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Sociology - Families and Households > Topic 6 - Couples > Flashcards

Topic 6 - Couples Flashcards

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Sociology 101 flashcards
1
Q

The domestic division of labour

A
  • The roles men and women play in relation to housework, child care, and paid work
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2
Q

Is the domestic division of labour equal

A
  • PARSONS
  • Husband and wife roles should be segregates and there should be a clear division of labour
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3
Q

Roles within the marriage

A
  • Men = instrumental
  • Women = expressive
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4
Q

Reason for gender roles

A
  • Biological differences between men and women, and women are “naturally” suited to the nurturing role, and men the providing role
  • Functionalist and New Right = best fit for society
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5
Q

A03 - WILMOTT and YOUNG (DOL)

A
  • Argue men are taking a greater share of domestic tasks and more wives are becoming wage earners
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6
Q

A03 - FEMINISTS (DOL)

A
  • Reject PARSONS view that the DOL is natural but socially constructed and only benefits men
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7
Q

Conjugal roles

A

BOTT:
- Segregated conjugal roles
- Joint conjugal roles

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8
Q

Segregated conjugal roles

A
  • The couple has separare roles, and male breadwinner and a female homemaker
  • Leisure activities separate
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9
Q

Joint conjugal roles

A
  • Couple shares tasks such as housework and childcare
  • Spend leisure time together
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10
Q

Bethnal Green London study

A
  • WILMOTT and YOUNG (1950s)
  • Most houses were segregates roles
  • Men were the breadwinners
  • Played little part in home life and spent their leisure time in the pub
  • Women were full time housewives with sole responsibility for housework and childcare
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11
Q

The symmetrical family

A
  • WILMOTT and YOUNG
  • Bethal Green (1970s) = longitudinal study (over time)
  • Family life imporivng due to march of progress
    Features of a symmetrical family:
  • Women go out to work
  • Men help with housework
  • Couples spend leisure time together
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12
Q

Symmetrical nuclear family

A
  • Changes in the position of women
  • Geographic mobility
  • New technology
  • Higher standards of living
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13
Q

A03 Symmetrical family

A
  • FEMINISTS reject the march of progress and say that little has changed
  • Inequality stems from the fact that family and society are male-dominated/patriarchal
  • OAKLEY criticises WILMOTT and YOUNG “symmetrical family” and that their claims are exaggerated and found,
  • Only 15% of husbands had a high level of participation in housework
  • Only 25% had a high level of participation in childcare
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14
Q

BOULTON

A
  • Fewer than 20% of husbands had a major role in childcare
  • A father may help with tasks but the responsibility is usually always on the mother
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15
Q

WARDE and HETHERINGTON

A
  • Sex typing of domestic tasks remained strong, e.g., women are 30x more likely to wash up and men 3x more likely to wash up
  • Men would only carry out female tasks when their partner was not around
  • New man (younger men) if they came from a joint conjugal role home
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16
Q

The impact of paid work

A
  • Most women in OAKLEY’S study in the 1970s were housewives whereas now women go out to work (part time/full time). Does this mean more equal division of labour (march of progress), or are women now facing a dual burden (the feminists)?
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17
Q

The impact of paid work - March of Progress

A
  • Women going out to work = more equal divison of labour at home
  • Men are becoming more involved in housework as women are taking part in paid work outside the home
  • GERSHUNNY found women who work full time do less domestic work than other women
  • SULLIVAN 1975, 1987, and 1997: found a trend towards more equality in terms of who does the domestic work in the home
  • SCHOR and SILVER argue the housewife has died as housework has been commercialised: labour saving devices, fast food, cleaners, and ready meals
18
Q

The impact of paid work - The Feminists

A
  • Women going to work has led to women carrying a dual burden
  • British Attidtudes Survey 2013 found overall women did 2x as much domestic work much as men. 60% of women felt this division of labour was unfair
  • DEX and WARD 78% of fathers played with their 3 year olds but only 1% looked after them when they were sick
  • HOSCHSCHILD taking resposnibility for family members “emotion work”
  • DUNSCOMBE and MARSDEN women now have to undertake triple shift of paid work, domestic work, and emotional work
  • SOUTHERTON claims mothers coordinate and schedule the family’s quality time = peoples lives becoming more fragmented
19
Q

Gender division of labour

A
  • CROMPTON and LYONETTE 2 different explanations for the unequal division of labour:
    1. Cultural explanation
    2. Material explanation
20
Q

The cultural explanation

A
  • Labour determined by patriarchal norms and values that shape gender roles. Women perform domestic tasks as society expects this
  • GERSHUNNY couples who had parents who shared domestic tasks were more likely to share housework (parental roles are important)
  • MAN YEE KAN younger men do more domestic work = generational shift
  • DUNNE lesbian couples had more symmetrical relationships because there was an absese of heterosexual gender scrips (what to do). Studied 37 lesbian couples and found they described their relationship as equal
21
Q

The material explanation

A
  • If women join the labour force and earn as much as their partners then we should expect to see men and women doing more equal amounts of domestic work
  • KAN found for every £10,000 a year a women earns she does 2 less hours of housework per week
  • RAMOS found where the women is the main breadwinner and the man is unemployed, he does as much domestic work as she does
  • SULLIVAN working full time had a bigger impact on domestic work than if a woman worked part time
22
Q

