Topic 1: Couples
- The domestic division of labour
- The impact of paid work
- Resources and decision-making in households
- Domestic violence
- Created by: E456
- Created on: 12-01-18 12:44
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- Topic 1: Couples
- The domestic division of labour
- Parsons
- instrumental role
- husband's role to provide for the family (breadwinner)
- this division of labour is based on biological differences, with women naturally suited to the nurturing role and men to that of provider
- husband's role to provide for the family (breadwinner)
- expressive role
- wife's role to care for the primary socialisation of the family (homemaker)
- this division of labour is based on biological differences, with women naturally suited to the nurturing role and men to that of provider
- wife's role to care for the primary socialisation of the family (homemaker)
- Criticisms
- Young and Willmott argue men are now taking a greater share of domestic tasks, more wives are becoming wage earners
- feminists reject his view that division of labour is natural - it only benefits men
- instrumental role
- Bott
- segregated conjugal roles: couple have separate roles
- joint conjugal roles: couple share tasks
- the symmetrical family
- Young and Willmott define this as one which the roles are similar
- more common in younger families
- rise due to (1) changes in women's position (2) geographical mobility (3) new technology (4) higher standards of living
- Young and Willmott define this as one which the roles are similar
- feminist view of housework
- little has changed: women still do most of the housework
- Ann Oakley
- critics Young and Willmott: the housewife role has become the dominant role for married women
- the housewife role is socially constructed rather than being 'natural'
- even though the 20th century saw an increase in the number of married women working, the housewife role is still women's primary role
- Parsons
- The impact of paid work
- Jonathan Gershuny
- the trend towards equality
- wives who work full-time do less domestic work
- social values are gradually adapting to the fact that women are now working full-time
- the trend towards equality
- Rosemary Crompton
- accepts Gershuny's evidence but explains it in terms or economic factors rather than changing values or role models
- as women's earnings power increases relative to men's, so men do more in the home
- Silver and Schor
- housework has become 'commercialised'
- women work - they can buy goods and services
- the burden of housework has decreased
- housework has become 'commercialised'
- the burden of housework has decreased
- Criticisms
- for many poorer girls, buying in expensive goods and services is not an option
- even if commercialisation has reduced the amount of housework to be done, it doesn't prove that couples are sharing the remaining chores equally
- dual burden
- feminists argue there is little evidence of a 'new man' who does an equal share of domestic work
- women have simply acquired a dual burden of paid work and unpaid housework
- emotion work
- women are expected to work a triple shift that includes emotion work
- Gender scripts
- Dunne
- gender scripts do not operate to the same extent within lesbian coples
- (1) their relationship is equal (2) equal importance is given to both partner's careers (3) childcare is viewed positively
- supports radical feminist view
- gender scripts do not operate to the same extent within lesbian coples
- Dunne
- Jonathan Gershuny
- Resources and decision-making in households
- Barrett and McIntosh
- men gain more from women's domestic work than they give back in financial support
- the financial support that husbands give to their wives is often unpredictable and comes with 'string' attached
- men usually make the decisions about spending on important items
- decision-making and paid work
- men often take a greater share of the family resources is because they usually contribute more money
- Pahl and Volger
- two main types of control over family income
- (1) pooling - where both partners have access to income and joint responsibility for expenditure (e.g joint bank account)
- is increasing amongst couples where both partners work full-time
- (2) allowance system - where men give their wives an allowance out of which they have to budget to meet the family's needs
- (1) pooling - where both partners have access to income and joint responsibility for expenditure (e.g joint bank account)
- two main types of control over family income
- Stephen Edgell
- Very important decisions (e.g. moving house) mainly made by husband
- Important decisions (e.g. going on holiday) made jointly
- Less important decisions (e.g. children's clothes) usually made by wife
- Barrett and McIntosh
- Domestic violence
- summary
- definition: physical, psychological, sexual or financial violence that takes place within an intimate or family-type relationship and forms a pattern of coercive and controlling behaviour
- doesn't occur randomly but follows particular social patterns and these patterns have social causes
- women more likely to experience abuse
- Dobash and Dobash
- violent incidents could be set off by what a husband saw as a challenge to his authority
- marriage legitimates violence against women by conferring power and authority on husbands and dependency on wives
- official stats
- victims mays be unwilling to report the abuse to police
- police may be reluctant to record, prosecute or investigate those reported cases
- David Cheal - three assumptions about family life made by police
- (1) family is a private sphere
- (2) family is a good thing
- (3) people are free agents
- radical feminist explanation
- widespread domestic violence is an inevitable feature of patriarchal society and serves to preserve the power that all men have over all women
- male domination of state institutions helps to explain the reluctance of the police and courts to deal effectively with cases of domestic violence
- give a sociological explanation by linking patterns of domestic violence to dominant social norms about marriage
- criticisms
- Elliot
- not all men are aggressive and most are opposed to domestic violence
- fail to explain female violence
- Elliot
- Wilinson
- domestic violence is a result of stress on family members caused social inequality
- those with less power, status, wealth or income are often at greater risk
- criticisms
- does not explain why women rather than men are the main victims
- summary
- The domestic division of labour
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