Families-T3- Power and Control in the Family Flashcards
what is a segregated division of labour?
Traditionally:
- Women take responsibility for housework and mothering
- Men take responsibility for being the breadwinner and head of household
Parsons says that there are expressive and instrumental leaders
Feminists disagree and argue it is not biological but a social construct
1973 Young and Willmott claimed that this was breaking down in the home and replaced by a symmetrical family structure
Feminist view of Housework and Childcare?
They do not feel that the responsibility is shared
Dryden 1999
- Women still had the most responsibility for H&C and major sources of dissatisfaction in marriage
Larder 2006-
- 21 house for a female compared to only 12 house for a male hours who are both in paid employment
- Still traditional roles were being occupied by males and females, i.e. Males= DIY, females= Cooking and cleaning
What does the British Household Survey 2001 Say
- When both work full time- women put in more housework hours
- When men are unemployed- women still put in more hours of housework
WHY? - Unemployment may increase resistance to housework by men as they feel it as unmasculine and threatening their role in the family
- Degrading to men
What is the Dual Burden/ Double Shift
“Wives taking responsibility for the bulk of domestic tasks as well as holding down full time jobs”
Scalter 2000-
- Household technologies are advertised to make life easier for women
This increases the burden
- raised household standards
- increasing time spent on housework
How is the distribution of power in the family?
Hardill 1997- middle class wives tend to defer major decision making to husbands
- concluded that family interests should be subordinated to men’s career as he was a major breadwinner
BUT this changes when males are unemployed- working women will cut back on spending and take responsibility of the bills
How is money managed in the family?
Research shows resources are not shared equally- women often deny their own needs
Vogler 1993:
1. The allowance system- men gives wives an allowance
2. Pooling- both partners have access, joint responsibility for expenditure, joint bank account
Pooling doesnt always mean there is equality
Cohabiting couple less likely to pool money- independence BUT more likely to share domestic tasks equally
Nyman 2003- Money has no automatic fixed meaning- these meanings reflect the true nature of the relationship
What is the new right view of fathers control in the family?
Dennis and Erdos 2000- Children are less likely to be socialised with clear discipline and are less likely to be successful parents
Peer groups and media have a greater influence on these children ->
Deliquency, social disruption, teenage pregnancy, drug and alcohol use
How is fatherhood and the law linked?
According to the government, studies show that following a divorce, just 12% of these children living with their father
- Children Act-> Mother should have parental responsibility if they are not married
- Estimated 40% lose touch with children after 2 years
How is motherhood in terms of control and power in the family
Feminists: participation is limited by the domestic roles they have to fulfil
- Few women can have full time careers
some employers believe women are unreliable due to family commitments
- Not as equal as functionalists would suggest
Women are at a disadvantage to men
What is the social capital approach
Time with children has been redefined as ‘investing time with children that will benefit them emotionally, educationally and economically’
Focus on how parents interpret time spent with children
- father see spending time alone with children as quality time as they were more likely to do it through choice, rather than obligation
What conclusions have been made about Decisions and parenthood in the family
- May have been a movement towards the symmetrical family- conflicting ideas on how much
- Some evidence that women being in paid work leads to equality in domestic chores
- feminists argue that the extent of this is limited- dual burden/ triple shift/ New man?
What do functionalists think about the power and conflict in the family?
Murdock’s definition
- traditional family
- universal characteristics
Division of labour is biologically inevitable
- women are naturally seen as ‘expressive leader’
- males are naturally seen as the ‘instrumental leader’
What do liberal feminists think about power and conflict in the family
- Women have made progress in society and family roles have changed from the traditional roles
- Women now have more equality with men within the family- also in education and the economy
- Men are adapting to the change and in the future there is likely to be a further movement towards domestic and economic equality
What do Marxist feminists think about power and conflict in the family?
We live in a capitalist society
The housewife role serves the need of capitalism and benefits men
- maintains present workforce
- reproduces future labour power-> mother socialises children at little expense to capitalist society
- women cannot compete on a level playing field for jobs/ professionals if priority is childcare
- reinforces to children the gender roles of family through socialisation
What do radical feminists think of power and conflict in the family
Delphy 1984- women are exploited by men- “women are an exploited class”
- The housewife role created by a patriarchal society
- the patriarchal family is geared to the service of men and their interests
What is the march of progress view of power and conflict in the family?
Optimistic view- women working lead to more equality in divisions of labour
Gershuny 1994- full time work- leading to equal division of labour, full time working women did less domestic work than other women
Sullivan 2000- data reviewed in 1975, 1987,1997- saw a trend towards women doing a smaller share of the domestic duties
British social attitudes Survey 2013- drop in the number of people who think its a man’s job to be the breadwinner
- 1984- 45% men and 41% women
-2012- 13% men and 12% women
What do personal life theorists think of power and control in the family?
They focus on the meaning couples give to the control of money
- cannot be taken for granted
- same sex couples- Smart 2007- no importance attached
- pooling money- weeks 2001- typical patterns, joint accounts and separate accounts, ‘co-independence’
- same sex couples have greater freedom, no historical gendered baggage
What are the cultural/ideological explanations of power and control in the family?
Division of labour is determined by patriarchal norms and values that shape gender roles in our culture
- Women perform more domestic labour simply because that is what society expects them to do
What are the material/economic explanations of power and control in the family?
the fact that women generally earn less than men- economically rational for women to do more of the housework and childcare
What is domestic violence?
It is defined as a pattern of abusive behaviour by one partner against another in an intimate relationship
Includes:
- Physical
- Emotional
- Intimidation
- Passive abuse
- Economic deprivation
However not everyone is aware of the full exert of what domestic violence can involve
What is domestic violence like in the UK?
Sociologists see DV as the power of men to control women by physical force
- it is estimated to be the most common form of violence in the UK, but as most happens behind closed doors it is extremely hard to measure and document
How did sociologists challenge views of domestic violence
One common view of DV is that it only occurs among a few ‘sick’ individuals
Sociologists challenged this view:
- Too wide-spread- women’s aid federation 2014 DV accounts for 1/4 of all crime
- Not random- follows social patterns and has social causes- men to women, coleman 2007 women experience intimate violence across all groups, 1/3 of all female homicide victims are killed by a partner or ex partner
Some statistics of domestic violence:
Stanko- one incident is reported (by women) to the police every minute in the UK
British crime survey 2000- 70% of DV is men against women
- these figures are said to be underestimated because women are reluctant to come forwards
Crime Survey 2003- reported a much narrower gender gap
- 7.3% women
-5% men
HOWEVER
Ansara and Hindin 2011- women suffer more severe violence and psychological control
Dar 2013- difficult to control single incidents, continuous, too regular to count
What is the radical feminists view of domestic violence
Problems of patriarchy
- males justification of attacks is often that women have failed to be ‘good’ partners
- as long as men have capability to commit violence
Gender expectations can be affected if women become breadwinner
-many males feel the traditional role is for them to be financially responsible for family- leading to ‘crisis of masculinity’
- violence may be an outlet of males anxiety and an attempt to re-exert their power
Male domination of state institutions helps to explain reluctance of the police and courts to deal with causes of DV
- reluctance to report
- belief that they wont be believed
- fear of standing up in court
- fear of being alone with men
