Roles and relationships within the family Flashcards
Bott (1957) I identified two ways household family jobs can be shared:
- segregated roles
- joint roles
what are segregated roles to Bott?
- husband and wife lead separate lives
- distinct responsibilities in the family
-man goes to work and does DIY - women looks after the kids and provides emotional support
What are joint roles to Bott?
- husband and wife roles are more flexible and shared
- shared responsibility on decision making
- shared leisure time
- less defined tasks
Willmott and young (1973) on joint conjugal roles in the family
- studied family changing from extended to nuclear
- increase in nuclear family= joint conjugal roles would develop
- equal and shared responsibilities would be future norm for families
- idea of widespread equality in families was criticised as soon as it was published
Oakley (1974) on joint cojugal roles in the family
- said willmott and youngs study on required men to do things around the house
- methodology overlooked the time spent on housework
- 10 mins washing up= the rest of the housework
- oakleys research found its rare for men to do a lot of the housework
equal share of paid employment hasn’t led to equal share of domestic labour: research
- Edgell (1980) found none of willmott and youngs sample families had joint conjugal roles for housework but increased for childcare
- oakley(1974) found women took on the dual burden: paid jobs+housework
- Gillian and Dunne (1999) studied lesbian households and found distribution tended to be equal between partners
How do women take emotional responsibility for a household? - research
- Bell (1990) ‘ economy of emotion’ that women are responsible for running
- she says managing family emotions is a bit like ‘book keeping’= balance the families emotional budget
- Duncombe and Marsden (1995)- found ‘TRIPLE SHIFT’= childcare, paid employment and emotional work
- found married women are happier when emotional responsibility is shared but they have the burden of most of it
How industrialisation led to the creation of a housewife?
- oakley thinks this role is socially constructed by industrialisation
- married women aren’t allowed to work in factories, so this role was created
- middle class had servants but working class had wives
- cultural values were so strong that housework seemed ‘biologically’ women’s responsibility
how is power shared in the home: research by Edgell (1980)
- interviewed middle-class couples
- men had decision making control over things both husband and wife found important
- women had control over minor decisions
- because men have higher earnings
how is power shared in the home: research by Pahl (1989-93)
- researched money management by 100 dual earning couples
- most common financial management was ‘husband control pooling’
- money is shared but husband had dominant control over how it is spent
What is the personal life perspective?
- look at meaning couples attach to control over money
-about convenience over power - don’t use traditional family norms and ideals to judge participants
Personal life perspective research: research weeks et al. (2001)
- couples that tend to pool money in a joint account
- keep money back in a personal account
- sole control over their personal spending money
Personal life perspective research: research Smart (2007)
- same-sex couples don’t link control over money with inequality
- organise money for what’s best for them as a couple
- don’t have the same ideas about gender and inequality and money that heterosexual couples traditionally had
Functionalists theory on power in society:
- men and women still largely perform different tasks and roles within the family
- most effective way to keep society running smoothly
Marxist theory on power in society:
-different roles is due to the power of capitalism to control family life
- different roles because capitalism works best that way
- capitalist class needs to promote women being naturally more caring and nurturing
- this is maintained ideologically through the media
Feminist theory on power in society:
- inequality in household roles shows inequality in power
- patrichal society produces unequal conjugal roles bc societys systems and values will inevitably benefit me at the extent of women
sociologists see child abuse In terms of power
- parent/ career able to abuse a child by manipulating the responsibilities and trust they have
- families are private and seperate, so child abuse Is less likely to be reported
social policies put in place to protect children
- The children act 1989 can intervene in families if social workers are concerned about childrens safety
- child protection plan: allows social workers to monitor families to protect children from neglect and abuse
How domestic violence affects families in the UK
- women is killed due to domestic violence every 3 days
- 570 000 cases of domestic violence reported every year
- domestic violence occurs every 6-20 seconds
How radical feminists see domestic violence: research
- violence against women is treated differently to any other violent crime
- Dobash and Dobash (1979) police didn’t usually record violent crimes from husbands against wives
- created police domestic unit but conviction rate is still low
- before 1991, law said a husband was entitled to have sex with his wife against her will, after this a rape law was created
- radical feminists believe the laws and policies were to control women
Radical feminists beliefs on domestic violence
- violence against women seen as power and control
- social climate helps: makes women feel ashamed if they talk about violence, due to ideology of patriarchy that women should stay in their place
- tendency to blame the victim
- Dobash and Dobash: violent partners returned due to fear of being stigmatised and financial dependence
Criticism of radical feminists: overemphasizing the power of men
- functionalists argue most families operate harmoniously
- postmodern theories argue that people have enough choice and control to leave or reshape their families
- men= all powered but women= powerless
- Phillips (2003) women abuse men too and male victims are ignored
- groups like ‘ families need fathers’ for men to have equal right in family and child law
