Families & Households Flashcards
(135 cards)
1
Q
Functionalist views on family
A
-Families are seen as harmonious.
-Seen as a vital ‘organ’ in the ‘body’ of a society.
-Nuclear family.
-Family has a number of functions to perform.
2
Q
The nuclear family (NF)
A
Involves married heterosexual parents and biological children in 1 household together.
Parents expected to fulfil traditional gender roles & conjugal roles.
3
Q
Definition of socialisation
A
Process in which individuals learn the norms and values of society - social cohesion & functional society.
4
Q
Primary socialisation
A
Socialised through your families normals and values.
5
Q
Secondary socialisation
A
Learning universalistic values (norms of wider society) happening through other institutions e.g. media.
6
Q
Murdock (1949) - 4 functions of family
A
- Stable satisfaction of the sex drive.
- Biological reproduction.
- Socialisation of young.
- Meeting economic needs.
7
Q
Criticisms of the NF
A
Different, diverse families are able to meet these functions. E.g. same sex, unmarried.
Not all NFs meet the needs as they may not be able to get pregnant or have enough money.
Feminists - NF disadvantages women
Marxists - NF forces WC to work for bourgeoisie.
8
Q
Criticisms of NF being universal
A
Murdock argued it is a universal institution & exists everywhere and is the only ‘right way’.
Cross cultural research criticises this from: Nayar, Commune & Kibbutz.
9
Q
NF criticism: Nayar
A
In Nayar, there’s was no direct links between sexual relations, child bearing, rearing & cohabitation.
E.g. women could have up to 12 sexual relations with any man and their brother would raise them.
10
Q
NF criticism: Commune
A
Multiple kids and multiple parents all unconventionally lived together and parents shared a collective responsibility of the children.
11
Q
NF criticism: Kibbutz
A
Child rearing was completely separate as parents were kept away from their children and brought up by metapelets (professional parent - nurse, educator & mother).
These children met their parents for short periods per day, yet their needs were met.
12
Q
More criticisms of NF
A
-lone parent families can still fulfil child’s requirements.
-gay/lesbians can have surrogacy.
-The civil partnership act 2004 gave same rights.
-foster care can be good.
13
Q
Parsons (1995) - Functional fit theory
A
-In prior gens, families would live together (3 gens). Each person would have different roles. After industrialisation, families grew smaller.
-His theory is that as society changes, family changes to ‘fit’ societal needs.
-Pre-industrial society, extended family was a unit of production.
-NF fits industrial society better.
14
Q
Definition of Geographically mobile workforce (GMW).
A
Places of work rise & decline in diff parts of the world. Parsons argues it’s easier for NF to move and is better fitted to the need that modern industry has for GMW.
15
Q
Definition of Socially mobile workforce (SMW).
A
Individuals stays is achieved by their own efforts & ability, not ascribed so social mobility is possible. Father or son can have a better job.
16
Q
Primary socialisation of children
A
-Involves learning & internalising society’s culture, language, history & values. He argues society would cease to exist if new generations weren’t socialised into accepting norms and values.
-gender role socialisation boys and girls should grow up in their correct gender roles.
17
Q
Stabilisation of adult personalities.
A
-Pressures of industrial society e.g. need to work, lack of power etc, threaten to destabilise adult personalities which threatens the success of the family.
-He argues family stabilises adult personalities through the sexual divisions of labour
18
Q
What are the sexual divisions of Labour?
A
The way jobs are divided into ‘men’s jobs’ & ‘women’s jobs’ in family.
Women have an EXPRESSIVE role - providing warmth, security & emotional support to husband and children.
Men have an INSTRUMENTAL role - as the family breadwinner leading to stress and anxiety threatening to destabilise his personality.
19
Q
‘Warm bath’ theory
A
Wife’s expressive role relieves the husbands tension by providing love & understanding.
Parsons argues the NF is like a ‘warm bath’ providing a loving home with warmth, emotional support & security which is essential for economy (breadwinner has to go back to work each day).
20
Q
‘Trad wife’
A
A woman who believes in and practices traditional sex roles and marriages. Many tradwives believe that they do not sacrifice women’s rights by choosing to take a homemaking role within their marriage.
21
Q
Evaluation of functionalist perspectives on family.
A
-out-dated - not very relevant to todays society.
-ignores exploitation of women - sexual division of Labour is built upon gender inequality.
-downplays conflict - ‘darker side of family such as domestic violence & child abuse.
