couples

Question 1

what are the 2 roles functionalists believe should be in a household?

Answer 1

instrumental

expressive

Question 2

Young and Wilmott criticism of functionalists views on family roles:

Answer 2

argue men are taking a greater share of domestic labour tasks and more women are becoming wage earners

Question 3

feminist criticism of functionalists views on family roles:

Answer 3

reject Parsons view that the division of labour is natural
instead say it is socially constructed and only benefits men

Question 4

who identifies 2 types of conjugal roles?

Answer 4

Bott

Question 5

what are the two conjugal roles?

Answer 5

segregated conjugal roles

joint conjugal roles

Question 6

explain segregated conjugal role:

Answer 6

where couples have separate roles (expressive and instrumental)

leisure activities separate

Question 7

explain joint conjugal role:

Answer 7

where the couple share tasks e.g housework and childcare

also spend leisure time together

Question 8

what did Young and Wilmotts study in 1950s find about family roles?

Answer 8

most households had segregated roles

men were breadwinners
men played little part in home life and spent leisure time in the pub
women were full time housewives with sole responsibility for housework and childcare

Question 9

what did Young and Wilmott find in their later study in 1970s?

Answer 9

there had been a march of progress and family life improved

Question 10

what do they call the family type that is a result of changing from a segregated role to joint conjugal roles?

Answer 10

symmetrical family

Question 11

what is meant by symmetrical family?

Answer 11

women now go to work

men now help with housework

couples now spend leisure time together

Question 12

what social changes have caused the development of the symmetrical family?

Answer 12

change in position of women
geographical mobility
new technology
higher standards of living

Question 13

feminist rejection of march of progress:

Answer 13

say little has changed as men and women are still unequal within the family
stems from the fact society is male dominated or patriarchal

claim symmetrical family is exaggerated as men ‘help’ with housework once a week but doesn’t show symmetry

Question 14

Oakleys stats to criticise the symmetrical family:

Answer 14

only 15% of husbands had a high level of participation in housework

only 25% had a high level of participation in childcare

Question 15

Oakleys other criticisms of MOP:

Answer 15

criticises the fact they focus on tasks and not responsibilities - a father may help with tasks but the mother almost always has the responsibility

Question 16

criticism through stats of sex typing of domestic tasks:

Answer 16

women 30x more likely to wash up

men 3x more likely to wash the car

(men only do ‘female tasks’ when their partner is not around)

Question 17

MOP view on the impact of paid work:
(3)

Answer 17

women going to work leads towards a more equal division of labour at home

women who work full time do less domestic work than other women

housewife has died as housework has become commercialised e.g fast food, ready meals, cleaners, labour saving devices

Question 18

feminist views on the impact of paid work:

Answer 18

women going out to work just means women carry a ‘dual burden’

women have a triple shift of housework, paid work and emotional work

mothers coordinate family quality time

Question 19

stats showing feminists views on the impact of paid work:

Answer 19

women did 2x more domestic work than men
60% of women felt this was unjust

78% of fathers play with their 3 year olds but only 1% of fathers looked after them when sick

Question 20

who says there are 2 different explanations for the unequal division of labour?

Answer 20

Crompton and Lyonette

Question 21

what are the 2 different explanations for the unequal division of labour?

Answer 21

cultural explanation
material explanation

Question 22

what is the cultural explanation for the unequal division of labour?

Answer 22

view that the division of labour is determined by patriarchal norms and values that shape gender roles

women perform domestic tasks because it is what society expects

Question 23

Gershuny- the cultural explanation

Answer 23

found couples who had parents who shared domestic tasks were more likely to share housework themselves

Question 24

what is the material explanation for the unequal division of labour?

Answer 24

states if women join the labour force and earn as much as their partners then we should see men and women doing more equal amounts of domestic work

Question 25

Kan - material explanation

Answer 25

found for every £10,000 a year a woman earns she does 2 hours less housework per week

Question 26

Ramos - material explanation

Answer 26

found where the woman is the main breadwinner and the man is unemployed he does as much domestic work as she does

Question 27

Crompton criticism - material explanation

Answer 27

states women still earn less than men in 7 out of 8 households men earn more no prospect of more division of labour if this is dependent on the economic equality between sexes

Question 28

what are the 2 main types of control over family income?

