Families And Households Flashcards

Question

Personal life perspective Donor conceived children

Answer 1

- Nordqvist & Smart (2014), research looks at what counts as family when your child has a link to a relative stranger, but not your partner? - Found that some parents emphasise social relationships in forming family bonds over genetic ones. - A mum of a donor child defines being a mum as the time and effort she puts into raising her daughter, not the DNA that starts motherhood off. - However, difficult feelings may arise, if someone says a non-genetic child looks like the parent, and the different appearances can make parents wonder about the donors identity and if donor siblings count as family for the child. - Families who know their donor have other questions, like do grandparents ‘count’, and lesbian parents were concerned about the non-genetic mum being equal to their partner.

Answer 2

Donor study dhows the value of personal life theory in helping us understand how people construct their own relationships and give meanings to ‘family’ beyond genetics. Criticised as too broad - including a large range of different relationships in a ‘family’ ignore what is special about blood and marriage. Rejects top down views like functionalism, but does argue that the family performs the function of providing people with a sense of belonging/relatedness. At the same time, they see that this can be negative, like those trapped in violent relationships or suffering with unhappiness/disrespect.

Answer 3

This is about the different roles men and women have in the family - housework, childcare and paid work. Different sociologists have different views about if the domestic work is shared equally by men and women.

Answer 4

- Segregated conjugal roles - couples have separate roles; a male breadwinner and female home maker. Leisure activities are separate too. - Joint conjugal roles - couples share tasks (childcare, housework) and spend leisure time together. - Young & Willmott’s study of WC conventional nuclear families found a pattern of separate roles. Men were bread winners, and were not involved much in home life and spent leisure tome with workmates. Women were full time housewives responsible for housework & childcare, and spent limited leisure time with female kin.

Answer 5

A march of progress view, the family is gradually improving for members, turning more equal and democratic. Argue there’s a long-term away from separate roles, and closer to joint roles of a symmetrical family where husbands and wife’s role are similar. - Women go out to work, even if it’s part-time. - Men now help with housework/childcare. - Couples spend leisure time together. Their study finds the symmetrical family more in younger couples, and its rise in the 19th century changes like: - Changes in women’s position (married women going to work) - Geographical mobility (more couples live away from where they grew up) - New tech (labour-saving devices) - Higher living standards These factors are linked, as women bringing in a second wage raises family living standards, and afford labour-saving devices - making domestic labour more equal

Answer 6

Nuclear family segregates the roles men and women do, there’s a clear division of labour. - Instrumental role - husband succeeds at work to provide for the family financially. He’s the breadwinner. - Expressive role - wife does the primary socialisation of children and meets family’s emotional needs. She’s the homemaker and does domestic duties. Parsons bases these roles on the biological difference between men and women, that women ‘suit’ the nurturing role and men ‘suit’ the provider role. This division benefits men and women, as well as their children and wider society.

Answer 7

- Young and Willmott (1962) - functionalism ignores that domestic roles are becoming more shared and more wives are breadwinners/wage earners. - Feminists reject Parson’s view and say the divide isn’t natural, it’s there to benefit men.

Answer 8

Feminists reject the march if progress view, they argue families are still unequal as the women does most of the housework. - Oakley (1974) - criticises Young & Willmott for over-exaggerating the symmetrical family. Their interviews finding husbands help wives at least once a week could just be making children breakfast - not as equal as they claim. Her non study found men are helping more (15% high housework, 25% high childcare), which still doesn’t show symmetry. Says men cherry pick ‘fun’ tasks and women with extra time for housework. - Warde & Hetherington (1993) - domestic tasks are sex-types e.g. wives are 30x more likely to last have done washing, husband 4x more likely to last have washed car. Found men mostly do ‘female’ tasks because the woman isn’t around, though their attitude is slightly less expectant.