22
Q
The New Right views or family.
A
-Believe in the traditional patriarchal NF consisting of heterosexual couple & dependant kids with a clear cut of sexual division of Labour.
-NF is the cornerstone of society’s place of refuge, contentment & harmony - stability.
23
Q
How is NR different to functionalists?
A
-The NR feel the NF is under threats due to rise in divorce rates, lone parents.
-They believe this decline in traditional, conventional families is the cause for students’ rising disrespect & antisocial behaviour, crime, lack of discipline etc.
24
Q
Murray & Marsland
A
Believe welfare state is at fault for rise in untraditional & ineffective families as it single women (who place their career above their children), to have kids & raise them with the money provided from state benefits to avoid work.
This creates a work shy underclass.
25
What is a work-shy underclass?
Relying on the welfare state for support rather than seeking employment and supporting themselves without state help. This can lead to younger people were socialised into an anti-work, high-crime and teen-pregnancy culture.
26
What do the NR propose?
To restore dominance of the NF by introducing govt policies to reverse decline of traditional families & measures to reduce divorce rates, births outside marriage & a reduction of benefits towards unconventional families.
27
New Right support
-rate of family breakdown is lower amongst married couples (6% compared to 20%).
-children from broken homes are 5X more likely to develop emotional problems.
-young with divorced parents are 3X more likely to be aggressive or badly behaved.
-lone-parent families are over 2X more likely to live in poverty.
-children from broken homes are 9X more likely to become young offenders.
-Functionalists support.
28
New Right criticism
-decline in NF is exaggerated, most people marry till death.
-feminism - traditional gender roles are oppressive to women & gender roles are socially determined not biologically.
-feminism - divorce being easier is good so women aren’t trapped in abusive relationships.
-most single parents aren’t welfare scrounges - most want to work but it’s difficult to find jobs & balance it with looking after kid.
-Chester argues the NR exaggerate the extent of cohabiting & single parent families.
29
What does the NR believe happens since the NF is under threat?
Family losing its functions and can no longer provide adequate socialisation or stability for family members.
30
Marxists views on the family
-The function of the family is to maintain the capitalist superstructure of society.
-This family structure enables the bourgeoisie (the elite ruling class) to pass down their capital and private property to their children. This **reinforces social class inequalities.**
-The family reproduces the next generation of workers that will be exploited as labour-power by the capitalist systems of production.
31
Friedrich Eugels views
-NF structure rose during capitalism.
-Went from age of primitive communism to capitalism through establishment of family norms such as private ownership & inheritance.
32
Primitive communism meaning
No private property and thus no social classes or private family units. Properties and resources were owned collectively.
33
4 functions of family to benefit capitalism
1. Inheritance of property
2. Marriage & status of women
3. Ideological functions
4. Unit of consumption
34
Inheritance of property
-would ensure heir was legitimate to pass on property & rich stayed rich & poor stayed poor.
-this reproduced and reinforced social class inequality. The bourgeoisie owned all of the wealth and resources and passed it down to the next generation of rich capitalists whilst the proletariat, the working masses, had nothing.
-advantageous to class hierarchy and inequality.
35
Marriage & status of women.
-Engels claimed that the nuclear family also created gender inequality as men took control of women's sexuality and labour to reproduce and raise the next generations.
-Communism = no private property = women not subject to male control for reproduction.
36
Ideological functions: Zaretsky
Zaretsky argues that through the family, proletariat children are socialised to accept and embody norms and values that uphold capitalism.
Children are taught:
-that the inequality between social classes is 'normal' and 'natural'.
-how to respect and conform to authority; **hierarchy is inevitable** and there will always be someone 'in charge'.
-Within the family, this is usually the father; outside the family, it is teachers and employers.
As a result, children are conditioned to **accept imbalances of power** and control. This 'prepares' them for adulthood so that they can be obedient workers and retain **false class consciousness.**
37
Ideological functions: Althusser
The NF is an imbalanced structure that teaches its members to accept imbalances of power in wider society.
E.g.
-Husbands obey employers
-Women obey husband
-Children obey parents & authority by school.
According to Althusser, the role of the family is to produce submissive individuals that will benefit the capitalist system.
38
Unit of consumption
-Families are encouraged to constantly purchase the latest products and services to appear 'fashionable' and show off their 'high' status.
-Targeted advertising towards children who request expensive products (pester power).