Answer 28

allowance system pooling system

Question 29

what is the allowance system

Answer 29

where men give their wives an allowance out of which they budget to meet the families needs

Question 30

what is pooling

Answer 30

where both partners have access to income and joint responsibility for expenditure

Question 31

decision making -pooling

Answer 31

pooling is on the increase when pooling is controlled by the man this tends to give him more power in financial decisions assumes pooling has more equality but not always the case

Question 32

what 3 types of decision are made about finances according to Edgell? +explanation

Answer 32

very important decisions-involve finance e.g moving house with husband having control/final say important decisions-e.g childrens education, holidays with joint or solely woman deciding less important decisions-e.g home decor, clothes, food usually made by wife

Question 33

why do men tend to make the decision?

Answer 33

because they tend to earn more however there seems to have been a shift towards greater equality

Question 34

feminists argument about explaining finances:

Answer 34

argue there is a cultural explanation as inequality with decision making reflects patriarchal nature of society

Question 35

what does Pahl say about pooling money?

Answer 35

pooling money doesn’t mean there is equality as we must understand who controls the money/ if both partners contribute equally keeping money separate doesn’t necessarily mean inequality e.g cohab couples less likely to pool money but share more domestic tasks than married couples

Question 36

what is the personal life perspective on money?

Answer 36

focuses on meanings couples give to who controls money e.g in one relationship one person controlling money may be seen as inequality but it could mean something different in another relationship

Question 37

what does Smart say about the personal life perspective of money?

Answer 37

found in same sex couples they attach little importance to who controls the money and there is greater freedom to what suits them

Question 38

2 reasons why sociologists believe domestic violence is social not psychological

Answer 38

domestic violence is far too widespread domestic violence does not occur randomly

Question 39

explain how domestic violence is far too widespread (crime survey 2013)

Answer 39

found 2 million people reported being victims of domestic abuse (1.2 million women, 800,000 men) shows it can’t just be the work of a few disturbed individuals

Question 40

explain how domestic violence does not occur randomly +stats

Answer 40

instead it follows particular social patterns and these patterns have social causes one of these patterns is mainly violence by men against women 1 in 4 women experience domestic violence at some point and 2 women are killed a week by a former or current partner

Question 41

what did Dobash and Dobash find about domestic violence?

Answer 41

found marriage legitimises domestic violence against women by putting power and authority in men and dependency in wives violence often occurs when the man feels his authority was being challenged

Question 42

2 reasons why official stats are often an understatement of the true extent of domestic violence

Answer 42

victims unwilling to report the offence police and prosecutors may be reluctant to investigate or prosecute

Question 43

stat on how many assaults a woman suffers before reporting on average

Answer 43

suffer 35 assaults before making a report on average

Question 44

what 3 reasons means police and prosecutors may be reluctant to investigate or prosecute domestic violence?

Answer 44

family is private so access by state should be limited family is a good thing so agencies neglect the dark side individuals are free agents so assume women would leave if it was that bad (not possible as violence often paired with economic power)

Question 45

what are the 2 feminist explanations for domestic violence?

Answer 45

radical feminist explanation materialist explanation

Question 46

what type of explanation do radical feminists give on domestic violence?

Answer 46

sociological rather than psychological

Question 47

radical explanation for domestic violence

Answer 47

found on patriarchy men are the enemy marriage is key institute that promotes/maintains patriarchy men dominate through violence blame male dominated state institutions for reluctance of police and courts to deal with it effectively

Question 48

why does Elliot reject the radical feminist explanation of domestic violence?

Answer 48

most men oppose domestic violence not all men are domestically violent fail to explain why female violence including child abuse by women and violence against men or within a lesbian relationship

Question 49

what social groups of women are more likely to be victims of domestic abuse according to The Office of National Statistics

Answer 49

young women low incomes lowest social class live in a deprived area long term illness/disability drug and alcohol users living in rented accommodation

Question 50

materialist explanation for domestic violence

Answer 50

focus on economic and material factors such as inequalities in income and housing to explain why some are at more risk than others

Question 51

materialist explanation for domestic violence (higher levels of stress)

Answer 51

inequalities mean some families have fewer resources so have higher levels of stress- this reduces the chances of maintaining stable relationships worry about money, jobs, housing lack of money and time restricts peoples social circles and reduce support for those under stress

Question 52

criticism of materialist explanation of domestic violence

Answer 52

don’t explain why women are the main victims rather than men

Question 53

what do marxist feminists believe about domestic violence? +Ansley views

Answer 53

see inequality as causing domestic violence Ansley says women are ‘takers of shit’ and domestic violence is a result of capitalism-male workers are exploited at work and come home and take frustration out on the wife

Question 54

criticism of marxist feminists views on domestic violence

Answer 54

explains why most victims are female and most perpetrators are male but doesn’t account for why not all men are domestically violent or why women can also be domestically violent