Answer 9

Women going into work hasn’t made the division of labour more equal. There’s no evidence of the ‘New Man’ - instead women have a dual burden of paid work and domestic work. (Oakley/lib feminists) - The British Social Attitudes Survey shows this. Men in 2012 did an average of 8hrs housework a week, women did 13. Men spent 10hrs caring for a member, women spent 23. Women do 2x as much as men, and 60% felt the division is unjust and has them do more than their fair share. - Survey also found couples still divide tasks by traditional gender roles, like women do more laundry and men do small repairs - patterns remain the same as 1994. - Allan (1985) argues women’s tasks like washing are less intrinsically fascinating - survey doesn’t measure the qualitative difference in men/womens tasks.

Answer 10

- Southerton (2011) - organising family ‘quality time’ is usually left to the mums responsibility - This is more difficult with changes in modern society like the 24/7 society and flexible working patterns. People’s time is more fragmented so quality time is affected, and working mothers end up juggling demands of work, personal leisure and family, as well as organising the quality time. - Southerton argues that even though studies show men/women having mostly equal leisure time, men are more likely to have ‘blocks’ of uninterrupted time, and women will have theirs interrupted by childcare and have to multi-task

Answer 11

The survey only tells us quantifiable tasks and who does them, ignoring who takes responsibility for making sure tasks are done. E.g. Boulton (1983) - dads may help with childcare tasks but it’s the mum who takes responsibility for their security/welbeing. Supporting studies: - Ferri & Smith (1996): dads responsible for childcare in less than 4% of families - Dex & Ward (2007): Ali though dads were highly involved in their 3 year olds life like playing (78%), only 1% took care of then when they were sick - Braun et al (2011): 3/70 families had the dad as the main carer, the rest had provider ideologies where they see roles as Parsons describes them.

Answer 12

Duncombe & Marsden - women have a ‘triple shift’ - they are responsible for house work, paid work and the emotional work of meeting members needs.

Answer 13

Women gouging to work leads to a more equal division of home labour. March of progress sees men being more involved in childcare & housework, and women involved in paid work outside the house. - Gershuny (1994) - argues women working full time means a symmetrical division of labour. His study found these women did less domestic work than other women. - Sullivan (2000) - analysed nationally representative data collected in 1975/87/97, and found towards women doing a lesser share of domestic work due to men doing more. It also shows an increase in symmetrical couples. British Social Attitudes Survey (2013) - fall in number of people who believe in instrumental and expressive roles (45% men: 41% women agreed in 1984, 13% men:12% women agreed in 2012). This shows that trends and attitudes indicate that women going into paid work has led to a more equal division of labour.

Answer 14

What it is: division of labour decided by patriarchal norms/values that shape gender roles in society. Women are socialised into and expected to do more domestic labour, so they simply do it. Evidence for this: - This perspective means equality will only happen when gender role norms change. There would need to be changes in men/womens attitudes, role models & socialisation - Gershuny (1994) - found couples whose parents had an equal relationship are more likely to do the same, suggesting role models are important. This is already happening as women working full-time means shared domestic tasks are becoming the norm. - Man Ye Kan (2001) - found younger men do more domestic work, suggesting attitudes/norms/socialisation are changing. - British Social Attitudes Survey (2013) - less than 10% of under 35s agree with the traditional division of labour compared to 30% of over 65s, suggesting a long term change in norms/values, socialisation and attitudes - Dunne (1999) - found lesbian couples have more symmetrical relationships because there’s no gender scripts of heterosexual norms.

Answer 15

What it is: Women usually earn less than men, so it’s economically rational for them to do more housework/childcare so men can earn the money. Evidence for this: - This perspective means if women join the labour force and earn the same as their partners, there will be an equal divide of domestic labour. - Kan - for every £10k a year more a women earns, she’ll do 2hrs less housework a week. - Arber & Gin (1995) - better paid MC women are more able to buy commercially produced products/services like labour saving devices, ready meals and childcare - instead of doing the domestic tasks themselves. - Ramos (2003) - where a woman is the full-time breadwinner and the man is unemployed, the domestic labour is symmetrical - Sullivan - working full-time instead of part-time makes the biggest difference in the amount of domestic work each partner does.