-Exploitation of workers and benefits bourgeoisie by creating profit.
39
Marxist views: support
-recognises impacts of the family on women and the poor.
-acknowledges influence of structural factors on the family.
40
Marxist views: criticisms
-Is overly deterministic and views individuals as too passive.
-New Right argues that there are benefits of the nuclear family, such as the support given to children by two parents.
-Parsons argues that the family has positive functions, such as providing a 'safe haven' and place of comfort for its members.
-Feminists argue disregarding the role of the family in maintaining gender inequalities.
-Feminists argue it is unlikely that overthrowing capitalism will remove patriarchy altogether.
-MFs argue - Fran Ansley argues that men unload their stress and anger towards the capitalist system on women, which leads to domestic violence. Double oppression.
41
Feminist views on the family
-conflict theory .
-argue family oppresses women.
-focus on division of domestic labour and violence against women.
-don’t see gender inequality as natural but rather, socially constructed.
42
Radical feminism & the family
Beliefs:
-the family & marriage are key institutions that benefit men & disadvantage women.
-men benefit from women’s domestic unpaid labour & sexual services and they dominate women through sexual/domestic violence.
They want:
-separatism- living separately from husband.
-political lesbianism- women marrying women to prevent violence.
-Greer (2000) wants matrilocal households where the husband goes to live with wife & her family.
43
Evaluation of radical feminists
:) relevant e.g. METOO campaign shows commonness of sexual abuse.
:( Somerville argues their views won’t work due to heterosexual attraction.
:( RF fail to recognise law progression to prosecute domestic violence.
:( Presents women as too passive. Postmodernists feminists say women have initiative & don’t have to accept patriarchy.
44
Marxist feminists & the family
Beliefs:
-Main cause of oppression is capitalism.
-Women reproduce labour force.
-Women absorb anger - Ansley (1972) described wives as “takers of shit” who soak up frustration their husbands feel because of alienation & exploitation at work.
-Women are a reserve army of cheap Labour, hired when needed & ‘let go’ when not to go back to unpaid domestic labour.
They want:
-Communist revolution.
-Abolishment of families.
45
Evaluation of Marxist feminists
-very outdated as women are typically paid the same as men.
-women’s oppression was BEFORE capitalism, more oppressed in tribal societies.
-correlation between capitalist declinement & women’s liberation.
46
Liberal feminists & the family
Beliefs:
-Somerville - less oppression of women due to law and social attitudes.
-Women now have better access to divorce, job opportunities, control over their fertility, and CHOICE.
They want:
-Greater reforms - more ‘family friendly’ policies e.g. flexible working.
-Changes in attitudes and socialisation patterns of sexes e.g. raising gender neutral kids.
47
Evaluation of liberal feminists
-More appealing to wider range of women.
-More practical - small policies rather than revolutionary.
-Difference feminists argue that this is ETHNOCENTRIC - focused mainly on white, middle class women.
-RF (Greer,Delphy) argue that fails to deal with patriarchal structures and cultures.
48
Difference feminists & the family
-Argue that we cant generalise women’s experiences of the family as we’re all different.
E.g. black feminists view black NFs positively as a source of support & resistance against racism.
-Majority of feminism is ethnocentric.
49
Personal life perspective (PLP) - (Action/interprevists) & the family
-PLP criticises structural theories as they are too determinative - sees people as puppets manipulated by structure of society & ignores choices we have in creating our families.
-These approaches assume the traditional NF is the dominant family & ignore family diversity.
50
PLP: Beyond ties of blood & marriage
Family isn’t defined by BIOLOGICAL relation or marriage.
- family is simply a personal or intimate relation that you choose to class as family.
E.g. relation with pets - Tipper 2011
E.g. friends, godparents (fictive kin).
51
Nordquist & Smart (2014)
-wanted to discover meanings people give to relations with donor conceived children.
-conducted research exploring “what counts as family when your child shares a genetic link w a stranger but not your partner?”
-people have donor children to feel a connection and experience pregnancy whereas adoption is a long process of checking, money, history of child etc.
-N&S found parents of donor children placed greater emphasis on social relations over genetic ones.
E.g. a mother defined being a mom in terms of time & effort she put into raising her daughter.
52
Pets as family
According to a survey of 1000 households and a further 193 in-depth interviews carried out.
**46/193** mentioned pets as family.
According to Blue Cross Pet Census **95%** of respondents said they view their pets like family.
