1 - Families - couples, domestic abuse, decision making

What did Parsons say about the division of labour in the family?

The husband has the instrumental role geared towards achieving success at work so he can provide for the family financially whereas the woman has the expressive role geared towards the primary socialisation of the children and meeting the families emotional needs.

What did Elizabeth Bott say about roles within the family?

She said there are segregated conjugal roles (man as the breadwinner and woman as the expressive role) or joint conjugal roles (couples sharing tasks such as housework and childcare and spend their leisure time together). Joint conjugal roles are more popular in homosexual couples

What is the symmetrical family view and who came up with it?

Young and Willmott came up with this march of progress view saying the family is slowly improving for all members and becoming more democratic where men and women have equal roles within the family.

This is because of:

- Changes in women's position

- Geographical mobility

- New technology and labour saving devices

- Higher standards of living

What are some key evidence points Oakley found to support that the division of labour is not equal?

• Only 15% of husbands had a high level of participation in housework

• Women were 30 times more likely to be the last one to do the washing

• Dex and Ward found in their 2007 study 78% of fathers would play with their children however when it came to caring for a sick child less than 1% took main responsibility

• This proves that women are subordinate to men and take on the chores they want to do

What did Gershuny find to prove that the division of labour is getting more equal due to women's changing position in society?

Women are now taking on more full time jobs leading to a more equal division of labour

What did feminists Duncombe and Marsden say about the division of labour?

They said it was like a triple shift where women would have to do housework, paid work and manage everyone in the family's emotions.

What is the cultural and material explanation for the inequality in the division of labour?

Cultural - Women perform more domestic labour as that's what society expects them to do and has socialised them to do due to norms and values

Material - Women generally earn less than men and so it's economically rational for men to do the work while women care for the children - especially due to the cost of living crisis. Gender pay gap is 7%

How does Dunne support the cultural explanation for the division of labour?

He says lesbian couples have more symmetrical relationships due to the absence of heterosexual gender scripts/norms.

However, Pleck would disagree and say that men create hierarchies among each other despite the absence of gender scripts

What was found out by Barrett and McIntosh about decision making within the family?

- Men usually make the decisions about the spending of money on important items

- Men gain far more from women's domestic work than they give back in financial support.

What were 2 types of control over family income and which 2 sociologists came up with them?

- Feminists Pahl and Vogler.

- The allowance system where men give the woman an allowance to meet the needs of the family and keeps the rest for himself.

- Pooling where men and women have joint access to income and joint responsibility for how it is spent eg: joint bank accounts.

What did Finch say about the structure of women's lives?

Women's lives were mainly based around their husbands career and so the family may move house based on the husband's job.

Why did Edgell argue men are more likely to make the important decisions?

Because women generally earn less than men and so are more economically dependant on men and make less of the decisions. However women may be allowed to make the less important decisions such as what food they buy

What is a negative evaluation point for saying that there is inequality within the family in the decision making?

The personal life perspective says that not all relationships may say one person having control over their money is inequal and patriarchy as there can be "co-independence" where a partner retains some control over some of their money.

What percentage of women that suffer domestic abuse are women?

84%

What did Wilkinson and Pickett find about what people are more at risk of domestic abuse?

- Those on lower incomes will experience more stress due to lack of money and so quick tempers and so are more at risk of domestic abuse

- Lack of money can reduce people's support circles so they have less support

What do Dobash and Dobash say about the reasons for domestic violence?

- Men don't like their authority to be challenged

- Men may feel threatened or intimidated so use violence to assert authority

• they are radical feminists

What are some evaluation points you can use to support the official statistics for domestic violence being too underestimate the true extent?

- Police believe the family is a private sphere and so tend to neglect the darker side of family life for example conviction rates stood at 6.5% of all incidents reported (Cheal)

- The family is generally seen as a good thing and so agencies hope families work through it

- The believe that people are free agents and can leave if they want however male violence may also be alongside male economic power meaning women are not economically independent alone. Or children may be a worry for women

What is the radical feminist explanation for domestic violence?

Firestone and Millet argue that patriarchy is within society and so within the family and is a reason for the oppression of women

Evaluate the radical feminist view on domestic violence?

- Elliot argues that not all men are aggressive and most are opposed to domestic violence

- Radical feminists also ignore the violence against children, men or in lesbian relationships even though it is a lot less

What is some evaluation for the materialist explanation for domestic abuse?

- Wilkinson and Pickett

- Explains how social inequality produces stress and why low income women are more at risk (supported by Office for National Statistics)

- However it doesn't explain why women are more at risk than men