unit 1 sociologists

Question 1

Young and Willmott

Answer 1

• Bethnal green study
• families had become symmetrical (men and women performed similar roles), moved away from segregated roles.
• Due to changes in the household (e.g. working women, men helping with domestic tasks) and social changes (e.g. technology, position of women, standards of living, geographical mobility)
• take a march of progress view

Question 2

Anne Oakley

Answer 2

• Ann Oakley criticized Young and Willmott. She argued that the concept of the symmetrical family was flawed. For example, very small contributions to housework was made by men and was deemed by the research symmetrical.
• Oakley argued that women had a dual burden ( housework and paid work). Yes, more women were going out to work, but they were also doing the bulk of the housework and childcare.

Question 3

Elizabeth Bott

Answer 3

Two types of conjugal roles- segregated and joint:
- Segregated roles means the roles of men and women are separate and distinct.
- Joint roles means the roles of men and woman are shared

Question 4

Gershuny

Answer 4

• if the woman is working full time, there is a more equal division of labor
• earnings are still unequal
• roles are becoming more symmetrical
  -Men do more domestic work than in the past, but women still do the majority.

Question 5

Duncombe and Marsden

Answer 5

• women do a triple shift as they do employment, housework and emotional work

Question 6

Wilkinson

Answer 6

• domestic abuse is the result of the stress of the family members caused by social inequality
• some families have fewer resources than others
• not all people are equally in danger of domestic abuse

Question 7

Yearnshire

Answer 7

• a women suffers around 35 assaults before reporting it

Question 8

Mirlees-Black

Answer 8

• 99% of assaults are committed by men against women
  1/4 women suffer domestic abuse at least once in their life, 1/8 repeatedly so

Question 9

David Cheal

Answer 9

• State agencies don’t want to become involved in the family because they believe the family is a good thing (ignores dark side), argue women are free to leave and the family is private

Question 10

Aries

Answer 10

• elements of the modern notion of childhood began to emerge from the 13th century (e.g. growing distinction between clothing, schools and handbooks on child bearing)
• in the middle ages the idea of childhood didn’t exist- children weren’t seen as having different needs to adults.
• studied paintings- children were simply depicted as small adults, no differences in them
• criticism of this is that in the middle ages there was simply a different notion of childhood, not that it didn’t exist.

Question 11

Samantha punch

Answer 11

• studied rural Bolivia
• children of 5 years were expected to take on work responsibilities in the home and community

Question 12

Raymond Firth

Answer 12

in Tikopia, there is less value placed on obedience to adults’

Question 13

Lowell- Holmes

Answer 13

• studied a Samoan village
• found that being too young was never given as a reason not to undertake a task

Question 14

Postman

Answer 14

• childhood is disappearing “at a dazzling speed”
• there are growing similarities between the adult and childhood e.g. clothing
• disappearance of the information hierarchy , due to the rise of media and less use for newspapers. children now have access to the same content as adults.

Question 15

Townsend

Answer 15

• old age has been socially constructed as a period of dependency

Question 16

Allan and Crow

Answer 16

• until recently, same sex partners had to negotiate commitments and responsibilities more than married couples

Question 17

Parsons (Functionalist)

Answer 17

• nuclear family ahs two essential functions; stabilization of adult personalities and primary socialization of the young
• 2 types of society : modern industrial and pre- industrial.
• the family needs to be geographically mobile (move to where the jobs are) and socially mobile ( skilled, technically competent workforce)= nuclear family best equipped to meet these needs
• when Britain began to industrialize, there was a shift from the extended family to the nuclear family.
• the division of labor ( based on biological differences) is beneficial to the family and wider society- the husband had the instrumental role, while the wide has the expressive role
• this view is also held by the New Right

Question 18

Murdock (Functionalist)

Answer 18

• the family is the basic building block of society
• the family performs 4 functions: meeting members economic needs, stabilization of the sex drive, reproduction of the next generation and socialization of the young

Question 19

Fletcher (Functionalist)

Answer 19

• the higher expectations that people place on marriage are the major causes of rising divorce rates.
• this is suspported by the ideology of romanic love and the continuing popularity of marriage

Question 20

Warde and Heatherington ( Feminists)

Answer 20

• men do taks when women aren’t around
• there has been a slight change in younger men- there is more equality in tasks

Question 21

Bernard (Feminist)

Answer 21

women feel a growing dissatisfaction with patriarchal marriage

Question 22

Weeks (postmodernist)

Answer 22

• increasing social acceptance may explain the trend in recent years towards same sex cohabitation and relationships
• there is a growing acceptance of sexual and family diversity
• new right are fighting a losing battle

Question 23

Stacey (postmodernist)

Answer 23

• case studies: women have been the main agents of change in the family
• many women have rejected the traditional housewife/ mother role

Question 24

Beck (postmodernist)

Answer 24

• the traditional family provides a stable and predictable basis for family life
• we now live in a “risk society” where tradition has less influence
• the “negotiated family” now enter on an equal basis

Question 25

Giddens (postmodernist)

Answer 25

• in recent decades, the family and marriage has been transformed due to equal relationships and greater choice
• e.g. women have gained independence ( greater opportunities in education and work)
• with more choice, personal relationships have become less stable

Question 26

Mitchell and Goody (interactionist)

Answer 26

• conduced interviews
• found that some people see divorce as negative, some positive
• since the 60s there has been a steady decline in the stigma of divorce