53
Evaluating PLP
-PLP helps understand how people today define their relationships rather than imposing traditional sociological definitions of family.
-Highlights positive functions that intimate relationships provide ie. sense of belonging
-Recognising relations isn’t always positive.
-Postmodernists support PLP as they believe in diversity & consumer choice reflected in disintegration of NF - people ‘mix & match’.
-Gernstein & Stacey argue NF is replaced by diversity and people aren’t bound to traditional ideas & expectations of marriage. E.g. lifelong marriage, parenthood, family life, religion etc. (SECULARISATION)
-Can be seen as “too broad” & removing special stuff about blood/marriage.
54
Social policies in govt.
Conservatives 1979-1997
New Labour 1997-2010
Coalition govt 2010-2015
Conservatives 2015-now
55
Conservatives 1979-1997
-Section 28: promotes heterosexuality. Banned talks of homosexuality in schools.
-Married men’s tax allowance: decreased taxes for married men.
-Child support act: absent fathers have to pay child taxes decreasing welfare dependency for lone parent families.
56
New Labour 1997-2010
-Parenting order for parents of unruly children: to prevent anti social behaviour.
-Civil partnership act: enabled homosexual couples to legally bind their marriage - decline NF.
-Adoption & children act: allowed unmarried & same sex couples to adopt - decline NF.
-Working families tax credits: financial support for low income families.
-Longer maternity leave: 12 months - expressive role.
57
Coalition govt 2010-2015
-National living wage: increased household wages & RID of benefits.
-Equal marriage act 2013: legalised gay marriage.
-Austerity: use funding on public service like education.
58
Conservatives 2015-now
-Energy price guarantee: govt paid 50% energy bills for those on universal credit.
-2 child tax credit: not entitled if you have universal, tried to reduce welfare dependency.
-Civil partnership for heterosexual couples: alternative to marriage.
-Marriage allowance: decreased taxes for married couples - increase NF.
59
Functionalist views on social policy
-Social policies are desirable.
-Implemented to help support and protect members of society.
-Help family perform functions effectively.
60
Fletcher (1996)
Argued introduction of health, education, housing policies since Industrial Revolution led to development of welfare state that supports family in performing roles.
E.g. NHS means family can help members.
They take a march of progress view.
61
What’s a march of progress view?
Idea that society is always moving forward & changing.
62
Criticism of functionalist views
-Feminists- social polices only benefit men at expense of women. E.g. married men’s tax allowance.
-Marxists- social policies reverse benefits of progress made. E.g. cutting welfare benefits (National living wage & 2 child tax credit).
-Postmodernists - Donzelot argues policies control the family.
63
Donzelot: Policing the family (1977)
-Social policies are used to observe and control the family & monitor them.
-Form of state control.
-Used Foucaults concept of surveillance.
-Argues social workers (politicians,doctors) use expert knowledge to control & change families.
-Poorer families ‘problem families’ and are targeted for improvement. Condry (2007) notes imposing parenting orders to attend parenting classes.
-Rejects functionalist ‘march of progress’ view & says social policies are oppressive.
:( Marxist argue policies benefit capitalists & Feminists argue policies benefit men.
64
The New Right & social policy
The New Right believes in minimal state intervention, particularly in the issue of welfare and state benefits. They argue that too much state intervention creates a dependency on the state and makes individuals less inclined to be independent.
65
Almond (2006)
Argues state politics has undermined the NF:
-Laws make divorce easier undermines that marriage should be a long term commitment.
-Civil partnerships/gay marriage shows govt don’t see heterosexual marriage as superior.
-Tax laws discriminate against NFs(where wife stays at home) as they pay more than dual-earner couples.
-Increased rights for unmarried couples.
66
Murray (1990)
Argues:
-Generous welfare benefits undermine NF & encourage deviant & dysfunctional family types as they reward irresponsible behaviour .
E.g. providing council housing encourages teen pregnancy.
67
Social policies - major impact
Social policies creates dependency culture that threatens 2 functions of family:
-successful socialisation of children.
-maintaining work ethic amongst men.
68
The NR solution
-Cut welfare spending.
-Tighten restrictions on who is eligible for benefits.
-Deny council housing for unmarried teen moms (removes incentive to get pregnant).
State should:
-Introduce tax policies that favour married couples.
-Make absent fathers financially responsible for their children.
69
Evaluation of NR
:( Feminists argue that it is an attempt to justify a return to NF that subordinates women.