Answer 16

Women still earn less than men - in 7/8 households, men earn more due to many women working part-time because of childcare. Crompton says this means there’s no immediate prospect of an equal division if we’re basing it on men/women’s economic equality.

Answer 17

- Focuses on meanings coupes give to money - we can’t assume one partner controlling the money is inequality as it may not have this meaning for them. - Smart (2007) - gay relationships attach no controlling meanings to money. - Weeks et al (2001) - typical pattern would be pooling for household costs and having different accounts for personal spending, co-independence.

Answer 18

- Gershuny & Lauries findings support Crompton & Lyonette’s economic/material explanation of gender inequality. - But feminists argue that differences in decision making aren’t just from earnings differences. They say that there’s a cultural definition of men as the decision-maker in patriarchal society - and until this is challenged things will remain unequal. Supports Crompton & Lyonette’s cultural view

Answer 19

There’s inequality in who gets what in the family. Barret & McIntosh: - Men gain more from women’s domestic work than they give back financially. - Financial support women get from men’s is unpredictable and has strings attached. - Men mostly decide on spending on important items.

Answer 20

Kempson (1994) - families don’t share resources (food,money) equally. In low income families women will deny needs like going out and proper portions so that they can make ends meet. Women in most families have no entitlement to a share of household resources, which means they view money for themselves as better spent on the children

Answer 21

- Pooling doesn’t always mean more quality in decision making. If the pooled income is controlled by the man, he’ll have more power in major financial decisions. - Hardill (1997) - study of 30 dual-career professional couples found important decision are made jointly/by man alone, and man’s career takes priority when moving for work. This supports Finch (1983) - women’s lives are structured around their husbands careers. - Edgell (1980) - study of professional couples found very important choices (finance/career) are made by husbands, important choices like children’s education are joint, and less important choices are made by the wives. He argues men make the important choices because they earn more, women are generally co-dependent on them so have less say in decisions. - Laurie & Gershuny (2000) - by 1995, 70% of couples said they have an equal say in decisions, though they found this was more likely with high earning women.

Answer 22

Pahl & Vogler (1993) - there are 2 types of control on family income: - Allowance system - husband gives wife allowances that she budgets out for family needs, while he keeps surplus income. - Pooling - both partners have access to income and both responsible for expenditure, e.g. joint bank account Pooling is increasing and is now the most common system.

Answer 23

- Pahl argues pooling doesn’t always mean equality. We need to know who controls pooled money, if partners contribute equally, etc. Nor does each partner having separate money mean equality either - Vogler et al: cohabiting couples don’t pool but also share domestic tasks better than married couples. - This means we need to understand couples meaning of money as Nyman (2003) says money has no fixed meaning, couples instead define it themselves, and these different meanings affect the equality of their relationship.

Answer 24

Home office - defines domestic violence as any incident/patterns of incidents of controlling, coercive or threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16+ who are.have been partners or family members regardless of gender/sexualtiy.

Answer 25

- CSEW - found small gap in peoples reporting of domestic violence: 1.2M (7.3%) women and 800k (5%) men. - Walby & Allen (2004) - women more likely to be victims of multiple incidents of abuse/sexual violence. - Ansara & Hindin (2011) - women suffer more severe violence/control, leaving them with worse psychological effects, like they’re more likely than men to fear their partner. - Dar (2013) - can be difficult to count separate abuse incidents because abuse is continuous or happens so often that the victim can’t reliably keep count.

