Gender roles and childhood Flashcards
What are conjugal roles? Who described the classic division of roles?
What two approaches of two conjugal roles did Elizabeth Bott identify?
-The term conjugal role is used to describe the roles of husbands and wives in households.
-Parsons described the classic division of gender roles, with men being instrumental leaders and women being expressive leaders.
-Elizabeth Bott(1950s):
Segregated conjugal roles: Men and women had distinct roles and responsibilities(Similar to Parsons)
Joint conjugal roles: Less segregation; decisions are taken together, some leisure time is spent together and men may do some domestic chores/ women do some paid work (the latter was not the norm in the 1950s.)
Who’s March of progress view saw the family becoming more symmetrical? What term did they give to explain this emergence?
What feminist highly criticised Young and Wilmott? Why?
-Wilmott and Young a new norm of having shared conjugal roles has developed.
-This was happening through stratified diffusion(i.e. something becomes the norm among higher-status groups, and then trickles down to the rest of society.)
-Ann Oakley pointed out that they considered a family symmetrical when the husband ‘helps’ with the housework; this could be completing quite minimal domestic chores.
With women now in the workforce what have many families become?
What sociologists point out this did not lead to symmetry? Why?
Who foud that lesbian couples were more symmetrical? Who found that unemployed men participated more?
-Dual-income households.
-Oakley- concluded that working women suffer a dual burden. Her research revealed that most working mothers performed the vast majority of domestic chores and also the bulk of childcare. She found that while some men ‘helped’ very few did significant housework.
-Dunne- Dunne looked at the domestic division of labour in households headed by a lesbian couple. She found these families tended to be symmetrical with quite an equal distribution tasks.
-Pahl- found that unemployed men did more domestic work than employed men but wives of unemployed men still did most of the housework, even when they were in employment.
What are the criticisms for feminist views/studies on housework?
What did the British Attitudes Survery(2012) find?
-Most used small samples.
-The British Attitudes Survery(2012), found that traditional view of men going out to work and women doing housework was only held by a minority of people in the UK.
-While families might not be symmetrical there is a clear trend towards equality and they are much more equal than Oakley/ Young and Wilmott were writing.
What sociologists completed studies for decision making within the family?
Describe the conclusion for each study.
Who’s study did Pahl and Vogler update?
-Edgell, Weeks et al, Pahl and Vogler, Carol Smart.
-Edgell interviewed middle class couples and found women controlled ‘minor decisions’ & men took the ‘major decisions’. This correlated with men earning the most.
-Weeks et al- found that men and women had a pooling system where they put their money in a joint account for household spending, while keeping some back for personal spending.
-Pahl and Vogler updated Weeks et al- found that men were still dominant in deciding how money in the joint account would be spent. They identified an allowance system.
-Smart’s personal life perspective suggests that questions about who makes decisions and resources are shared in a household today do not necessarily reflect structural inequality in society, and are often personal to the individual families and their specific circumstances.
Who’s study focused on the ‘dark side of the family’ (domestic violence)1980?
What fraction of women thought it was acceptable to be hit? Why did men abuse their partners according to the study?
How did the men react(%)?
-Dobash and Dobash.
-1/3 of the women Dobash and Dobash interviewed thought that there were circumstances where it was acceptable for husbands to hit their wives; this was a deeply-ingrained aspect of patriarchy that impacted the norms and values of men and women.
-The found that men hit women when they felt women were not properly performing thier role.
-80% of men acted as if nothing had happened after, most blamed victims and showed little remorse.
-They also found that police and authorities did not take the issue seriously.
Why is Dobash and Dobash criticised?
What did Women’s aid discover about domestic abuse cases?
-Men are also the victims of domestic violence. It is estimated that around 70% of domestic violence incidents are men against women.
-Dobash and Dobash’s study was conducted in 1980. Some would argue that it is outdated, particularly in relation to how seriously the police and authorities take domestic violence cases.
-Women’s Aid found that, while ther have been improvements since 1980, very few domestic abuse cases lead to successful prosecutions(just minority of cases are even reported.)
What is childhood recognised as by sociologists?
