Family 2: Ann Oakley: Conventional families

Question 1

D: What is a ‘conventional family’?

E: What family type does this refer to?
C: What key term, that relates to the way advertising uses families, did the idea of a ‘conventional family’ type lead to?

Answer 1

D ‘legally married couples, voluntarily choosing the parenthood of one or more children’

E: A nuclear family

C: Cereal packet family

Question 2

D: What type of sociologist is Ann Oakley?

E: What was the focus of her first study?

C: How is ‘Conventional families’ linked to her first study?

Answer 2

D: a feminist

E: Housework

C: Oakley finds that there is a lot of power in the idea of a conventional family, that leads to both men and women being pushed into specific roles in the home. ‘Housework’ is presented as something ‘natural’ for women.

Question 3

D: What research method did Ann Oakley use?

E: What research method did Ann Oakley use in her first study on Housework?

C: Name one advantage of Ann Oakley’s method in ‘Conventional Families’, compared to her method in Housework.

Answer 3

D: A review of contemporary resources (secondary sources)

E: Unstructured interviews with 40 women

C: Quicker, cheaper.

Question 4

D: What are the traditional roles for men and women a conventional family?

E: What key terms would Parsons use to describe these two roles?

C: Why is the idea of a woman’s role in the conventional family holding women back?

Answer 4

D: Men= earning money, women= carer/ housewife/ mother.

E: Men= instrumental, women= expressive.

D: As society assumes women who are mothers will not be able to give as much time at work, they miss out on promotions/ jobs. They believe that they have to spend more time completing housework/ caring for the children.

Question 5

D: When did Ann Oakley write Conventional Families?

E: How has the concept of a ‘legally married couple’ changed since she wrote her study?

C: What other changes in society have weakened the idea of one ‘conventional family’ type?

Answer 5

D: 1982

E: Civil Partnerships and gay couples being able to marry.

C: less stigma around being a lone- parent, more blended families, more women being the higher-wage earner, increase in the popularity of feminisms since the 1990s.