:( Wrongly assumes NF is ‘natural’ not socially constructed.
:( Abbot & Wallace (1992) argue cutting benefits makes w/c families even poorer & less self reliant.
:( Ignore that many policies support the NF.
70
What is the Domestic division of labour?
Refers to the roles that men & women play in relation to housework, childcare & paid work.
Sociologists investigate whether men & women share tasks equally.
71
Parsons: Instrumental & Expressive roles
In the traditional NF, the roles of husbands and wives are segregated - separate & distinct.
Husbands **instrumental role**: geared towards achieving success at work to provide financially & is the family breadwinner.
Wife’s **expressive role**: geared towards primary socialisation of children & meeting emotional & nurturing needs & is the homemaker & housewife.
72
Parsons explanation of Biological differences
Believes women are naturally suited to the nurturing role & men of provider.
Claims this role is beneficial to them both.
73
Parsons criticisms
-Young & Wilmott (1962) argue that men are now taking are greater share of domestic tasks & more wives are becoming wage owners.
-Feminist sociologists reject Parsons view that division of labour is natural & argue it only benefits men.
74
Joint & Segregated conjugal roles - Bott (1957)
**Segregated conjugal roles**: couple have separate roles; mail breadwinner & female homemaker. Leisure activities also seem to differ.
**Joint conjugal roles**: where the couple share tasks such as housework & childcare & spend their leisure time together.
1950s, they used segregated conjugal roles & women would be full time housewives prioritising housework & childcare & spend leisure time with kin.
Men would spend time in pubs.
75
The symmetrical family - Young & Wilmott (1973)
-Take a **march of progress** view & see family life as gradually improving while becoming more equal and democratic.
-Argue that majority of families now focus on joint conjugal roles.
-Argue family is more symmetrical now.
76
Why do Young & Wilmott find that symmetrical families are more common among young people?
-Changes in women’s position (going to work).
-Geographical mobility (more couples living away from communities they grew up in).
-New technology & labour saving devices.
-Higher standards of living.
77
Why do feminists reject the ‘march of progress’ view?
-They argue that little has changed & men and women still remain unequal and women do most of the housework.
-They say this because society is male dominated & patriarchal so women occupy a subordinate/dependant role in the family.
78
Ann Oakley (1974)
-Criticises Young and Wilmott’s view that the family is symmetrical.
-They argued men helped their wives at least once a week but this could include simply taking kids for a walk.
-Used unstructured interviews with 40 women.
-Found that only **15%** of husbands actively partook in household chores & **25%** in childcare.
-Husbands only did the pleasurable activities.
79
Boulton (1983)
-Found that fewer than 20% of husbands had a major role in childcare.
-Argues Y&W over-exaggerate mens contribution.
-Mothers are always responsible for the child security & well being.
80
Wards & Hetherington (1993)
-Found men woukd only carry out routine feminine tasks when their parents weren’t around to do them.
-They argue that **sex-typing** (gender chores) are still strong in society.
-Women were 30x more likely to be the last person to wash the dishes & 4x more likely to be the last person to wash the car.
81
The impact of paid work
This trend poses 2 questions:
-is this leading to a more equal division of domestic tasks?
E.g. the ‘new man’ taking equal responsibility for housework & childcare. (march of progress view)
-is this leading to women carrying a **dual burden**?
E.g. they have to do paid & domestic work. (feminist view)
82
1975/1997 study of full time working couples household
-68% of the time, women do majority housework which decreased to 60% by 1997.
83
Household chores distribution
-Women in 2012 were more likely do to tasks like laundry 70%, compared to men 6%.
-Men in 2012 were more likely to do tasks like small repairs 75%, compared to women 7%.
Support for MOP: figures are slight changing as the gender difference is slowly decreasing.
E.g. 38% both equally care for the sick.
84
MOP view: Gershuny (1994)
-Argues women working full time leads to a more equal division of labour in the home.
-Found that these women did less domestic work than other women.
85
MOP view: Sullivan (2000)
Data collected in (1975,87,97) found that:
1. There was a trend of women doing less housework than men.
2. An increase in the number of people with an equal division of labour.
86
MOP view: British Social Attitudes survey (2013)
There is a fall in the number of people who think that it’s a man’s job to earn money & women’s for childcare.
-1984: 45% of men & 41% of women agreed.
-2012: only 13% of men & 12% of women agreed.
-Men on average do 8 hours of housework & women do 13.
