reluctance of police/courts to deal effectively with cases.
what does ELLIOT think of radical feminist claim that all men benefit from violence against women?
most men are opposed to DV.
what do radical feminists fail to explain?
- female violence e.g. child cause and violence against male partners/within lesbian relationships.
- wrongly assume all womena are equally at risk of patriarchal violence
which women are most at risk of DV according to Office for National Statistics (2014)?
young women
those in youngest class
those with highest levels of alcohol consumption
what does the materialist explanation of DV focus on?
economic factors such as inequalities in income and housing to explain why some groups are more at risk.
what do WILKINSON AND PICKETT see DV as the result of?
stress on family members caused by social inequality.
e.g. living in overcrowded accommodation = higher levels of stress
Why is WILKINSON AND PICKETT’s approach useful?
shows how social inequality produces stress/triggers conflict. As those in lower classes face greater hardships and thus stress, this helps explain class differences on DV
why isn’t WILKINSON AND PICKKETT’s approach useful?
don’t explain why women are the main victims
what do MARXIST FEMINISTS see as the cause of DV and what are the criticisms of them?
inequality - DV is the product of capitalism: male workers are expolited at work and take their frustration on their wives.
fails to explain why not all male workers commit acts of violence against their partners.
