Couples

Question 1

Who believes that the roles of men and women are different but equal?

Answer 1

Parsons 1955 (functionalist)

Question 2

What is Parson’s expressive role?

Answer 2

The role played by women in the family involves caring, nurturing, and supporting children and their husbands.

Question 3

What is Parson’s instrumental role?

Answer 3

The role played by men in the family involves providing economic support for the family.

Question 4

What are Parsons reasons why men play the instrumental role & women play the expressive role?

Answer 4

• Women’s biology meant that they were naturally better at caring for children.
• Women were primarily responsible for carrying out the family’s two essential functions – primary socialisation and the stabilisation of adult personalities

Question 5

Sociologist behind the Joint and Segregated Conjugal Roles

Answer 5

Elizabeth Bott 1957

Question 6

Outline what Bott calls Segregated conjugal roles

Answer 6

A clear division and separation between the male and female roles e.g. one personal being the economic provider and the other doing most of the domestic work.

Question 7

Outline what Bott calls Joint conjugal roles

Answer 7

The couple share tasks such as housework and childcare and spend their leisure time together.

Question 8

What did Bott find about social class’s influence on the joint and segregated conjugal roles in her in-depth study of 20 families in London?

Answer 8

Middle-class couples are more likely to have joint roles due to an increased number of educated women working.
Working-class couples are more likely to be segregated.

Question 9

What did Bott find about social networks’ influence on the joint and segregated conjugal roles in her in-depth study of 20 families in London?

Answer 9

• Close-knit families are more likely to be segregated due to having friends/family of the same sex to spend leisure time with or help with housework & childcare.
• Loose-knit is more likely to be joint.

Question 10

Who created the idea of the Symmetrical family and the March of Progress theory?

Answer 10

Willmott and Young 1973

Question 11

What is Willmott and Young’s symmetrical family?

Answer 11

A family in which both husband and wife are in employment and both do some housework and provide childcare

Question 12

What is Willmott and Young’s March of Progress theory?

Answer 12

A theory which sees the family developing in a progressive way and responding to wider changes in society.

Question 13

Evidence for Willmott and Young’s
March of Progress Theory

Answer 13

• Wide scale social survey 1928 interviewed in greater London
• Roles of husbands and wives becoming increasingly similar and more equal
• 72% of households, men contributed to the housework
• Couples increasingly made important decisions together

Question 14

5 Reasons for the rise in the symmetrical family

Answer 14

• Increased employment for women
• Increased geographical mobility
• Reduction in number of children in family
• Labour-saving devices / new technology
• Higher standard of living

Question 15

Who is the sociologist behind the Sociology of Housework?

Answer 15

Oakley 1974 (liberal feminist)

Question 16

What did Oakley find?

Answer 16

• Found only 15% of husbands highly involved in housework and 25% in childcare, contradicting Willmott and Young.
• Housewives described domestic work as boring, unfulfilling, frustrating, and stressful.

Question 17

What did Ward & Hetherton find in 1993?

Answer 17

Domestic tasks were divided amongst traditional gender stereotypes

• E.g. wives being 30x more likely to have been the last person to do the
  washing, while husbands were 4x more likely to have been the last person to wash the car.

Question 18

Who came up with the idea of Triple Shift 1995?

Answer 18

Duncombe & Marsden

Question 19

What is Duncombe & Marsden’s Triple Shift?

Answer 19

• Women perform a “triple shift” of housework, paid work, and emotional work.
• Emotional work involves managing family emotions, like resolving sibling arguments.

Question 20

What did Ferri & Smith (1996) find?

Answer 20

Fathers took responsibility for childcare in less than 4% of households.

Question 21

What did Sullivan find in 2000?

Answer 21

Her analysis of data collected in 1975, 1987 and 1997 found a trend towards women doing a smaller share of domestic work and men doing more.

Question 22

What did Dex & Ward find in 2007

Answer 22

• Increase of involvement with children from fathers
• 78% of fathers played with their children.
• Only 1% of fathers took responsibility when their children were ill.

Question 23

What did Southerton find in 2011?

Answer 23

• Women take responsibility for organising their family’s quality time.
• Women’s time is often interrupted with childcare
• Men take uninterrupted blocks of leisure time.

Question 24

What did the British Social Attitudes Survey 2022 find?

Answer 24

• Attitudes toward domestic work have shifted, but behaviour has not.
• 63% of women said they did more than their fair share
• Less than 30% of tasks were equally shared.
• 32% of men admitted to doing less than they should at home.

Question 25

The cultural/ideological explanation of the gender division of labour?

Answer 25

- Patriarchal norms and values shape gender roles and the division of labour. - Women do more domestic work because society expects and socialises them to from an early age.

Question 26

Gershuny’s (1994) evidence to support the Cultural explanation

Answer 26

- Couples with parents who had equal relationships are more likely to share housework equally. - Parental role models are important. - Social values are gradually adapting to women working, creating a new norm where men do more domestic work.

Question 27

British Social Attitudes Survey (2013) supporting evidence for the cultural explanation

Answer 27

- Less than 10% of under-35s support traditional division of labour, compared to 30% of over-65s. - Reflects changing norms, attitudes, and gender socialisation towards more equal relationships.

Question 28

Dunne (1999) evidence for the cultural explanation

Answer 28

- Studied 37 lesbian couples with children. - Found equal sharing of housework and childcare, prioritization of both careers, and avoidance of gender stereotypes. - Relationships were more equitable compared to heterosexual couples.