Answer 26

Official stats understate the extent of domestic violence: - Yearnshire (1997) - women suffer an average of 35 assaults before making a report. Domestic violence is the least reported violent crime so stats are inaccurate. - Cheal (1991) - police/procecutors are reluctant to record/investigate/prosecute cases because they don’t want to be involved in the family. Police/agencies assume family is a private sphere, that its a ‘good’ thing (means they ignore the darker side to families), and that individuals can just leave if they are being abused (ignores male control and the links it has to economic power/control)

Answer 27

- It is too widespread - Women’s Aid Federation reports it to be between 1/6-1/4 of all recorded violent crime. - It doesn’t happen randomly - it follows certain social patterns, ones that have social causes. E.g: Coleman et al (2007) - women are more likely to have experienced intimate violence across 4 types (partner abuse, family abuse, sexual assault, stalking). - Coleman & Osborne (2010) - 2 women a week are killed by their partner/ex-partner.

Answer 28

Dobash & Dobash (1979:2007): - Confirm this pattern, as their research based on police court records/interviews cite examples of wives being slapped, pushed about, beaten, raped, or killed by their husbands. - Found violent incidents to be set of by a challenge to the husband’s authority, like the wife asking why he’s late back. Marriage legitimises violence against women - power and authority on husbands, dependency on wives.

Answer 29

- Say Dobash & Dobash’s findings are evidence if patriarchy. They see the family as patriarchal and oppressive to women, and then within it men also dominate women through domestic violence/threatening it. - They believe widespread domestic violence is an inevitable feature of patriarchal society that preserves men’s power over women - explaining why men mostly commit domestic violence. - Radical feminists explain domestic violence by linking patterns of it to dominant social norms about marriage. - As state institutions are dominated by men and men are the offenders of domestic violence, police/courts are reluctant to deal with cases effectively.

Answer 30

- Elliot (1996) - rejects radicals claim that all men benefit from violence against women, as not all of then are aggressive and many are opposed to domestic violence. - CSEW (2013) - 2.9M (18%) of men have experienced domestic violence since the age of 16 - means radicals ignore female violence against men, children, and in lesbian relationships. - They use patriarchy to explain why women are victims, but don’t explain why not all women are at equal risk of it. Office for National Statistics (2014) - young, low income, ill/disabled women, low social class, living in shared/rented accommodation and women using high amount of drugs/alcohol are all at higher risk of domestic violence than other women.

Answer 31

- Explanation focuses on economic/material factors like income and housing to explain why some are more at risk of domestic violence than others. - Wilkinson & Pickett (2010) - say domestic violence comes from family member’s stress they get from social inequality. Their explanation identifies who’s more at risk of domestic violence (those of higher income, status, wealth, etc are less at risk) - Those on low income/overcrowded housing are more likely to have high stress levels, lowering the chance of stable/caring relationships and raising the risk of conflict/violence. - E.g: worries about money/jobs/housing/bills can raise tempers and cause domestic conflict.

Answer 32

- Useful to show how social inequality causes stress that the triggers violence/conflict in the family. However - they do not explain why women are more likely to be victims like radicals do - Marxist feminists - inequalities cause domestic violence. Ansley (1972) - women are ‘takers of shit’, capitalism causes the domestic violence that men use on women to release their frustrations.

Answer 33

Aries (1960) - childhood didn’t exist in the Middle Ages - children were mini adults who would enter work early, had the same needs as adults and also have the same laws/punishments applied to them. Shorter (1975) - high death rates encouraged indifferences/neglect to children, like naming a baby after their dead sibling and calling the baby ‘it’.

Answer 34

- Aries days elements of modern childhood emerged after the 13th century - schools for the young, distinction in child/adult clothes, and the 18th century child rearing books/child-centred families. - He says the 20th century is the century of the child and that we’ve moved away from seeing childhood as nothing special. - Pollock (1983) - criticises by saying the Middle Ages did have childhood, just a different concept of it than today. Aries - theory still valuable in showing how ideas about children/their social status have changed cross-temporally.

