Family - Division of labour, power relationships and childhood - XXX Flashcards
What are the roles of men and women coined by Talcott Parsons (1955)?
Division of labour
Instrumental (men) - breadwinner role
Expressive (women) - homemaker
What are segregated conjugal roles and joint conjugal roles?
Division of labour
Elizabeth Bott
1. split roles
2. shared roles
What is the ‘march of progress’?
Division of labour
Young and Wilmott
Idea that family life is gradually improving for all its members and becoming more equal and democratic.
Moving towards symmetrical family.
Who is Ann Oakley and what did she say?
Division of labour
Feminist
Role of housewife is social construction because of industrialisation and relying on men.
What did Gershuny (1994) say?
Division of labour
Wives who work full - time did less housework.
Wives who don’t work did 83%
Wives who work full - time did 73%
What is the double shift?
Division of labour
Feminists argue that women are now working but are still having to do most of the housework. Leads to double shift.
m/c can escape this due to commercialisation of housework making housework easier or getting maid.
What is emotion work?
Division of labour
Part of triple shift
Caring for other family members as well as well as double shift creating triple shift (Duncombe and Marsden 1995)
What are the 2 types of control over family income?
Power relationships
Pooling (both partners have access to income and share eg joint bank account)
Allowance system (men give wives allowance for family needs)
Pooling is increasing as numbers have gone up from 19% to 50%
Who is Mirlees - Black (1999)?
Power relationships
Studied domestic violence.
6.6 million of domestic violence cases a year.
Most victims are women.
99% committed from men.
1 in 4 women have been assaulted at some time in their lives.
What are the views/sociologists on domestic violence?
Power relationships
Russell and Rebecca Dash (1979) - DV set off by what husbands saw as challenge to their authority. Marriage allows this to happen.
Yearnshire (1997) - on average, a women will suffer 35 assaults before reporting.
David Cheal (1991 - police reluctant to get involved as family is a private sphere and a good thing and individuals are free to leave.
5 factors why childhood has changed?
- Industrialisation (children needed to be education for new types of jobs, more opportunity for education).
- Child labour (1833 child labour laws changed, children no longer had to work, more time for school)
- Education Act 1870 (Made school compulsory for min 5 years)
- United Nations convention on the rights of the child (1989 governments promised children’s rights, right to life, protection, education etc.)
- NSPCC and prevention of cruelty to children act 1889 (enabled state to get involved in relationships with parents if being treated badly, children were safer)
- Greater understanding of child development (Donzelot 1977 said children need more protection and supervision)
What is the march of progress view on the extent of change to position of childhood?
Position of childhood has been steadily improving
Aries said that we have gone from not seeing childhood as special to a ‘cult of childhood’.
Shorter said that children are better cared for and have better health.
Society more child - centered
What is the conflict view on the extent of the change to position of childhood?
Position improved for some but for most no change - inequality
2 factors:
- inequalities among children (not all children have same experiences and treated the same) Hillman and Bonke e.g gender inequality
- inequalities among children and adults (adults take control over many aspects of children’s lives to oppress and control them) Hockey and James children act up by drinking and smoking as a revolt against adult oppression.
What did Neil Postman (1994) say?
Future of childhood
Childhood is ‘disappearing at a dazzling speed’ as children have same rights as adults.
No informational hierarchy (fall of print culture, rise of tv)
What did Iona Opie (1993)?
Future of childhood
Childhood isn’t disappearing
Children have independent culture through games, rhymes and songs.
