Family couples: topic 1 Flashcards
which sociologist came up with the instrumental roles + expressive?
PARSONS
PARSONS: what was the husbands role
instrumental
PARSONS: what was the wives role?
expressive
What was parsons reason for his division of labour in the home?
-based on biological differences.
- women ‘naturally’ suited nurturing role.
-men suited provider.
-benefical to both genders, children + society
Who shares parsons views?
NEW RIGHT (conservative)
CRITICISM of parsons (In + Ex roles)
-YOUNG + WILLMOTT argue men taking a greater share of demestic tasks + wives becoming wage earners.
- FEMINISTS, reject parsons view division of labour is natural. Only benefits men.
which sociologist came up with joint and segregated conjugal roles?
Elizabeth Bott
What were the two types of conjugal roles?
(bott)
-segregated:
male breadwinner, female homemaker. Leisure also separate.
-joint:
couples share tasks, housework, childcare, spend leisure time together.
Young + willmott study:
traditional working-class exteneded families in Bethnal Green East London (1950s)
Findings:
- men were the breadwinners, played little part in home life + spent leisure time with workmates in pub.
- women full-time housewives sole responsiblity for housework + childcare, helped by other female relatives.
The symmetrical family: what view did young + willmott take?
MARCH OF PROGRESS:
-view of history in the family
-see family life as gradually getting better, more equal + democratic.
What does symmetrical family mean?
-the roles of husband and wife although not identical are now more similar
examples of family becoming more symmetrical:
- women now go out to work, although may be part-time
-men now help with housecare + childwork
-couples now spend leisure time together instead on separate.
Major social changes in past century that resulted in more symmetrical families:
- changes in womens position, married women going out to work.
-Geographically mobility- more couples living away from the communities they grew up in. - new technology and labour saving devices
-higher standards of living.
Whats the feminist view of housework?
Ann Oakley
-reject ‘march of progress view’
AO:
- criticse young + willmott for being exaggerated.
-men still hardly helped with housework + childcare.
- only 15% husbands had high partcipation in housework
- only 25% had high partcipation of childcare.
what was the impact of paid work?
- is it leading to more shared division of domestic labour creating the ‘new man’
- or create womens ‘dual burden’
example for proof of the March of progress view
British social attitudes survey:
Q. think its mans job to earn money and womens job to look after the home:
-1984, 45% men + 41% women agreed.
-2012 13% men + 12% women agreed.
The feminist view of impacts of paid work:
women going into paid work has not led to greater equality in division of domestic labour.
still little sign of the ‘new man’.
women now carry dual-burden
taking responsibility of women
Ferri + smith found: fathers took responsibility for childcare in fewer than 4% of families
-Dex + Ward found although fathers had high level involvment with 3 year olds 78% played with their children. ONly 1% took main responsibility for sick children.
Triple-shift:
Dunscombe and Marsden
house work, paid work, emotional work
Crompton and Lyonette:
what were the two explanations of gender divisions of labour
1) the cultural or ideological explanation of inequality
-division of labour is determined by patriarchal norms + values that shape gender roles in our culture. e.g. women perform domestic labour because our society expects them to + has socialised them to do so.
2) The material or economic explanations of inequality.
=women generally earn less than men means it econmically rational for women to do more housework + childcare as men spend more time earning money.
Dunne: same-sex couples and ‘gender scripts’
study
Dunnes study of 37 lesbian couples with dependent children found that they were more likely than heterosexual women to:
-describe their relationship as equal, share housework + childcare equally + view childcare postively.
-give equal importance to both partners careers.
argues this is because:
hetrosexual are under pressure to conform to deeply ingarained masculine + feminine gender scripts via domestic tasks. Contrast lesbain relationships are not linked to any particular gender scripts. Allows to create more equal relationships.
resources + decision making in households
Pahl + vogler:
The allowance system pooling.
smart ‘personal life’ perspective on money
