Sociology - Families & Households Flashcards
PARSONS - Gender roles
Expressive role - Women = Homemaker (involves cooking, cleaning and looking after children)
Instrumental role - Men = Breadwinner (involves paid work, earning the income for the family)
BOTT - Division of labour
Segregated conjugal roles - Division of labour between men and women, couple spends leisure time separately
Joint conjugal roles - couples share domestic tasks and leisure time.
WILLMOTT AND YOUNG
There are now more symmetrical families as a result of increased joint conjugal roles
ARE COUPLES MORE EQUAL? - MARCH OF PROGRESS
The ‘new man’ means couples have an equal share of housework and childcare.
ARE COUPLES MORE EQUAL? - DUAL BURDEN
Women now do paid work and domestic work (Feri and Smith)
ARE COUPLES MORE EQUAL? - TRIPLE SHIFT
Women not only carry the dual burden of paid and domestic work, but also have to do the emotional work (Duncombe and Marsden).
DECISION MAKING - MATERIAL EXPLANATION
Men have more power in decision making because they earn more.
DECISION MAKING - CULTURAL EXPLANATION
Gender role socialisation instils the view that men are the primary decision makers.
DOMESTIC ABUSE - DOBASH AND DOBASH
Marriage and the nuclear family is the key institution of patriarchy, and the main source of women’s oppression. Domestic violence is inevitable because it serves to preserve the power men have over women
DOMESTIC ABUSE - ANSLEY
Domestic violence is the product of capitalism: males workers are exploited at work and take their frustration out on their wives.
DOMESTIC ABUSE - WILKINSON
Domestic violence is the result of stress on the family caused by social inequality.
CHANGES TO CHILDHOOD OVER TIME - ARIES
In the middle ages, the idea of childhood did not exist. Children had the same responsibilities, rights and skills as adults - in turn, they were considered economic assets. However, as the modern notion of childhood began to emerge, there became a profound distinction between children in adults in terms of clothing, rights and responsibilities.
CHANGES TO CHILDHOOD OVER TIME - POSTMAN
In modern society, childhood is ‘disappearing’. Children and adults have some of the same rights, children’s unsupervised traditional games are disappearing, children are committing ‘adult’ crimes. The printed word created a hierarchy between adults, who can read, and children, who cannot - this gave adults the power to keep ‘adult matters’ private. However, TV blurs the distinction and information hierarchy; TV does not require special skills to access it.
CHANGES TO CHILDHOOD OVER TIME - SHORTER
In the middle ages, the high death rate of children encouraged indifference and neglect. For example, parents referred to their child as “it” or gave the child a name of a recently dead sibling.
HAS CHILDHOOD IMPROVED? - THE MARCH OF PROGRESS VIEW
Childhood has improved significantly
How children are now perceived as vulnerable people who need taking care of.
Introduction of laws which improve the experience of childhood (Eg. laws banning child labour).
HAS CHILDHOOD IMPROVED? - PALMER
‘Toxic childhood’ - Rapid technological and cultural changes have damaged children’s physical, emotional and intellectual development. This is the result of intensive marketing to children, parents working long hours and testing in education.
HAS CHILDHOOD IMPROVED? - GITTINS
‘Age patriarchy’ - There is an age patriarchy of adult domination and child dependency. This may assert itself in the form of violence against children.
THE ORGANIC ANALOGY
The human body is made up of different parts that function together to meet its needs and maintain it. Functionalists believe society does the same, in which it is made up of interdependent parts (eg. the education system, the government, religion etc) that work together to maintain the social system as a whole.
MURDOCK
The nuclear family performs four essential functions:
>Socialisation of the young
>Satisfaction of the member’s economic needs
>Reproduction of the next generation
>Stable satisfaction of the sex drive
PARSONS - THE FUNCTIONAL FIT
The functions that the family perform depend on the type of society in which they are found:
>Pre-industrial society - extended family - had the function of production and consumption
>Modern society - nuclear family - have the function of social and geographical mobility
The nuclear family has two irreducible functions:
> Primary socialisation of the young - equipping the next generation with basic skills and society’s values.
Stabilisation of adult personalities - enabling adults to relax so they can return to the workplace and perform their roles effectively.
ENGELS
The family exists so men can pass their private property onto their biological offspring, notably a son.
ZARETZKY
There is an ideological function of the family called the ‘cult of private life’ - this is the belief that we can only gain fulfilment from family life, which distracts attention from exploitation.