Answer 35

Changes during the 20th century: - Laws restrict child labour and excluding them from paid work - children go from economic assets to economic liabilities that rely on parents. - Compulsory schooling - in the 1980s for all classes of children, making age of dependency longer. - Child protection/welfare legislation - 1989 Children Act makes children’s welfare a fundamental principle of agencies like social services. - Children’s right ideas growing - like Children Act defines parents as having responsibilities to children and policies that ensure their healthcare, education, no abuse, etc. - Smaller family size & lower infant mortality - parents invest more financially/emotionally less children. - Donzelot (1977) - theories of child development came in the 19th century and stressed the need for their supervision/protection. - Laws/policies just for children - minimum ages for sex, smoking, etc reinforces idea that children are different to adults, so we need different rules for them. - Industrialisation - modern industry needs educated workers so children need to go through school instead of working from young ages.

Answer 36

Benedict (1934) - children in simpler non-industrial society are treated differently from western children in 3 ways, and aren’t treated as so separate to adults: - Take on responsibility when young - Punch (2001) found children are expected to take on work in their homes/community when they’re 5 in rural Bolivia. - Less value is placed on children’s obedience to adult authority - Firth (1970) found among the Tikopia children doing as they’re told is granted by them, not a right the adult should expect. - Children’s sexual behaviour is viewed differently - Malinowski (1957) - Trobiand islanders have an attitude of tolerance and amused interest to children’s sexual activities.

Answer 37

- Today childhood is seen as a special time - children are fundamentally different from adults. - Because children are seen to have a lack of skills/knowledge/experience in life, they need a protected period of socialisation before adulthood/responsibilities. - Pilcher (1995) - important feature of modern childhood is separateness, its a clear/distinct life stage with its own laws on what children can/cant do, as well as different dress, products and services just for children (toys, food, play areas, etc.) - Golden age - emphasises this separate period by seeing it as a stage of happiness and innocence - children’s lives are protected and apart from adults in terms of family and education, and a lot of their times is for leisure and play, as they’re excluded from paid work. - Wagg (1992) - this separateness isn’t found in all societies, childhood is socially constructed so there’s no universal definition of it. E.g. western societies sees children as vulnerable, but other cultures/east European societies don’t have as big of a difference between adults/children.

Answer 38

- Sociologists say western notions of childhood are being globalised by international humanitarian/welfare agencies who apply western ideas of childhood to the rest of the world (separate life stage, based in nuclear family/school, innocence, no paid work, etc.) - E.g: campaigns against child labour or ‘street children’ in developing countries show western ideas of what childhood ‘should’ be, even if these are the cultural norms for that area.

Answer 39

- Postman (1994) - argues childhood is disappearing at a dazzling speed, as there’s a trend towards children having the same rights as adults, there being less ‘transitional’ unsupervised children’s games, child/adult clothes becoming similar and even children committing adult crimes like murder. - Says the emergence and disappearance of childhood comes from the rise/fall of print culture and television culture replacing it. - Infomation hierarchy - adults/children became separate with the rise of literacy in 19th century as printed word children can’t read gave adults ‘secrets’ about money, violence, sex, illness, etc. However - TV blurs distinction between childhood/adulthood as you don’t need to read to access the info - the boundary is broken down, both adult authority and child innocence are lessened.

Answer 40

- Opie (1993) - childhood isn’t disappearing, research into children’s unsupervised games, songs and rhymes show strong evidence of existence of a separate child’s culture over the years. - Postman - study shows how different communication tech like print and TV can influence how childhood is constructed, though he overemphasises TV as a single influential factor.

Answer 41

Jenks (2005) - doesn’t believe childhood is disappearing, just that it’s changing. He also believes childhood was a creation of modern society. - Modern/20th century is concerned with futurity - childhood is preparation for becoming a productive adult in the future. This is achieved by nurturing, protecting and controlling a vulnerable child with a child-centred family and the education system. - He argues childhood in postmodern society is changing - adults relationships go from stable to fast-paced and unstable - like an increase in divorce. This will lead to children being supervised even more as adults will focus on there children as the one thing in their lives that is still certain. E.g. - children will be seen as more vulnerable than before and will be constantly protected from the smallest risks of danger/child abuse.