Question 29

What is the economic or material explanation for the gender division of labour?

Answer 29

- Income differences often reinforce traditional gender roles. - Higher earners focus on work; lower earners handle housework and childcare, driven by economic rationality.

Question 30

Kan (2001) evidence for the economic explanation…

Answer 30

For every £10,000 a year more a woman earns, she does two hours less housework per week.

Question 31

Xavier-Ramos (2003) evidence for the economic explanation?

Answer 31

Where the woman is the full-time breadwinner and the man is unemployed, the man does as much domestic labour as the woman.

Question 32

Arber and Ginn (1995) evidence for the economic explanation?

Answer 32

- Middle-class women in higher-paid jobs were more likely to pay for services like cleaners, ready meals, and nannies. - This reduced the amount of domestic labour they had to do.

Question 33

Dunne (1999) evidence for the economic explanation

Answer 33

When one partner did much more paid work than the other, the time that each partner spent on domestic tasks was likely to be unequal.

Question 34

Edgell’s (1980) evidence of inequality in financial decision-making

Answer 34

- Major decisions, like job changes, were usually made by the husband alone or jointly with him having the final say. - Important decisions, like holiday destinations, were typically made jointly. - Less important decisions, like buying children's clothes or food, were usually made by the wife. - Men make final decisions more often due to earning more; women's economic dependence gives them less influence.

Question 35

Barett and McIntosh (1991) Evidence of inequality in financial decision-making:

Answer 35

- Men gain fair more from women’s domestic work than they give back in financial support. - The financial support that men give to their wives is unpredictable and can come with certain demands. - Men usually make the decisions about spending on important items.

Question 36

Husband-controlled pooling

Answer 36

Money was shared but the husband had the dominant role in deciding how it was spent. most common

Question 37

Wife-controlled pooling

Answer 37

Money was shared but the wife had the dominant role in deciding how it was spent. Second most common

Question 38

Husband control

Answer 38

The husband was usually the one with the main or only wage and he gave his wife housekeeping money

Question 39

Wife control

Answer 39

- The responsibility for managing money was with the wife. - More common in poorer households where the responsibility for managing the money was more of a burden than a privilege

Question 40

Jan Phal’s study 1993

Answer 40

- Interviewed 102 couples with at least 1 child under 16. - Found four main patterns of money management: - Husband controlled pooling = 39/102 couples - Wife-controlled pooling = 27/102 couples - Husband control = 22/102 couples - Wife control = 14/102 couples

Question 41

Pahl’s evidence for increasing equality in financial decision making

Answer 41

- Financial individualization is growing, especially among younger, childless couples with working women. - Despite increased autonomy, women's lower earnings (about 15% less than men) limit their financial independence. - This reinforces women's economic dependence on higher-earning male partners.

Question 42

Weeks (2001) evidence for increasing equality in financial decision-making:

Answer 42

Many cohabiting couples pooled money for household expenses but kept separate accounts for personal spending to maintain independence.

Question 43

Smart 2007 Evidence of increasing equality in financial decision-making:

Answer 43

- Same-sex couples didn’t see one partner controlling finances as inequality and welcomed it. - This freedom comes from the absence of historical and gendered meanings associated with money.

Question 44

Cultural explanation for inequality in financial decision making

Answer 44

Patriarchal norms that exist in our culture mean that men are seen as decision-makers, more powerful and the main earners who therefore have the right to spend their money as they see fit.

Question 45

Economic/material explanation for inequality in financial decision making

Answer 45

- Inequalities in decision making over finances reflect the differences in earnings between the couple. - It makes logical sense for whoever earns more money to have more of a say in how that money is spent.

Question 46

What is domestic abuse / violence?

Answer 46

Any form of abuse between a partner, former partner or family member

Question 47

What are the different forms that domestic violence can take?

Answer 47

- Emotional - Financial - Physical - Psychological - Sexual

Question 48

What are the 2 main sources of statistics on DV?

Answer 48

- Police recorded crime - Victim surveys (Crime Survey for England and Wales)

Question 49

Why don't victims report domestic abuse to the poloice?

Answer 49

- Fear of reprisal - Mistrust in the police - Think it is a private, rather than criminal matter

Question 50

How many women experience DV in their lifetime>

Answer 50

1 in 4

Question 51

A domestic abuse call is made to the police every ...

Answer 51

30 seconds.

Question 52

How many DV cases are reported to the police?

Answer 52

Less than 24%

Question 53

Dobash & Dobash (1979) on the Radical Feminist perspective of Domestic Violence

Answer 53

- Research involved in-depth interviews with domestic violence victims. - Found historical acceptance of domestic violence in the 19th century, rooted in patriarchy. - Domestic violence seen as a form of patriarchal control, with the police historically overlooking its severity due to their own patriarchal nature.

Question 54

Wilkinson & Pickett (2010) on the Materialist explanation perspective of Domestic Violence.

Answer 54

- Economic and material factors contribute to varying domestic violence risks. - Social inequality (low income, insecure housing, low status) increases stress and risk. - ONS identified higher risks in deprived areas, low-income individuals, those facing financial difficulties, and those with long-term illness or disability.

Question 55

How did Oakley conduct her research?

Answer 55

- In-depth interviews with 40 housewives with children - 2 different areas of London, one middle class and one working class.