Family - Couples - 2.2 Flashcards
Conjugal Roles (Key Studies)
> Parsons (Functionalism & Conjugal Roles)
> Bott (Segregated Roles & Joint Conjugal Roles)
Parsons (Functionalism & Conjugal Roles)
> Men and women have different roles based on biological differences e.g instrumental/ expressive - clear division of labour
> Sexes are naturally suited to these roles, it is the best way of organising family life, functional & beneficial (New Right agrees)
A03 Functionalist - Conjugal Roles (Key Study)
> Young & Wilmott
> Feminism
Young & Wilmott (A03 Functionalist - Conjugal Roles)
Men & women now have equal roles
Feminism (A03 Functionalist - Conjugal Roles)
Segregated conjugal roles are not natural/ biologically based
Bott’s two conjugal roles
> Segregated Conjugal Roles: Functionalist View
> Joint Conjugal Roles: Share roles & leisure time
Has the division of labour become more equal? (Key Studies)
> Oakley (Exaggeration of Men’s Contribution)
> British Social Attitudes Survey (Inequality in Domestic Work)
> Bell (Unemployed Men)
> Dunscombe & Marsden (Dual Burden)
Young & Wilmott (Symmetrical Families)
> Less patriarchy, greater equality, democratic, flexible roles
> Women work full time, men help with housework/childcare, spend leisure time together
Factors Leading to symmetrical families
> Improved Living Standards
Commercialisation of domestic labour
Economically active women
Factors Leading to symmetrical families
- Less pressure to conform to traditional roles, men encouraged to view women as equals
Improved Living Standards - Factors Leading to symmetrical families
> We have modern technology (automatic washing machines etc) so chores easier to do/no burden, availability only to middle classes
Commercialisation of domestic labour - Factors leading to symmetrical families
> Increase in the domestic labour industry (cleaners, ironing services etc), increase in families hiring maids.
Economically Active Women- Factors Leading to symmetrical families
> Women are at work, so men help around the house so chores are done.
Sullivan (March Of Progress View)
> Women do less domestic work, men do more traditionally ‘female’ tasks & couples have a more equal division of labour
Inequality in the domestic division of labour (Key studies)
> Oakley (Rejection of March of progress view)
> British Social Attitudes Survey (Inequality in domestic work)
> Dunscombe & Marsden (Triple Shift)
Oakley (Rejection of march of progress view)
> Families are still patriarchal & do women do more housework, now have triple shift so situation has got worse for women
> Men’s contributions are exaggerated, they do help but only ironing a shirt once a week
British Social Attitudes Survey (Inequality in domestic work)
> Women do twice as much work & couples still divide tasks with the traditional domestic division of labour.
Morley & Bell (Unemployed M, Views of Home)
> Even unemployed men resist doing domestic work
> Women saw home as place of work, men as a place of leisure
Dunscombe & Marsden (Triple Shift)
> No longer Dual Burden, but Triple Shift (Housework, paid work, emotion work)
Childcare & Quality Time (Key Studies)
> Boulton (Wife Responsible for Childcare)
Braun et al (Provider Ideology)
Dex and Ward (Caring for a Sick Child)
Southerton (Quality Time)
Boulton (Wife Responsible for Childcare)
> Women are responsible for childcare, even when men help.
> Less than ⅕ had major role in childcare.
Braun et al, Dex & Ward (Provider Ideology)
> Most men are background fathers, with a provider ideology, role as breadwinner, not primary carer.
> Only 1% of men took responsibility for a sick child.
Southerton (Quality Time)
> Women are responsible for managing family quality time
> In late modernity, 24/7 society & flexible working so people’s time is more fragmented & deroutinised.
> Women do childcare & multitask during leisure time, men have consolidated uninterrupted blocks of leisure time
Reasons for Gender Division of Labour (Key Studies)
> Crompton & Lyonette’s (2 Reasons for Gender Division of Labour)
> Gershuny (Couples Adapting)
> Kan (Impact of Women’s Wage on Dom Labour)
> Radical Feminist (View on Heterosexual Relationships)
> Dunne (Same Sex Couples and Gender Scripts)
> Weeks and Smart (Same Sex Couples and Gender Scripts)
Two reasons for the gendered division of labour (Crompton & Lyonette’s)
> Cultural & Ideological
> Economic
Cultural & Ideological - 2 Reasons for gendered division of labour (Crompton and Lyonette)
> Patriarchy shape gender roles, women do more as society expects them to & they are socialised to do this.
> Equality will only happen when attitudes, norms & socialisation change
> Kan found young men do more domestic work, highlighting a generational shift
Gershuny (Couples Adapting) - Two Reasons for Crompton & Lyonette’s gendered division of labour
Couples adapted to women working full-time, so new norm of men doing more domestic work.
Economic - Two reasons for Crompton & Lyonette’s gendered division of labour
> Economically rational for women to do more domestic labour, while men spend time getting more money, due to the differences in earnings (gender pay gap)
> Equality only occurs when women get similar pay to men - e.g. Kan links increased earnings for women with a reduction in housework
Radical Feminist (Views on Heterosexual Relationships)
> Patriarchal & unequal even when women work
Dunne (Same Sex Couples and Gender Scripts) - Supporting Radical Feminism
> Lesbian couples with children, had greater equality in the division of labour
> Heterosexuals are socialised into gender scripts with different male and female roles, this is linked with domestic tasks.
> Lesbians didn’t link domestic tasks to gender scripts with more negotiation and equality, but there was not equality in the division of labour if the couple had unequal earnings
Resource & Decision Making (Key Studies)
> Barrett & McIntosh (Inequality between amount of domestic work completed versus financial support received)
> Kempson (Struggle of working class women)
> Pahl and Vogler (Money Management)
> Edgell (Men’s decision making power in middle class relationships)
> Smart (Personal Life Perspective on Money in LGBT Couples)
Barrett & McIntosh (Inequality between women’s domestic work & men’s financial support)
> Men get more from women’s domestic work than is returned in financial support with strings attached
Kempson (Struggle of working class women)
> Denied own needs, don’t go out, eat less portions of food
> To make ends meet, as money seen as family money.
Pahl & Vogler (Money Management) - Two Controls over money
- Pooling
- Allowance System
Pooling - Pahl & Vogler (Money Management)
> Men and women both have equal access to income with responsibility for expenses, increased equality in decision making & resources
> When both work full time, greater equality in money management
> But men still make major decisions, due to increased earnings.
Allowance System - Pahl & Vogler (Money Management)
> Men give women an allowance to meet family’s needs, excess kept for him. (This arrangement is declining)
A03 Criticisms of Pahl & Vogler (Key Study)
> Feminists (Decision Making not Linked with Money)
Feminists (Decision Making not Linked with Money) - A03 Criticisms of Pahl &Vogler
Decision making not about money but patriarchal society & socialization
Edgell (Men’s decision making power in middle class relationships)
> Decisions made by women - kids clothes, food.
> Decisions on finances moving house made either jointly or alone but with M having final say
Smart (Personal Life Perspective on Money in LGBT Couples)
> LGBT’s uncorned with control over money - they are fine giving responsibility to partners, not seen as inequality, free to chose
> Don’t have relationships with heterosexual baggage of seeing money as source of power.