A03 Material explanation of the gender division of labour

A
  • CROMPTON states that women still earn less than men: 7 out of 8 households men earn more
  • There is no immediate prospect of a more equal division of labour if this is dependent on economic equality between genders
23
Q

Resources and decision making in households

A
  • Finances PAHL and VOGLER:
    a) Allowance system: men gives their wives an allowance out of which they budget to meet the families needs
    b) Pooling: both partners have access to income and joing responsibility for spending
24
Q

Decision making

A
  • HARDHILL found when studying professional couples the important decisions were usually taken on by the man
  • EDGELL 3 types of decisions:
    1) Very important decisions: moving house and usually taken on by the husband who has the final say
    2) Important decisions: children’s education and holidays, usually taken on by the mother
    3) Less important decisions: home decor, clothes, and food which is usually made by the mother
25
Q

Feminists (cultural explanation)

A
  • Inequalities in decision making reflect the patriarchal nature of society where we have deeply ingrained gender scripts which see the male as the decision maker
26
Q

PAHL (Money)

A
  • Pooling money does not mean equality
  • Keeping money separate does not mean inequality
  • E.g., cohab couples less likelt to pool yet more likely to share domestic tasks
27
Q

NYMAN (Money)

A
  • Need to understnad what the meaning of money for couples is
  • Money has no fixed automatic meaning
  • Different couples define it in different ways
28
Q

PLP on money

A
  • SMART found in same-sex couples money is given a different meaning
  • In same-sex relationships little importance is attached on who controlls the money, but rather to do what suits them as a couple
  • Do not enter the same “historical, gendered, heterosexual baggage of cultural meanings around money”
  • Essential to start from personal meanings of the people involved
29
Q

Domestic violence meaning

A
  • HOME OFFICE
  • Any incident or patterns of incidents of controlling, coercive, or threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 and over who are or have been intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality
30
Q

Sociologists challenge of domestic violence

A
  • Domestic violence is far too widespread: THE CRIME SURVEY 2013 found 2 million people reported being victims of domestic abuse (1.2 million women, 800,000 men)
  • Domestic violence does not occur ranfomly: it follows particular social patterns and these have social causes. 1 in 4 women experience domestic violence each week
31
Q

DOBASH and DOBASH

A
  • Marriage legitimises domestic violence against women by conferring power and authority on husbands and dependency on wives
  • Violence often occurs when husbands felt their authority is being challenged
31
Q

Do we know the true extent of domestic violence?

A
  • Victims are often unwilling to report, women average 35 attacks before reporting
  • WALKLATE rape victims are often on trial themselves to prove their respectability
  • CHEAL police often not prepared to get involved in family life, and make 3 assumptions:
    1. The family is a private sphere so access should be limited
    2. The family is a good thing so agencies tend to neglect the darker side
    3. Individuals are free agents so its assumed women should leave if it is bad
32
Q

Explanations for domestic violence

A
  1. Radical feminist explanation
  2. Materialist explanation
33
Q
  1. Radical feminist explanation (domestic violence)
A
  • DOBASH and DOBASH evidence as patriarchy
  • FIRESTONE and MILLET argue all societies are founded on patriarchy
  • Men are the enemy: oppressors and exploiters of women
  • Marriage is the key institute that promotes and maintains a patriarchal society and is the key oppressor of women
  • Men dominate women through domestic violence/threat of it
  • Widespread domestic violence is an ineviatble feature of patriarchal society
  • Blame male dominated institutions for the reluctance of the police and courts to deal with domestic violence (link CHEAL)
34
Q

A03 Radical feminist explanations for domestic violence

A
  • Most men are opposed to domestic violence
  • Not all men are domestically violent
  • Fail to explain women’s violence
35
Q

OFFICE FOR NATIONAL STATISTICS who is at greater risk?

A
  • Young women
  • Those in lowest social classes
  • Deprived areas
  • Low incomes
  • Rented accommodation
  • Drug/alcohol users
  • Long term illness/disabilty
36
Q

The materialist explanation to explaining domestic violence

A
  • Focuses on economic and material factors, e.g., inequalities in income anf housing to explain why some are at greater risk than others
  • WILKINSON and PICKETT see DV as the result of stress on family members caused by social inequality (fewer resources than others, experience higher levels of stress)
  • Worries about money, jobs, and hosuing
  • Lack of money restricts support for those under stress
37
Q

A03 The materialist explanation to explaining domestic violence

A
  • Unlike radical feminists they do not explain why women rather than men are victims of crime
38
Q

Marxist feminist views on domestic violence

A
  • Caused by inequality
  • ANSLEY describes women as “takers of shit”, DV is the result of capitalism: male workers exploited at work and then come home to take out frustrations on their wives
  • This does explain why most victims are female and most perpetrators are male
39
Q

A03 Marxist feminist views on domestic violence

A
  • Does not take into account why not all men are domestically violent/why women are domestically violent

Sociology - Families and Households (7 decks)

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