Questions For Sociology Exam Flashcards
What is a nuclear family
A married heterosexual family who have their own biological children
What is are criticisms of parsons instrumental and expressive roles
- young and willmott: men are taking a greater share of housework, more women earners
- feminists : not natural only Benefits men
Joint and conjugal roles-Bott
Segregated-separate roles including leisure interests
Joint-share housework and childcare and spend leisure time togther
Symmetrical family-young and Willmott
- March of progress -trend away from segregated roles towards joint ‘symmetrical ‘ roles
- although not identical much similar
- eg women work even part time, men help with housework. Couples spend leisure time togther
What is the rise of symmetrical families due to:
- Changes in women’s position
- Geographical mobility
- New technology
- Higher standards of living
What do warde and Hetherington argue
“Sex typing “ men are more likely to wash the car, men do female tasks their not around. Although there is a shift in attitudes about women doing all the housework
What is a consolidated “block”
Also called uninterrupted leisure time. This is what men are more likely to experience. Whereas women leisure is often is often punctuated by childcare. Women are More likely to multitask then men.
Low income families -kempson
Women denied their own needs; rarely going out, eating smaller portions or skipping meals. In many houses women have no entitlement to a share of household resources. As a result , she is likely to see anything she spends on herself as money that should be spent for the children. This leaves a lot of women in poverty
Why is there still inequality
When the pooled income controlled by men , giveS him more power to make major financial decisions (Pahl and Vogler)
Vogler - couples
Cohabitating couples less likely to pool money but more likely to share domestic tasks
Postman-Future of childhood (AO3)
+ valuable in showing how technology can influence childhood
- but ignores other factors that influence childhood development
Reasons for changes in the position of children
- laws restricting child labour/ pad work- rather than economic assets, children became an economic liability, dependent on their parents financially
- compulsory schooling- Big effect on WC families ( middle class already went to school ). Raising of school leaving age meant children were economically dependent on parents
- laws and polices - minimum ages eg smoking , sex
What do Aries and shorter argue
That hold a march of progress view. They are argue that today’s children are more valued , better cared for protected, educated than those of previous generations. For example today’s children are protected from harm by laws against child abuse
What does child centeredness mean?
March or progress sociologist argue that the family has become child centred. Children age now the focal point of the family. Consulted on many decisions than ever before. Also in society much as things age designed specifically for children
What does age patriarchy mean?
Gittins uses this term to describe inequalities between adults and children. Child liberationists view argue adults control over children’s lives is justified in order to keep them safe as children cannot name rational decisions
What is the new sociology of children
This approach sees children as active agents who play a major part in increasing their on childhoods.
Name 1 official statistic of domestic violence
Victims may be unwilling to report it to the police. Yearnshire found on average a women suffers 35 assault before making a report. Domestic Violence is a violent crime lease likely to be reported
What is radical feminists explanation of domestic violence
Radical feminists inetepret findings such aa Dobash and Dobash as evidence of patriarchy. Radical feminists see the family and marriage as the key institutions in patriarchal society and the main source of women’s oppression
What is the materialist explaination of domestic violence
Focuses on material factors such as inequalities in income and housing to explain why some groups age more at risk than others
What does opie argue about the future of childhood
Argues that childhood is not disappearing. She argues that there is strong evidence Of the continued existence of a separate childhood over many years based on a lifetime of research such as into ryhmes and songs
What do conflict sociologists argue
Argue that that the March of process view of modern childhood is based on false abs idealised image that ignores important inequalities
What does Hochshild argue in the domestic division of labour
‘Emotion work’ feminists have noted women are often required to perform emotion work where they take responsibility for managing emotions and feelings of family members
What is the cultural explanation of the gender division of labour?
Equality will be achieved when norms about gender roles change change. This would involve changes in men and women’s attitudes, values and expectations, role models and socialisation. For example Gershuny found that couples who’s parents had a more equal relationship are more likely to share housework equally themselves. This suggests parental roles are important
What are the material explanation for explaining gender divisions of labour ?
If women join the labour force and earn as much as their partners, we should expect to see men and women doing more equal amounts of domestic work eg Kan found that every 10,000 a year a women earns , she does 2 hours less house work a week
What did Laurie and Gershuny find
They found that by 1995, 70% of couples said that they had an equal say in decisions. However significantly women who were high earning, well qualified professionals were more likely to have an equal say .
What did smart discover
Same sex couples placed no importance to who controls the money. Control of money does not define equality
Functionalism- Murdock
4 functionalist:
- Satisfaction of sex drive: same partner, prevents social disruption of “free for all “
- Reproduction: without this society will not continue
- Socialisation: of the young , shared valued and norms
- Economic needs : food and shelter etc
Parsons “ functional fit “ theory
The family will depend on what kind of society it is found in.
Marxism - the inheritance of property
Primitive communism- no private property, all members own the means of production. No family but a promiscuous horde
Marxism- ideological functions
Ideology is a set of beliefs that justify inequalities and persuade people to accept a capitalist system. Family does this by socialising children into accepting hierarchy and that inequality is inevitable
Marxism- unit of consumption
Capitalism exploits labour of workers: makes a profit by selling products for more than it costs to produce them. The family generates costs for three reasons 1 includes:
Children who love lake the “ latest “ clothes/ gadgets face being mocked by pears
Liberal feminists
Equal pay and discrimination
Hold a similar view to March of progress, gradual progress towards gender equality, overcome laws and attitudes but will need further reforms to reach full equality
How do others criticise liberal feminists
Other criticise liberal feminists for failing to challenge the cause of women’s oppression and believing people’s attitudes will be enough to bring equality
Marxism feminists
Argue main form of oppression in the family is not men but capitalism. One way is how women reproduce the labour force through unpaid work labour and socialising the next generation of workers
Radical feminists
Argue all societies are ruled by men; key division of society :
• men are the enemy and source of women’s oppression
• men benefit from women’s unpaid labour and sexual services
What are the criticism of radical feminists
Liberal feminists argue that radical feminists fail do recognise women’s position has improved considerably eg job opportunities.
Difference Feminists
Argue we cannot generalise women’s experience for example
Black /white
Lesbian/ heterosexual
Middle class/ Wc
Personal life perspective - beyond ties of blood and marriage
Personal life perspective takes a Wider view of relationships based on blood/ marriage. Eg we may form relationships with non blood relatives such as ex partners of parents. These may be stronger than blood relationships
Personal life perspective- Nordqvist and Smart
Researched donor conceived children
“ what counts as family when your child shares a genetic link with a stranger “
The issue of blood and genes raised a range of feelings and emphasised the importance of social relationships
AO3 points functionalism
- feminists reject this rose tinted view of the family as it neglects conflict and exploration ( serving men and oppression women )
- Marxist argue that it meets the need of capitalism not as society as a whole
AO3 points Marxism
- functionalists - Marxists ignore the benefits the family provides
- ignores the wider family structures and assumes nuclear families are dominant
- feminists - family serves the interest of men, not capitalism, more gender inequalities than class inequalities
