Couples

Question 1

what is the difference between a household and a family

Answer 1

household: person living alone or a group of people sharing meals
family: monogamous married couple with children sharing residence. Also any set arrangement which is considered a family

Question 2

what is a nuclear family

Answer 2

a married heterosexual family who have their own biological family

Question 3

what is the division of labour

Answer 3

roles that men and women play in reaction to housework, childcare and work

Question 4

what did parsons (functionalist) say about the family and roles

Answer 4

• husband-breadwinner (instrumental), wife (expressive) -primary socialisation of children.
  -based on biological differences, women
  “nurturing”, men “providers”
• division of labour is beneficial to men, women and children as well as society
  -new right also hold this view

Question 5

what are the criticisms of parsons (functionalist) view

Answer 5

• young and Willmott: men are taking a greater share of homework, more women earners
• feminists: not natural and only benefits men

Question 6

what did Bott state about joint and segregated roles

Answer 6

segregated: separate roles including leisure interests

joint : share housework and childcare and spend leisure time together

Question 7

what did young and Willmott find about segregated roles in the 1950s

Answer 7

(east London ), men were breadwinners, spent leisure time in men’s clubs and pubs. women had sole responsibility for housework, leisure time sport with female kin

Question 8

what did young and Wilmott say about the symmetrical family

Answer 8

• ‘march of progress’- trend away from segregated roles towards joint ‘symmetrical ‘ roles
• although not identical, much more familiar
• eg women work even part time. men work with housework couples spend leisure time together
• more common younger couples and socially isolated

Question 9

what is the rise of symmetrical family due to

Answer 9

1) changes in womens position
2) geographical mobility
3) new technology
4) higher standards of living

Question 10

what are feminist views on the march of progress and joint and conjugal roles

Answer 10

• reject march of progress

- men and women remain unequal, society still patriarchal

Question 11

what did Oakley (feminist) state about joint and conjugal roles

Answer 11

claims exaggerated ‘helping’ wives does not count. Taking the dog for a walk does not count as symmetrical
-did a study: 15% men did housework, 25% childcare

Question 12

what did Warde and Hetherington argue

Answer 12

‘sex typing ‘ strong eg men more likely to wash car, men do female tasks when their not around. Although there is a shift in attitudes about women doing all the housework

Question 13

what is argued in the march of progress view towards men

Answer 13

men are becoming more involved in the housework and childcare just as women are becoming more involved in paid work outside the home

Question 14

what does Gershuny argue

Answer 14

Gershuny argues that women working full time is leading to a more equal division of labour in the home. using time tables he found that these women did less domestic work than others

Question 15

what did sulivan find

Answer 15

similar to Gershuny, sulivan found a trend towards women doing domestic work and men doing more

Question 16

what did the British social attitudes survey show

Answer 16

(2013) found a fall in the number of people who think its a man job to earn money and the women’s job to look after the home and family

Question 17

what studies support Boultons view

Answer 17

Hoschild- emotion work-taking responsibilities for other family members. feminists have noted that women are often required where they are responsible for managing the emotion and feelings of family members
Duncombe and Marden- triple shift- argue that women have to perform a triple shift of housework, paid work and emotion work

Question 18

why are men more likely to experience consolidated ‘block’ or uninterrupted leisure time

Answer 18

men are more likely to experience unerupted leisure time, whereas women’s leisure is often punctuated by childcare. women are more likely to multitask. this indicates that women are facing a dual burden

Question 19

what did Barret and Mcinton argue about trends

Answer 19

• men gain more women’s domestic work than they give back in financial gain support.
• financial support is unpredictable and strings attached
• men usually make decisions about spending on important items

Question 20

what did Kempson argue about low income families

Answer 20

women denied their own needs; rarely going out , eating smaller portions or skipping meals. In many houses women have no entitlement to a share of household resources. As a result, she is likely to see anything she spends on herself as money that should be spend on poverty. This leaves a lot of women in poverty

Question 21

what do Pahl and Vogler argue about coupes

Answer 21

(feminists) two types of control
1) Allowance system- wives given a budget for family, any extra keeps for himself
2) pooling both have access to income and joint responsibility
pooling is on the increase and now most common

Question 22

why is there still an inequality in couples

Answer 22

when the pooled income is controlled by men , gives him for power to make financial decisions (pahl and Vogler)

Question 23

what did Hardill study find

Answer 23

study of 30 dual career couples found :

1) important decisions found by man alone or jointly
2) his career took priority
3) women’s lives are structured around men’s

Question 24

what did Egewell argue about couples

Answer 24

• husbands have the final say about moving house/job
• important decisions such as children’s education rarely made by women alone
• less important decisions such as home décor made by the wife this is because the men earn more

Question 25

what did Gershuny argue about couples

Answer 25

• some evidence of a move towards equality
• high earning, well qualified. women are more likely to have a say
• 70% of couples said they had an equal say

Question 26

what is a cultural explanation for the gender division of labour

Answer 26

Dunne found that lesbian couples had more symmetrical relationships because of the absence of traditional heterosexual ‘gender transcripts’ (norms that are set out for the different gender roles to play

Question 27

what are a material explanation for division of labour

Answer 27

Kan found that every 10,000 a year more a women earns, she does two hours less housework per week

Question 28

what did Vogler argue about couples

Answer 28

• cohabitating couples less likely to pool money
• but more likely to share domestic tasks
• money has no automatic meaning and couples define it in different ways

Question 29

what is the personal life perspective on couples

Answer 29

• one person controlling the money may not be seen as ‘unequal’
• smart: same sex couples placed no importance to who controls the money. control of money does not define equality
• greater freedom for same sex couples to do what they want, don’t have ‘cultural meanings’ attached to money

Question 30

what did Dobash and Dobash argue about domestic violence

Answer 30

(radical feminists) argue domestic violence is evidence of patriarchy. Dobash and Dobash found that violent incidents could be set off by what they saw a challenge to authority. Also argue that Marriage legitimates violence against women conferring power and authority on husbands and dependency on wives

Question 31

what are radical feminist explanation of domestic violence

Answer 31

emphasises the set of role of patriarchal ideas, cultural values and institutions

Question 32

what are the criticisms of radical feminists

Answer 32

rejects the radical feminists claim that all men benefit from the violence against women. Not all men are aggressive and most are opposed to domestic violence.