-Men do 10 hours care for family members & women do 23.
No changes in tasks.
87
The feminist view
-Argue that paid work has not led to equal division of labour.
-No sign of this ‘new man’.
-Resulted in having a dual burden.
**Allan (1985)** argues that women’s tasks such as washing and cleaning are less intrinsically satisfying.
88
Hoschild - Emotionwork
Women have to manage the emotions and feelings of family members while subsequently suppressing their own emotions.
89
Duncome & Marsden (1995) - Triple shift
Women have to perform a triple shift of house work, paid work & emotion work.
90
Ferri & Smith (1996)
Found that fathers took responsibility for childcare in fewer than 4% of families.
91
Dex & Ward (2007)
Found that although fathers have quite high levels of involvement with their 3 year olds, (78% played with with children), but when caring for a sick child only 1% of fathers took the main responsibility.
92
Braun, Vincent & Ball (2011)
-Found that in only 3/70 families studied, the father was the main carer. -Most of them were background fathers, & helping with childcare was more about their relationship with their partner than their kids.
-Most fathers held a **provider ideology** & mothers held a **primary carer** view.
93
Emotion work & triple shift
**Russel Hochschild (2013)** calls taking responsibility for family members, ‘emotion work’. Women have to manage emotions of family and suppress their own.
**Duncome & Marsden (1995)** say how women have to perform a **triple shift** of house work, paid work & emotion work.
94
Taking responsibility for quality time: Southerton (2011)
-Mothers tend to be responsible for managing family’s quality time.
-More difficult due to emergency of 24/7 society so people’s time has become more **de-routinised**.
-Men are likely to experience consolidated blocks on uninterrupted leisure time but women’s leisure is punctuated by child care.
-Women are more likely to multi task than men.
-Women have to juggle demand of career, leisure, family, coordination etc.
95
Explaining the gender division of Labour: Crompton & Lyonette (2008)
They identified 2 explanations for unequal division of Labour:
-**Cultural/Ideological explanation**: division of Labour is determined by patriarchal norms and values that shape gender roles in culture. Society socialised women to perform more domestic labour.
-**Material/economic explanation**: women generally earn less so it’s economically rational for women to do more housework & child care while men spend time earning money.
96
Evidence for the cultural explanation: Gershuny (1994)
Found couples whose parents had a more equal relationship are more likely so share housework equally themselves. Suggests parental role models are important.
Argues social values are now adapting to women working full time & men should do more domestic work.
97
Evidence for the cultural explanation: Man Yee Kan (2001)
Found younger men do more domestic work.
Similarly according to the Future Foundation (2000) men claimed to do more housework than their father & most women did less than their mother.
Suggests generational shift in behaviour is occurring.
98
Evidence for the cultural explanation: The British social attitudes survey (2013)
Found that’s less than 10% of under 35s agreed with a traditional division of Labour as against 30% of the over 65s.
Indicates long term change in norms and attitudes reflecting changes in the gender role socialisation of younger age groups wanting more equality within relationships.
99
Evidence for the cultural explanation: Dunne (1999)
Found that lesbian couples had mroe symmetrical relationships due to the absence of traditional heterosexual **gender scripts**
100
Evidence for the cultural explanation: Weeks & Smart (2007)
Argue that same sex relationships offer greater possibilities of equality because the division of Labour is open to negotiation and agreement & not based on patriarchal traditions.
101
Evidence for the material explanation: Kan
Found that for every £10,000 a year more a woman earns, she does 2 hours less housework per week.
102
Evidence for the material explanation: Arber & Ginn (1995)
Found that better paid, middle class women were more able to buy in commercially produced products and services such as Labour saving devices, ready meals, domestic help, & childcare rather than having to spend time carrying out labour intensive domestic tasks themselves.
103
Evidence for the material explanation: Ramos (2003)
Found that where the woman is the full time breadwinner and the man is unemployed, he does as much domestic labour as she does.
104
Evidence for the material explanation: Sullivan
Found that working full time rather than part time makes the biggest difference in terms of how much domestic work each partner does. She suggests this is because working full time brings women’s earnings closer to their partners.
105
Evidence for the material explanation: Dunne (1999)
Found that when one partner did more paid work than the other, the time that each partner spent on domestic work was unequal.
This suggests that paid work affects the division of labour, even in same sex relationships.
106
Resources & Decision-making in households: Barrett & McIntosh (1991)
-Men gain far more from women’s domestic work than they give back in financial support.
