Topic 1: Couples Flashcards
The domestic division of labour:
What is the domestic division of labour?
the roles that men and women play in relation to housework, childcare and paid work.
The domestic division of labour:
What does instrumental role mean? (use sociologist) P
Parsons’ (1955) The instrumental role’s purpose is to discipline and provide for family .
He makes the decisions and is the breadwinner.
The domestic division of labour:
What does expressive role mean? (use sociologist) P
Parsons’ (1955) - The role of the female is to provide emotional support and child rearing. She is the home-maker.
The domestic division of labour:
Criticisms of Parson’s view of expressive and instrumental roles (use sociologist) Y+W
Young and Willmott (1962) argue that men are now taking a greater share of domestic tasks and more wives are becoming wage earners.
Feminist - Gender roles are a social construct that are used to reinforce the patriarchy - not biological.
The domestic division of labour:
What are separate conjugal roles? (use sociologist) B
Bott (1957) couples have separate roles.
e.g. a male breadwinner and a female homemaker/carer.
The domestic division of labour:
What are joint conjugal roles? (use sociologist) B
Bott (1957) - where the couple share roles e.g. both do housework and both do childcare
The domestic division of labour:
What is the definition of the symmetrical family?
A family where the roles of husbands and wives are more similar to each other.
e.g. men doing housework and looking after the kids.
The domestic division of labour:
How can the symmetrical family be seen? (use sociologist) Y+W
Young and Willmott (1973) - There has been a trend towards equal amount of domestic and manual labour between men and women.
Women now go out to work, although this may be part-time rather than full-time - Equal Pay Act 1970 has helped this.
The domestic division of labour:
How has the rise of the symmetrical nuclear family been the result of major social changes (use sociologist) Y+W
Young and Wilmott - the rise of the symmetrical nuclear family as the result of major social changes.
e.g. Changes in women’s position, including married women going out to work e.g. Equal Pay Act 1970 and Sex Discrimination Act 1975
e.g. New technology and labour saving devices - by having these labour saving devices it means that men are more likely to do housework.
The domestic division of labour:
What is the feminist view on housework? (use sociologist) 1. O 2. W+H
Oakley (1974) argues although men occasionally help. Men are more likely to engage in the more enjoyable aspects of childcare “cherry picking.”
Warde and Hetherington (1993) - Men only took on “female” tasks when their wives weren’t available, further reinforcing traditional gender roles. However, this is changing with young men - more equality.
Are couples becoming more equal?
What is the march of progress view of couples becoming more equal? (use sociologist) 1. S 2. BSA
Women working leads to more equality.
Sullivan’s (2000) more couples both working leads to an equal division of labour and that men were participating more in traditional ‘women’s’ tasks e.g. cleaning
The British Social Attitudes (2013) - found that in 1984, 45% of men and 41% of women believed that the man should be the provider whereas in 2012 only 13% of men and 12% of women agreed.
Are couples becoming more equal?
What is the feminist view that couples are becoming more equal? (use sociologist) 1. BSA 2. BSA
Feminist - Women carry a dual burden of work and childcare and housework (triple shift)
British Social Attitudes survey shows that in 2012 men on average most men did 10 hours of childcare a week compared to women who did 23 hours.
British Social attitudes also found that couples still divided tasks traditionally with women doing the cooking and cleaning and men repairing things.
Are couples becoming more equal?
How does who takes responsibility of the children show equality/inequality in the family (use sociologist) 1. D+W 2. B
Dex and Ward (2007) found that, 78% of fathers played with their 3 year olds children only 1% took the main responsibility when the child became ill.
Ball (2011) found that most fathers held a provider ideology’ that their role was as breadwinners. This was enforced by ideas in the media telling women how to be good mothers.
What is the definition of emotion work (use sociologist) 1. H
Hochschild (2013)- Emotion work is where someone is responsible for ensuring everyone is kept happy.
Feminists say that women are required to perform this role.
Are couples becoming more equal?
What is the definition of the triple shift (use sociologist) 1. D
Duncombe (1995) argue that women have to perform a ‘triple shift’ of housework, paid work and emotion work
The triple shift refers to the situation where women are responsible for three roles: paid work, domestic chores, and emotional support to family members.
Taking responsibility for quality time:
Whose responsibility is it for taking quality time (use sociologist) 1. S 2. S
Southerton (2011) - scheduling and managing the family’s ‘quality time’ together fall on mothers.
Southerton - men are more likely to experience ‘blocks’ of uninterrupted leisure time, whereas women’s leisure time is often determined by childcare. This shows that women are carrying a dual burden of looking after the children but also themselves.
Explaining gender division of labour
Why is there an unequal division of labour - the cultural/ideological explanation of inequality (use sociologist) C+L D
Crompton and Lyonette (2008) - The division of labour is patriarchal as women’s are socialised to perform domestic tasks.
Dunne (1999) found that lesbian couples had more symmetrical relationships as there is the absence of gender roles.
Explaining gender division of labour
Why is there an unequal division of labour - the material/economic explanation of inequality (use sociologist) R
Ramos (2003) found that where the woman is the full-time breadwinner and the man is unemployed, he does as much domestic labour as she does.
Conclusion on explaining the gender division in labour
Is there a gender division in labour?
Feminists argue that women still continue to carry a dual burden or triple burden - domestic tasks themselves remain gendered.
Feminists argue that patriarchal norms and values shape society’s view about domestic roles.
Money management
How does money management in families show inequality between men and women (use sociologist) P+V
Pahl and Vogler (1993) shows two main types of control over family income:
The allowance system - where men give their wives an allowance out to meet the family’s needs, with the man retaining any excess income for himself.
Pooling - where both partners have access to income art joint responsibility for spending , a join bank account. Pooling is on the increase and is now the most common money management system.
Decision making:
How can decision making show inequality between men and women (use sociologist) G
When the pooled income is controlled by the husband, this tends to give men more power in major finance decisions Pahl and Vogler (2007) found that even where there was pooling, the men usually made the major financial decision making.
Geshuny (2000) found that by 1995, 70% of couples said they had an equal say in decisions however women who were high earning, well qualified professionals were more likely to have an equal say.
Decision making:
How do cultural/material explanations of decision making show inequality between men and women (use sociologist).
Feminists argue that inequalities in decision-making aren’t always the result of inequalities in earnings.
They argue that in patriarchal society, the cultural definition of men as decision-makers is deeply ingrained in both men and women and instilled through gender role socialisation.
Until this definition is challenged, decision-making is likely to remain unequal.
Decision making:
How does the meaning of money show inequality between men and women (use sociologist) V
Pooling money doesn’t always mean there is equality. We also need to know who controls the pooled money and whether each partner contributes equally e.g. if a man earns twice as much as his wife, but both put the same amount into the joint account does this show equality?
Vogler et al found that cohabiting couples were less likely to pool their money yet cohabiting couples are more likely than married couples to share domestic tasks equally.
The personal life perspective on money
What is the personal life perspective on money (use sociologist) 1. S 2. W
Smart (2007) found that some gay men and lesbians attached no importance to who controlled the money and were perfectly happy to leave this to their partners. They did not see the control of money as meaning either equality or inequality in the relationship. There are no gender norms
Weeks et al (2001) found that the typical pattern was pooling some money for household spending, together with separate accounts for personal spending. This money management system shows a value of ‘co-independence’ - where there is sharing, but where each partner retains control over some money and maintains a sense of independence.