What did Pilcher argue?
Who argued there is no universal definition of childhood?
-Sociologists see childhood as socially constructed.
-Pilcher sees childhood in contemporary Western society as distinctly separate from adulthood and characterised by privileges and protections. It has its own set of rights.
-Stephen Wagg argued there is no universal definition of childhood. It is not just biological immaturity; it is something that is experienced differently in each society and through different historical eras.
What is the March of progress of childhood?
Who coined the idea of ‘little adults’? How does this study show a march of progress ?
Who argued that childhood has a ‘functional fit’?
What did Jenks argue?
-March of progress from the dangerous childhood of industrial revolution to today’s protected and privileged time of life.
-Aries suggested that children since the Middle Ages were little adults. In the 19th century children went to work and were prone to many disease. Unlike today.
-Shorter argued today’s childhood has a functional fit with today’s society: we need people more educated so children do not work until they’re older.
-Jenks argued that adults now focus on their children because they are dependable, compared with marriages which increasingly end in divorce.
Why are march of progess views on childhood criticised by child liberationists? Sue Palmer? What do critics of Palmer point out?
What does Melanie Phillips argue?
-Liberationists argue that children are too protected: their rights are restricted and they are oppressed. Hockey and James point out that children themselves see childhood as an oppressive period of life from which they wish to escape.
-Sue Palmer, argued that it is far from a privileged time, childhood is toxic. Children are becoming obese, anxious, overly-tested, and lacking in social skills.
-Critics of Palmer point out that real toxic childhood is experienced by children making the ipads, rather than those enjoying them.
-New Right thinkers such as Melanie Phillips argue children have too many rights and as such are not sufficiently controlled and do not have enough respect for parents: children join gangs etc.
Who argued that childhood is disappearing? Why?
What else does he argue simulatoneously to the adultification of children?
-Neil Postman. He argues that children today grow up very quickly. A main driver for this is TV: children can access adult knowledge and topics, problems in the world, without adult levels of literacy. Children are also sexualised in media.
-He argues there is a childification of adults: a blurring. Increasingly children and adults watch the same films, listen to the same music, wear the same clothes and share the same interests.
Why is Postman criticised?
-Some argue that, rather than childhood disappearing, childhood is expanding. The extension of compulsory education, for example, and the large increase in boomerang families, means that young adults often do not start having adult experiences of work and independent living until well into their 20s.
-Others point out that childhood is still distinct from adulthood both financially and culturally. Opie points out that Western concept of childhood as a specially privileged and protected phase of life is being exported globally.
How does social class affect childhood experiences?
Who’s study supported this 2001?
What do other sociologists also point out regarding class experience?
Social class:
-The experience of childhood differs significantly depending on social class. Children who live in poverty are likely to have poor diet, poor housing and various health conditions.
There are also higher incidences of both abuse and neglect of children from families with the lowest incomes.
-This was detailed in a study by Marilyn Howard.
-Other sociologists argue it is also worth noting that the children of the very rich are oftend educated in boarding schools and have a rather different experience of childhood as they are away from their families and not always happy.
How does ethnicity explain the differences in childhood experience? What are black and mixed race children more likely experience?
What did Julia Brannen find in her research?
-Ethnicity also has some impact on the experience of childhood. For example, black and mixed-race children are significantly more likely to be in care than white and Asian children.
-There is also the issue of intersectionality: some minority-ethnic groups are more likely to be in lower income brackets so both factors influence their experience of childhood.
-Julia Brannen found that Asian parents are often stricter with girls than boys.
How does gender affect the childhood experience?
What did Hillman et al find?
Who coined the idea of a ‘bedroom culture’?
-Parents are often stricter with daughters than sons, or certainly more controlling. While, as already mentioned, this is particularly the case with some minorities, it is also a general trend.
-Hillman et al found that boys were allowed to stay out after dark, cross roads and travel unaccompanied at younger ages than girls.
-McRobbie and Graber argue girls develop a ‘bedroom culture’. They argue that boys and girls develop separate youth subcultures because their experience of childhood and adolescene is very different, with boys being out.
