Topic 1 - Couples

• Parsons: Instrumental + Expressive roles

  • traditional nuclear family, roles of husband and wives are segregated - separate and distinct 


  husband = instrumental role - achieving success at work + providing for family financially (breadwinner)

  wife = expressive role - primary socialisation of children + meeting family's emotional needs (homemaker and housewife)

  
  

  Parsons: division of labour based on biological differences, women "naturally" to nurturing role + men being provider
• CRITICISMS of Parsons

  Feminists: divisions of labour being natural, as only benefits men (Oakley)

  Young + Willmott: men have greater share of domestic tasks, more wives becoming earners
• Young + Willmott: Symmetrical Family

  • take a "march of progress" view - family gradually becoming more equal and democratic

  argue long-term trend towards joint conjugal roles + "symmetrical family"

  • women go out to work
  • men help with housework "new man"
  • couples spend leisure time together

  1. Changes in women's position
  2. Geographical mobility
  3. New technology
  4. Higher standards of living
• Bott: Joint + Segregated conjugal roles

  distinguishes two types of conjugal roles within marriage

  
  

  segregated conjugal - couples have separate roles - male breadwinner and female homemaker, leisure activities tend to be separate

  joint conjugal - couples share tasks such as housework and childcare, spend leisure time together
• Feminist View of Housework

  • reject "march of progress" view, believe little has changed and men + women remain unequal

  Inequality stemming from family being male-dominated/patriarchal

  
  

  Oakley: critcises Young + Willmott's view that family is now symmetrical + believes claims are exaggerated

  • research on housewives: found only 15% husbands had high level participation in housework + only 25% had high level in childcare
  • husbands more likely to share childcare BUT it's the more pleasurable aspects
• March of Progress view:

  • argue women going to work = more equal division of labour - men more involved in housework and childcare

  Gershuny: argues women working full-time leads to more equal division of labour in home

  • found these women did less domestic work

  British Social Attitudes Survey (2018) - fall in number of people who think it's man's job to earn money
• Feminist View:

  • little sign of "new man" and women now carry dual burden

  British Social Attitudes Survey (2012) - showed men did 8 hours of housework, women did 13 hours

  
  

  • couples divide household tasks along traditional gender roles

  e.g. women more likely to do laundry, men small repairs around house
• Taking responsibility for children

  Boulton: fathers help perform specific childcare tasks - usually mother takes responsibility for child's security + well-being

  Ferri + Smith: found that fathers who took responsibility for childcare fewer than 4%
• Taking responsibility for quality time

  Southerton: responsibility coordinating, scheduling and ,managing family's "quality time" falls to mother

  • 24/7 society + flexible working patterns changes people's time = more fragmentated +de-routinisied

  Different experiences in amounts of leisure time

  • men have consolidated "blocks" of interrupted leisure time
  • women's is punctuated by childcare + indicated women carry dual burden
• Cultural Explanation for Gender Division of Labour

  • division of labour determined by patriarchal norms and values - shape gender roles, women perform expressive role due to society's expectations + socialisation

  Gershuny: couples whose parents had more equal relationships, more likely share housework - which suggests role model = important

  Dunne: lesbian couples had more symmetrical relationships, absence of traditional heterosexual "gender scripts" - cultural norms they are expected to play
• Material Explanation for Gender Division of Labour

  • women generally earn less, so economically rational for women to do more housework + childcare

  EVIDENCE: If women join labour force and earn as much, should expect equal amounts of domestic work

  Sullivan: working full-time rather than part-time makes biggest difference in domestic work each partner does

  • due to women's earning being closer to partner
• Money management/meaning of money

  Paul +Vogler: identify 2 types of control over family income

  allowance system - men give wives allowance based on budget + retains surplus income for themselves

  pooling - both partners have access to income and joint responsibility for expenditure (on the rise)

  e.g. joint bank account

  Vogler: found cohabiting couples less likely to pool money, desire to maintain independence

  • more likely than married couples share domestic tasks equally
• Decision making

  Pahl + Vogler: found pooled income was controlled by husband + gives men more power in major financial decisions

  Edgell: study of professional couples

  • very important decisions - finance, change of job, moving house taken by husband alone/has final say
  • important decisions - children's education, holiday usually taken jointly/wife alone
  • less important decisions - choice of home decor, children's clothes and food purchases usually made by wife alone
  • argues reason is men earn more + women dependent on them economically, so they have less say in decision making
• Cultural vs Material Explanation

  • Feminists: argue inequalities in decision-making not isn't simply the result of inequalities in earnings
  • patriarchal society and cultural definition of men as decision-makers is deeply ingrained + instilled through gender role socialisation

  Reflects cultural explanation of gender inequality described by Crompton and Lyonette
• The "Personal Life" perspective on money suggests that the meanings money have cannot be taken for granted.
• Smart found some gay men and lesbians attaching no importance to who controlled money, not seeing control of money as meaning equality or inequality in the relationship.
• Weeks et al found a typical pattern of pooling money for household spending and separate accounts for personal spending, reflecting the value of "co-independence" where partners retain control over some money and maintain independence.
• There is greater freedom in relationships where the cultural baggage around money is not present.
• Domestic Violence: Radical Feminist Explanation

  Dobash + Dobash: violent incidents set off when husband saw challenge to his authority

  • marriage legitimates violence against women
  • see family + marriages as key institutions in patriarchal society, main source of women's oppression
  • male dominance in state institutions helps explain reluctance of police + courts to effectively deal with cases of DV
• Domestic Violence: Radical Feminist Explanation

  EVALUTION

  • Elliot: rejects radical feminists claim, as not all men are aggressive + most opposed to DV
  • fail to explain female violence - e.g. Crime Survey for England + Wales (2020) estimates 13.8% men experienced DV since age of 16
• Domestic Violence: Materialist Explanation

  • focuses on economic, and material factors such as inequalities in income

  Wilkinson + Pickett: see DV as result of stress on families caused by social inequality

  • families have fewer resources + those on low income/overcrowded accommodation likely to experience higher levels of stress
  • reduces chances of maintaining stable, caring relationships - increasing risk of conflict and violence
• Domestic Violence: Materialist Explanation

  EVALUATION

  Marxist Feminists: inequalities are caused by DV - Ansley describes wives as "takers of shit" and DV is product of capitalism

  • take out frustrations of the workplace on their wives