Answer 42

- There’s little evidence for/against Jenks idea. E.g: there’s some evidence showing that parents relationship with their children as more important than their ones with their partners, and that they’re concerned with dangers they might face. The studies supporting this are small and unrepresentative. - Jenks overgeneralises - makes sweeping statements that assume all children are in the same position, despite todays (and post modern) diversity in family types

Answer 43

- Firestone (1979) - things march of progress see as care/protection are just a way of controlling and oppressing children, like excluding them from paid work. - Neglect/abuse - an extreme form of adult control, in 2013 43000 were deemed at risk of abuse and put on child protection plans. - Control over space - areas they can/can’t go, like shops with no children signs and surveillance for places they aren’t meant to be during school hours. Cunningham (2007) - home habitat of children has shrunk to 1/9th of the size. - Control over time - adults set their routines and control the speed they grow up by deeming things too young/old for them. - Control over bodies - adults control how they sit, dress, run, etc, and touching like kissing, hugging and smacking for discipline. - Control over access to resources - they are economically dependant on adults due to labour laws/complusory schooling, child benefit that goes to the parent and pocket money with ‘strings attached’ like good behaviour.

Answer 44

- Not all children have same status/experiences, like different nationalities will get different opportunities and experiences of childhood. E.g: 90% of low-weight births are from developing countries. - Hillman (1993) - there’s gender differences, like boys are more likely to be allowed to cross/cycle on roads, use buses and go out after dark alone. Bonke (1999) - girls do more domestic labour, 5x more than boys if they’re in lone-parent families. - Brannen (1994) - there’s ethnic differences, like Asian parents are more likely to be strict on their daughters. - Class differences 0 poor mothers will have low-weight children, affecting their development. Children of unskilled manual workers are more likely to experience conduct disorders, and poor families’ children are more likely to die in infancy, fall behind at school and be on the child protection register.

Answer 45

- Mause (1974) - the history of childhood is a nightmare from which we have only recently begun to awaken. Means western society’s children’s position is steadily improving and is at its best today. - Aries & Shorter - argue today’s children are more valued, better cared for, educated and have more healthcare/rights than previous generations. E.g: today’s children are protected from laws against child abuse and labour, and care/investment is put into their education/healthcare. - Better healthcare/living standards - babies more likely to survive, the mortality rate is now 4/1000 instead of 152/1000 in 1900.

Answer 46

Argue march of progress is based in a false/idealised view of children, ignoring inequality. They ignore children’s inequality in the opportunities and risks they face,a nd the inequalities between children and adults - like children being more controlled.

Answer 47

- Brought about by lower mortality rate, as people are having smaller families that they can better provide for. One estimate says 1 child costs parents £227,000 by their 21st birthday. - March of progress says the family is child-centred - no longer ‘seen and not heard’ like Victorian times. They’re not the family’s focal point that parents invest in emotionally and financially. - Society as a whole is more child-centred - E.g: a lot of media output/activities are made with child in mind.

Answer 48

- Today children are experiencing toxic childhood, where rapidly improving tech and cultural changes have damaged their physical/emotional/intellectual development. - Changes like - junk food, computer games, more testing at school, parents working long hours. There’s also concerns about children’s health/behaviour, like the UK having above average rates for their engagement in self-harm, drug/alcohol abuse, pregnancy, etc.

Answer 49

- Gittins (1998) - uses term to describe inequalities among adults and children - there’s an age patriarchy of adult domination and child dependency. - There’s evidence that children find childhood oppressive in the strategies they use to resist the status of child.

Families And Households Flashcards

(73 cards)