theorists 3.3

Oakley

Oakley

The role of housewife is a social construction, proving that gender roles are not natural

Gerhshuny et al

Women of all ages, ethnicities, and classes do more domestic labor than men

Kan

Found that levels of housework that women did were slightly reduced by paid employment. However, retirement or unemployment increased female housework and reduced that of her partner

ramos

Notes that domestic labor is most likely to be equally distributed when the male is unemployed and his partner works full time

willmott

Less dependence on traditional roles when dividing up tasks in the home

Pilcher

Older people unlike younger ones did not talk about equality but instead thought about gender roles, responsibilities, and relationships in traditional ways

sullivan

• Suggests that industrial societies have experienced a quiet revolution in conjugal roles based on a general acceptance of gender equality

  • Men doing a greater share of housework and women less

  • Men spending more time on childcare

  • The family group becoming more home-centered

Wilmott and Young

Stratified diffusion - as conjugal roles in the upper class moved towards greater equality, these changes came down through the class structure

Morgan

• Political economy - how money is received, controlled, and managed

• Moral economy - values and norms relating to the conjugal roles and responsibilities of different family members

• Emotional economy - interpersonal relationships and affective power

Kirkwood

Stated that domestic violence is difficult to estimate since victims do not report the attacks due to low confidence, psychological dependence on the offender, or fear of further consequences

Malinowski

• Trobriand Islanders were tolerant of children’s sexual explorations. Preindustrial tribal societies differed from their industrialized counterparts

  • Children were given more responsibility and given more rights

  • Adult-centered relationships were closer, less strict, and more supportive than is typically the case in modern societies

  • Children were encouraged to explore their sexuality. Less guilt attached to sex play and adults were more open-minded about sexual discovery through play

Hect

• An ethnographic study of Brazilian street children: many were homeless but still maintained links with families (nurtured vs nurturing)

• Nurtured: children of the wealthy, spend their childhood being looked after

• Nurturing: offspring of the poor, spend childhood looking after others

Neil Postman

Childhood has disappeared due to children’s exposure to technology

Sue Palmer

Argues that childhood has now become toxic including a lack of opportunities to learn through play, being restricted to the home because of fear of safety, too much testing at school, and exposure to violent video games, drugs, and alcohol

Robertson

Suggests that a further factor is that children are encouraged to become consumers = using goods and services

victor

• Suggested that the status of older people depends on the nature of social organizations (nomadic or settled) and other factors

  • Nomadic: elderly are seen as a problem if they can’t easily follow the nomadic lifestyle

  • Settled: knowledge and skills of older people may be considered valuable to the family group or society as a whole

Kagan

Studied a Colombian village, demonstrated that the elderly were respected and valued for their wisdom even if they didn’t form a gerontocracy

Bourdieu

The economic inequality on which this is based gives a range of cultural advantages based on social capital (how people are connected to social networks and the value that these connections have in adult life)

Will et. al

Demonstrated that each gender is treated psychologically and emotionally differently by having mothers interact with baby Beth and Adam (one baby dressed differently) Beth was given a doll and complimented while Adam was given a toy train and received fewer smiles

Marin and Ruble

Children are gender detectives. They search for clues about gender-appropriate behavior from primary sources - parents, peers, and secondary sources such as the media

Brannen and Oakley

Asian parents in the UK placed greater restrictions on their children’s freedom of movement and association, especially with daughters

Song

Noted the significance of the family as workplace for some ethnic minority children in the UK particularly Chinese ethnicities but also extending into Italian and Asian identities