-The financial support that husbands give to their wives is often unpredictable & comes with strings attached.
-Men usually make the decisions about spending on important items.
107
Resources & Decision making in households: Kempson (1994)
-Shows families don’t share resources such as money and food equally.
-She found that among low income families, women denied their own needs, seldom going out, eating smaller portions of food or skipping meals to make ends meet.
In many households, women have no entitlement to share of resources. They spend money on essentials for children.
108
Money management: Pahl & Vogler (1993)
Identify 2 types of control over family income:
-**The allowance system**: where men give their wives an allowance of which they have to budget to meet the family’s needs & with the man retaining any surplus income for himself.
-**Pooling**: where both partners have access to income & joint responsibility for expenditure; ie. joint bank account. (Men usually made major financial decisions with this).
109
Decision making: Hardill (1997) & Finch (1983)
-Study of 30 dual career professional couples found that the important decisions were usually taken either by the man alone or jointly & that his career normally took priority when deciding to move house for a new job.
-Supports **Finch’s (1983)** observation that women’s lives are structured around husbands careers.
110
Decision making: Edgell (1980)
Studied couples & found that:
-Very important decisions: such as involving finance, changing job or house, were taken by the husband alone or with the husband having final say.
-Important decisions: such as children’s education or holidays were taken jointly or seldom by wife alone.
-Less important decisions: such as home decor, children’s clothes or food purchases were usually made by the wife.
Edgell argues this is because men earn more so women are more dependant in them economically & have less of a day.
111
Decision making: Laurie & Gershuny (2000)
Evidence of a limited move towards greater equality in financial decision making.
Found that by 1995, 70% of couples said they had an equal say in decisions. Significantly, though, they don’t that women who were high earning, well qualified professionals were more likely to have equal say.
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Cultural vs Material explanations: Feminists
Argue that inequalities in decision making aren’t the result of inequalities in earning.
Also, because the cultural definition of men as decision makers is deeply ingrained in society through **gender role socialisation**.
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The meaning of money
Phal notes that pooling money doesn’t necessarily = equality.
-Also must consider who controls pooled money & if they contribute equally despite income.
E.g. how equal is it for them to put in same amount of money but husbands earns twice the amount?
Volger et al found cohabiting couples were less likely to look their money. But they are more likely than married couples to share domestic tasks equally.
Nyman (2003) notes, money has no automatic, fixed or natural meaning and different couples may define it in different ways. These can reflect the nature of the relationship.
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A PLP perspective on money
Focussed on the meanings that money may have in relationships can’t be taken for granted.
E.g. while you might assume the one in control of money is a sign of unequal relationship, this can’t be applied to all couples.
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A PLP perspective on money: Smart (2007)
Some gay couples don’t care who controls the money & are happy to leave it to their partner. They don’t see who control money as defining inequality.
Found that there’s greater freedom for same sex couples to do what suits them as a couple as they don’t enter relationships with the same ‘historical,gendered,heterosexual baggage of cultural meanings around money’.
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A PLP perspective on money: Weeks et all (2001)
Found that typical pattern was pooling SOME money for shared expenses (ie. bills) but then keeping separate accounts for personal spending.
This reflects a value of **’co-dependance’**.
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Domestic violence
**The home office (2013)** defines DV as “any incidents of controlling coercive or threatening behaviour, violence, abuse between those aged 16 & over who are intimate partners or family members regardless of sexuality.”
(Includes **psychological, physical, sexual & financial**).
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DV: social causes
Sociologists challenged that DV occurs because of psychological causes:
-DV is too widespread to be work of disturbed individuals. According to **Women’s Aid Federation (2014)**, DV accounts for between 1/6-1/4 of all recorded violent crime.
The crime survey for England & Wales 2013 found that 2 million reported having been victims of DV during previous year.
-DV does not occur randomly but follows social patterns & causes. Mainly violence by men against women.
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DV: Important statistics (social causes)
-Coleman et al (2007) found that women are more likely to experience intimate violence across all 4 types of abuse.
-Crime survey (2022) found 2.4million people reported violence during previous year.
-Coleman & Osborne: 1/3rd of all female homicide victims are killed by their partner/former. **2** women are killed weekly by DV.
-Women’s Federation (2014): argue that DV accounts for nearly **25%** of all reported violent crime.
