Families and Households 5

What roles does Parsons argue should exist in the family?

• Instrumental

• Expressive

Who is the instrumental parent and what do they do?

Dad - breadwinner, discipline

Who is the expressive parent and what do they do?

Mum - emotional, chores, childcare

What is a criticism of Parsons gender roles?

Outdated

What roles does Elizabeth Bott argue are in families?

• Segregated conjugal

• Joint conjugal

What are segregated conjugal roles?

Traditional roles

What are joint conjugal roles?

Less clear segregation of roles

Who argues in the March of Progress?

Young and Willmott

What is the March of Progress?

Family is becoming more symmetrical over time

What was Young and Willmott’s study?

Bethnal Green - symmetrical couples are more likely to be young, affluent, and isolated

What is stratified diffusion according to Young and Willmott?

Changes in norms happen in the middle class and then come down to working class

What is a criticism of the March of Progress?

Oakley - dual burden

What did Ferri and Smith find supporting dual burden?

Based on a sample of 1589 33 year old parents, less than 4% father had main responsibility for childcare

What did Dunscombe and Marsden argue?

Tripe shift

What is triple shift

Women do paid work, housework and childcare, and emotional support

What does Gillian Dunne argue?

Gender scripts cause gender roles to be expected in a relationship

What is a criticism of dual burden and triple shift?

Not representative - small sample

What does Gershuny argue?

For every £10000 a woman earns, she does 2 hours less housework

What do Pahl and Vogler argue?

Each partner’s contribution to income affected decision making

What is pooling?

Both partner’s make money and have joint responsibility for it

What is an allowance system?

Men give wives a portion of their income to spend on the family

What does Edgell argue?

Decision making

What is a criticism of Edgell?

Decision making may not reflect power

What does Smart argue about same-sex couple’s finances?

They were happy to leave it to one partner as it doesn’t mean anything

What did Dobash and Dobash do?

Unstructured interviews on 109 women in a refuge

What did Dobash and Dobash find?

• 80% men acted like nothing happened after attack, the rest saying it was their wives fault

• Women would return to abuser

• Women would be violent back in ¼ cases

• Women felt they deserved it

• Attacks happened because women weren’t performing duties

What do Dobash and Dobash argue domestic violence is a result of?

Patriarchy

What is a criticism of Dobash and Dobash?

Domestic violence happens to men

What does Faith Robertson Elliot argue?

Not all men benefit from domestic violence