Sociologists and their theories

Question 1

Murdock

Answer 1

believes in the nuclear family

Question 2

Murdock’s four functions of the family

Answer 2

sexual, reproduction, socialisation, economic

Question 3

Parsons

Answer 3

2 types of domestic roles: instrumental role (men) and expressive role (women)

Question 4

Elizabeth Bott

Answer 4

Conjugal roles: segregated conjugal role and joint conjugal role

Question 5

Gershuny

Answer 5

Wives role in housework and how longer in paid work= more help from husband.

Question 6

Man-Yee Kan

Answer 6

Income, education and age can have a positive or negative correlation with the amount of housework women do - every 10,000 increase in salary = 2 hour reduction of housework

Question 7

Sullivan

Answer 7

A trend towards equality in the household and men taking on more traditionally female tasks.

Question 8

Silver and Schor

Answer 8

Commercialisation of housework: goods and services e.g. domestic appliances and cleaners are used to reduce housework. Women working too so more likely to be able to afford these.

Question 9

Feri and Smith

Answer 9

Fathers took main responsibility for childcare in fewer than 4% of families.

Question 10

Morris

Answer 10

Even when fathers are unemployed they avoid the housework.
This is called the crisis of masculinity - RW Connell

Question 11

Ramos

Answer 11

contradicts Morris suggesting that in households with an unemployed male and a female in full-time employment, do the same amount of household work per week (9 hours)

Question 12

Arber and Ginn

Answer 12

full day childcare is essential for many women to stay in employment
Better paid middle-class woman with more able to buy commercially produced products and services e.g. labour saving devices, ready meals, domestic help and childcare rather than doing labour intensive task themself

Question 13

Hochschild

Answer 13

Mothers take part in paid work, domestic work and supporting the family emotionally which Marsden calls the ‘triple shift’

Question 14

Dunne

Answer 14

Believes that inequality in the division of labour arises from deeply ingrained gender scripts or stereotypes and so inequality is less likely to be seen in homosexual relationships Where they give equal importance to both partners careers, view childcare positively and describe the relationship as equal, share housework and childcare equally

Question 15

Young and Willmolt

Answer 15

Found mostly segregated conjugal roles and extended family
Men spend most leisure time in pubs with workmates

Question 16

Pahl

Answer 16

Found two main types of control over family income: the allowance system and the pooling system. The allowance system is where men give wives allowance to meet a budget for family needs and they keep the rest themselves. The pooling system is that both have access to income and joint responsibility for spending.

Question 17

Vogler

Answer 17

Pooling is increasing - in a sample of 1211 couples it increased from 19% to 50%
it’s more common among couples working full time although men still make major financial decisions

Question 18

Hardill

Answer 18

Found that important decisions are made by the man or jointly and the man’s career is always priority when deciding to move house for a new job

Question 19

Edgell

Answer 19

Important decision such as finance taken by husband alone or jointly with husbands having final say
important decisions such as childcare education usually jointly seldom the wife alone
less important decisions such as home decor and children’s clothes usually made by the wife

Question 20

Nyman

Answer 20

Suggests to understand inequality we need to understand the meaning of money for each individual and couple

Question 21

Smart

Answer 21

Control of money is less of an issue in same-sex couples as the attach no importance to who controls the money and are perfectly happy to leave this to their partners
This means they do not see the control of money as meaning equality or inequality
they focus more on other aspects such as labour being more important

Question 22

Dobash and Dobash

Answer 22

Used police and court records to interview women in refugees and found the violence was often triggered by what a man saw as a challenge to his male authority within the home
felt domestic violence resulted from traditional beliefs about male and female roles

Question 23

Milett and Firestone -RADICAL FEMINISTS- Domestic violence

Answer 23

Societies have been founded on patriarchy where men are the oppressors and exploiters of women
See the family and marriage as a key institution in patriarchal society and the main source of women’s oppression with men dominating through domestic violence or the threat of it
Widespread domestic violence is inevitable for women and preserves men’s powers over them which helps explain why most cases are committed by men
Believe domestic violence is linked to dominant social norms about marriage
Male domination of state institutions helps explain police and courts reluctance to effectively deal with domestic violence

Question 24

Elliot

Answer 24

Rejects radical feminists’ claim that woman benefit from violence against women because not all men are aggressive and most areopposed to domestic violence
RF’s view fails to explain female violence including child abuse

Question 25

Decision making power

Answer 25

males make major decisions (finance, car, house) woman make lesser decisions (food, clothes)

Question 26

Agenda setting power

Answer 26

husbands decide agenda for marital debate. Power through deciding issues discussed as Well as actually making decisions on these issues

Question 27

Cultural explanation for the unequal division of labour

Answer 27

The division of labour is determined by patriarchal norms and values that shape the gender roles in our culture E.G.woman perform or domestic labour because this is what society expects them to do and this is what they have been socialised to do

Question 28

Material explanation for the unequal division of labour

Answer 28

Women generally earn less than men so is economically rational to do more housework and childcare while men spend more time earning money

Question 29

Materialistic explanation of domestic violence

Answer 29

those living in low income or in overcrowded housing experience high levels of stress, which reduces the chance to maintain a stable and caring relationship, and this increases the risk of conflict and violence

Question 30

ANSLEY- a Marxist feminist

Answer 30

believes that domestic violence is the product of capitalism, -man’s anger at capitalism is directed towards women which is why most cases are male violence against women However This fails to explain why not all male workers commits an act of violence against the planners and female domestic violence cases

Question 31

Wilkinson and Pickett

Answer 31

Domestic violence is the result of stress on family members caused by social inequality Those with less power, status, wealth, or income, or experience, long-term illness or more vulnerable

Question 32

OFFICE FOR NATIONAL STATISTICS What women are at a greater risk of DV

Answer 32

-Young -In low social class/low income -Shared/rented accommodation -High levels of alcohol consumption/drug use (illegal )

Question 33

Crime survey for England

Answer 33

18% of men have experienced domestic violence since 16 years old

Question 34

Reasons why it is difficult to be exact about the extent of domestic violence

Answer 34

-not in a financial position to be able to leave -Reporting might make the abuse enhance and so not all incidents are reported due to fear -May not realise it is domestic violence, due to a lack of education about definitions

Question 35

What is domestic violence?

Answer 35

physical, psychological, sexual, or financial violence that takes place within an intimate relationship and forms a pattern of controlling or coercive behaviour