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DV: Dobash & Dobash (2007)
-Researched in Scotland & based on police & court records and interviews with women in women’s refuges. They cite examples of women being slapped, beaten, raped, killed by husbands.
-Violent incident would occur when a man’s authority was challenged. marriage legitimised violence against women & forces then to be dependent on husbands.
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DV: Crime Survey (2013)
Found a relatively narrow gender gap: 7.3% of women (1.2million) compated to 5% of men (800,000) reported having experience DV in previous year.
(England & Wales).
Disputed by other research.
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DV: Walby & Allen (2004)
Found that women edge much more likely to be victims of multiple incidents of abuse & sexual violence.
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DV: Ansara & Hindin (2011)
Found that women suffered more severe violence & control, with kroe psychological effects.
Also found that women were much more likely than men to be fearful long term if their partners.
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DV: Dar (2013)
Points out that it can also be difficult to count separate DV incidents because abuse may be continuous (ie. living under constant threat) or may occur so often that victims can’t reliably count the instances.
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DV: Official statistics
-**DV affects 1/4 women & 1/6 men.**
-**93% of all incidents of DV against women are committed by men**.
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DV: Official statistics issues - Yearnshire (1997)
Victims may be unwilling to report DV to the police.
Found that a woman suffers **35** assaults before making a report.
Official statistics underestimate true extent of the crime.
Unreported crime = **dark figure of crime**.
Dar argues victims of DV are less likely to report offence as they believe it’s too trivial or fear of reprisals.
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DV: Official statistics issues - Police reluctance - Cheal (1991)
Police & prosecutors may be reluctant to record, investigate cases.
Cheal says they may not want to be involved in family life:
-believe family is private so access by state agencies should be limited.
-family is a good thing so agencies neglect darker side of family life.
-individuals are free agents so they assume that a woman who’s experiencing abuse is free to leave.
During 2006-11, conviction rates stood at a mere 6.5% of incidents reported to the police.
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Explanations of DV
-**The radical feminist explanation**: this emphasised the role of patriarchal ideas, cultural values & institutions.
-**The materialist explanation**: this emphasised economic factors such as lack of resources.
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The Radical feminist explanation: Millett & Firestone (1970)
-Argue that societies have been founded in patriarchy. They see they key division in society as that between men & women. Men are the enemy & oppress and exploit women.
-RFs see family/marriage as key institutions in patriarchal society.
-Male domination helps explain reluctance of the police & courts to effectively deal with DV cases.
E.g. only in 1991, marital rape act was introduced.
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Criticism of Radical feminist explanation: Elliot (1996)
-Rejects claim that all men benefit from violence against women. Not all men are aggressive & most are opposed to DV. RFs ignore this.
-Also fails to explain female violence, child abuse by women.
**Crime Survey (England/Wales) 2013**: found 18% of men have experienced DV since age 16.
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Criticism of Radical feminist explanation: Office for national statistics (2014)
Women from certain groups face greater risk of experiencing DV:
-young women.
-lower social classes.
-low income/deprived.
-shared rented accommodation.
-high level of alcohol consumption/drugs.
-long term illnesses or disabilities.
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The materialist explanation of DV: Wilkinson & Pickett (2010)
-Focuses on economic & material factors such as inequalities in income & housing to explain why some are more at risk than others.
-They see DV as the result of stress caused by social inequality.
Risk of conflict:
-worries about money/jobs/housing may spill over into domestic conflict.
-lack of money and time restricts people’s social circle & reduces social support for those under stress.
Shows not everyone is at equal risk. Higher risk for those with less power,status,wealth & income.
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Evaluation of Materialist explanation of DV
-Useful in showing how social inequality produces stress & triggers conflict & violence.
-As those in lower classes face greater hardship and stress, helps explain class differences on DV stats.
However, they don’t explain why women, rather than men are the main victims.
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Marxist feminists: Ansley (1972)
-See inequality as causing DV.
Ansley describes wives as **”takers of shit”** and argues that DV is the product of capitalism: male workers are exploited at work & they take out their frustration on their wives.
-Helps to explain why DV is male violence against females but fails to explain why not all male workers commit acts of violence against partners.
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Lockdown’s effect on DV
-50% rise in DV calls to refuge (material explanation). Furlough & Redondong.
-In 3 week period, more killing of women than in last decade.
-60% of women turned away, due to lack of space (cultural explanation).
-£28 million donated because of lack of resources (cultural - patriarchal government doesn’t support women).
