Families-T3- Power and Control in the Family

Question 1

what is a segregated division of labour?

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Feminist view of Housework and Childcare?

Answer 2

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

Question 3

What does the British Household Survey 2001 Say

Answer 3

• 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

Question 4

What is the Dual Burden/ Double Shift

Answer 4

“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

Question 5

How is the distribution of power in the family?

Answer 5

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

Question 6

How is money managed in the family?

Answer 6

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

Question 7

What is the new right view of fathers control in the family?

Answer 7

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

Question 8

How is fatherhood and the law linked?

Answer 8

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

Question 9

How is motherhood in terms of control and power in the family

Answer 9

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

Question 10

What is the social capital approach

Answer 10

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

Question 11

What conclusions have been made about Decisions and parenthood in the family

Answer 11

• 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?

Question 12

What do functionalists think about the power and conflict in the family?

Answer 12

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’

Question 13

What do liberal feminists think about power and conflict in the family

Answer 13

• 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

Question 14

What do Marxist feminists think about power and conflict in the family?

Answer 14

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

Question 15

What do radical feminists think of power and conflict in the family

Answer 15

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

Question 16

What is the march of progress view of power and conflict in the family?

Answer 16

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

Question 17

What do personal life theorists think of power and control in the family?

Answer 17

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

Question 18

What are the cultural/ideological explanations of power and control in the family?

Answer 18

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

Question 19

What are the material/economic explanations of power and control in the family?

Answer 19

the fact that women generally earn less than men- economically rational for women to do more of the housework and childcare

Question 20

What is domestic violence?

Answer 20

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

Question 21

What is domestic violence like in the UK?

Answer 21

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

Question 22

How did sociologists challenge views of domestic violence

Answer 22

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

Question 23

Some statistics of domestic violence:

Answer 23

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

Question 24

What is the radical feminists view of domestic violence

Answer 24

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

Question 25

evaluation of the radical feminists views

Answer 25

Elliot 1996- rejects radical feminists claim that all men benefit from violence, not all men are violent
fails to explain female violence- child abuse, violence towards men, lesbian relationships (crime survey 2013- 18% men)
Wrongly assume that all women are equally at risk of patriarchal violence, ONS 2014- women from some social groups more at risk, young, WC, low income, alcohol/drugs, illness, disability

Question 26

What is the materialistic explanation of domestic violence

Answer 26

focuses on economic and material factors being responsible for DV- inequalities in income/housing
Wilkinson and Pickett 2010- DV is the result of stress on family members cause by social inequality
social inequality= fewer resources, low income, overcrowded houses
findings show that inequality in chances of experiencing DV- those with less power/status are more at risk

Question 27

evaluation of materialistic explanations

Answer 27

Useful in showing how social inequality produces stress and triggers conflict (PRO)
Helps to explain the class differences in society (PRO)
Does not explain why women rather than men (CON)