Sociologists family and household

• tallcott parson(1955) tradition roles
• What are the traditional roles 


  Women-expressive men-instrumental
• What are the expressive roles 


  Emotional, caring, domestic
• ann Oakley- dual burden
• What is the dual burden 


  Women and working and domestic
• Willmot and young (1970)-symmetrical family’s
• What is the symmetrical family 


  Women and men are equal
• Gershun-trend towards equality (1994)
• Gillian dunne(1999)-lesbian couples had more symmetrical relationships due to lack of heterosexual “gender scripts”
• Man yee kan(2001) -younger men do more domestic work
• Sara arber and jay ginn(1995)found working class mothers were able to buy commercially produced products (fast foods, ready meals)
• Xavier ramos (2008) women full time bread winner,man is unemployed, he does as much domestic work as her
• Sullivan - shows working full time instead of part time shows biggest difference in terms of how much domestic work each parther does
• Carol smart- found homosexual couples see no importance to who controls money
• Kempson (1994)

  • women in low income families denied their own need to make ends meet
  • Even households with adequate incomes, resources are often shared unequally (leaving women in poverty)
• Pahl and vogler (1993)

  • Allowance system
  • Pooling
• British crime survey (BCS)

  -6.6 million assaults per year (mainly men against women)

  -nearly 1 in 4 women were assaulted by her partner at some time

  -1 in 3 assaults are reported
• Political statistics

  • Police statistics under estimate its extent because of
  • Under reporting
  • Victim should leave if unhappy
  • *however many women are financially dependent on partners and cannot leave their children
• Dobash and dobash

  • Found violence was triggered when husbands felt their authority was being challenged
  • They concluded that marriage legitimates violence by giving power to men
  • *Elliot (1996) argues not all men benefit from it
• Radical feminists explainaction

  • It’s patriarchy - male dominated
  • Men oppress women through the family - domestic labour and sexual services
  • Violence or the threat of it allows them to get what they want
  • Men dominate the state - police and courts fail to take domestic violence seriously
  • Radical feminists fail to explain violence against children, men or lesbians
• Wilkinson (1996)

  Families who lack resources (low income, poor housing) suffer more stress , this increase violence

  HOWEVER: he doesn’t explain why women rather than men are the main victims
• Why don’t domestic violence victims leave ?

  
  

  they dont want to leave due to the fact they are scared

  70% of incidents happen after they leave this can therefore lead to:

  . intense stalking

  . Murder

  . Taking children
• new right -

  Murray

  Domestic Violence only occurs in dysfunctional families. these families include those with teen parent, cohabitation and divorce over a stable marriage. These are higher rates of DV in lower classes due to a low moral standard

  HOWEVER

  DV is not limited to working class

  Too much focus on violence compares to other forms of abuse
• Postmodernists

  Giddens

  Domestic violence is caused by the emotional intensity and family life. The nature of family life makes domestic violence quite common as family life is characterised by emotional intensity and personal intimac. Increasing isolation of nuclear family ,

  Increases intensity and escalations to violence - lack of people to vent to

  HOWEVER

  Not all families are abusive

  We choose our family structures so can have people to vent to who are not extended family
• Marxist feminists

  Wilkinson & Pickett

  DV is the result of stress on family members caused by social inequality. having less resources than others can lead to stress and violence out of frustration . Lack of time and money can reduce the social circule and people for support

  
  

  Ansley

  women are takers of shit , men are frustrated by the oppression they feel at work and take this out of their wives

  HOWEVER

  doesnt explain male victims

  DV is not limited to WC

  Not all men are violent to their partners
• Gurshunny & laurie (2000)

  Decision making is linked to earnings
• Pahl and volger (1993)

  Pooling VS allowance money management system
• Mclntosh & barret (1991)

  Men gain more from domestic unpaid labour then they give back financially
• Edgell (1980)

  • Very important decision are made by men -moving house , changing jobs ETC
  • important decision are made jointly-holiday destinations , children education and health ETC
  • Day to day decision are made by women- dinner choices , home decor,food /clothing
• Feminists - cultural explanations of decision making

  The system of decision making in the family is down to patriarchal societyation that give power to men