Family: Topic 1

What are the instrumental and expressive roles, suggested by Parsons?

1. Instrumental: The husbands role, geared towards achieving success at work so he can provide for the family financially 2. Expressive: The wife's role, geared towards socialisation of children and meeting the families emotional needs.

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What does Parson's argue that this division of labour is based on?

He argues this division of labour is based on biological differences, with women 'naturally' suited to the nurturing role and men to that of the provider. He claims the division of labour is beneficial to all aspects of society.

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Why do feminists criticise Parsons view on the division of labour?

They reject it as they do not believe the division of labour is natural and they argue that this division only benefits men.

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What are the two types of conjugal roles within marriage, suggested by Elizabeth Bott?

1. Segregated conjugal roles: where the couple have separate roles (Parson's instumental and expressive) and spend leisure activities apart 2. Joint conjugal roles: the couple shares tasks such as housework and spend leisure time together.

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How do Young and Willmott view the families domestic division of labour?

They take a 'march of progress' view suggesting that family life is gradually improving for all its members becoming more equal and democratic, they argue there is a long term trend away from segregated conjugal roles moving towards the 'symmetrical

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How do Young and Willmott view the families domestic division of labour? (2)

family'

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Give three examples supporting Young and Willmott's view that the family is becoming more symmetrical.

1. Women now go out to work, although this may only be part time 2. Men now help with housework and childcare 3. Couples now spend their leisure time together

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What major social changes do Young and Willmott believe the rise of the symmetrical family is the result of?

1. Changes in women's position 2. Geographical mobility 3. Higher standards of living

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Why do feminists reject the 'march of progress view' that Young and Willmott take?

They argue that little has changed and that men and women remain unequal within the family and women still do most of the housework. They see this inequality as stemming from the male-dominated society.

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What is the dual burden?

The concept that women now have to carry out a 'dual burden' of paid work as well as domestic work.

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What effect does Geshuny suggest the impact of paid work is having on the amount of housework women do?

He argues that women working full-time is leading to a more equal division of labour in the home, using time studies he found that women in full-time work did less domestic work than other women.

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What is the triple shift?

The triple shift of housework, paid work and emotion work.

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What are the two main types of control over family income?

1. The allowance system: where men give their wives an allowance out of which they have to budget to meet the family's needs 2. Pooling: where both partners have access to income and joint responsibility for expenditure.

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What did Stephen Edgell's 1980 study of professional couples find in regards to decision making?

He argues that very important decisions such as moving house are either made by husband alone of jointly but with husband having the final say, important decisions such as children's education usually taken jointly and less important such as choice

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What did Stephen Edgell's 1980 study of professional couples find in regards to decision making? (2)

of food purchases were made by the wife.

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Why do sociologists challenge the view that domestic violence is the behaviour of a few disturbed or 'sick' individuals?

1. Domestic violence is far too widespread 2. Domestic violence does not occur randomly

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For what two reasons do official statistics understate the true extent of the problem of domestic violence?

1. Victims may be unwilling to report it to the police, on average a woman suffers 35 assaults before making a report 2. Police and prosecutors may be reluctant to report, investigate prosecute those cases that are reported to them.

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What are the two types of explanation for domestic violence?

1. The radical feminist explanation 2. The materialist explanation

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What is the radical feminist explanation for domestic violence?

Radical feminists believe that widespread domestic violence is an inevitable feature of patriarchal society and serves to preserve the power that men have over women.

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Why do most sociologists reject this?

Most reject this view because not all men are aggressive and most are opposed to domestic violence.

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What is the materialistic explanation for domestic violence?

The materialistic explanation of domestic violence focuses on the stress of social inequality causing domestic violence.

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Give one criticism of the materialistic explanation for domestic violence?

Unlike the radical feminist approach, the materialistic explanation does not explain why women rather than men are the main victims.

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Family: Topic 1

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