Sociology Que Cards

Question	Answer
Domestic Division Of Labour	1: Parsons 2:Bott 3:Willmott & Young 4: Feminist View of housework
Parsons	Traditional Nuclear Family- roles of husbands and wives segregated. Parsons' functionalist model of family, there is a clear division.
Parsons	Husband: Breadwinner, geared towards success at work, provides financially for family Wife: Homemaker, geared towards family's emotional needs + primary socialisation of children
Parsons	Argues this is based on biological differences, women 'naturally' suited to nurtutring role and men that of the provider. CLaims D.O.L beneficial to children+Wider society
Parsons	Criticisms: Willmott & Young- men now taking greater share of domestic tasks + wives becoming wage earners Feminist Sociologists- Reject view D.O.L natural, argue only benefits men.
Bott	Distinguishes two types of conjugal roles (roles within marriage) - Segregated: Couple has seperate roles, male breadwinner female homemaker, leisure activities seperate. - Joint: couple share tasks, spend leisure time together
Willmott & Young- Take M.O.P view	Symmetrical Family Sees family improving for all members, becoming more equal + democratic. Argue has been long term trend away from seg conjugal roles & towards joint C.R's + the symmetrical family.
Willmott & Young	Symmetrical Family- one in which roles of husbands and wives now more similar: - Women now go to work - Men help with housework + Childcare - Couples spend leisure time together
Wilmott & Young	Found from study in London, symmetrical more common in younger couples, those geographically + socially isolated, and the more affluent. See rise of S.F as result of major social changes: -changes in women's position - Geographical mobility -New technology -Higher standards of living
Feminist View of Housework	Argue little has changed: men + women still unequal within family. Inequality stems from family + society being male-dominated (patriarchal). Women occupy subordinate + dependent role within family + society.
Feminist View of Housework	Oakley crits Willmott & Young that family now symmetrical. Argues claims are exaggerated. Willmott & Young found husbands from interview 'help' wives at least once a week, this could just be making breakfast once a week. Oakley says hardly convincing evidence.
Feminist View of Housework	Oakley's own study found no ev of trend towards symmetry. 15% husbands had high level participation in housework, 25% in childcare. Most time husbands likely to share in childcare than housework (only pleasurable aspects though)
Feminist View of Housework	Boulton- fewer that 20% of husbands had major role in childcare.Argues Willmott & Young exaggerate men's contribution by looking at tasks involved in childcare rather than the responsibilities.
Feminist View of Housework	Warde & Hetherington- found that sex-typing of domestic tasks remained strong. E.g- wives 30x more likely the last one to do the washing. Husbands 4x likely the last one to wash the car.
Feminist View of Housework	Warde & Hetherington- men would only carry out 'female' tasks when wives not around. Found ev of slight change in attitudes of younger men. No longer assumed women should do housework.
Are couples becoming More Equal?	1: M.O.P View 2: Feminist View 3: Taking responsibility for children 4: Triple shift 5: Taking responsibility for 'quality time' 6: Explaining the gender division 6a: cultural explanation 6b: material explanation
M.O.P View	Gershuny: Argues women working full- time is leading to a more equal D.O.L in the home. Using time studies, he found that these women did less domestic work than other women.
M.O.P view	Sullivan: Analysis of nationally representative data in 1975, 1987 and 1997 found trend of women doing smaller share of housework and men doing more.
M.O.P View	BSAS- Found fall in number of people who think it's the mans job to earn money and womens job to look after home. 1984 only 41% of women and 45% of men agreed with this view. 2012- 13% of men and 12% of women agree with this view
Feminist View	Women have to carry the Dual Burden- Paid work + Domestic Work. BSAS- 2012- men on average did 8 hrs housework a week, women do 13 hrs. Women did twice as much as men. 60% women felt this was unjust as they were doing more than their fair share. Couples continued to divide tasks along traditional gender lines
Taking Responsibility for Children	Boulton- points out that although fathers may help by performing specific childcare, it is usually the mother who takes responsibility for the child's security and well-being
Taking Responsibility for the Children	Ferri & Smith- fewer than 4% of fam's fathers took responsibility for childcare Dex & Ward- Fathers had high levels of involvement with their 3 yr olds (78% pleayed with their children) but only 1% took responsibility when it came to taking care of their sick child
Taking Responsibility for the Children	Braun, Vincent & Ball- only 3/70 studied was the father the main carer. Most fathers held 'provider ideology' that their role was as breadwinners. Mothers saw themselves as primary carers.
Triple Shift & Emotion Work	Feminists note women often required to perform emotion work, responsible for managing emotions and feelings of fam members. Duncombe & Marsden argue women have to perform the triple shift- paid work+ housework+ Emotion Work
Taking responsibility for 'Quality Time'	Southerton- Responsibility of coordinating, scheduling and managing fam's 'quality time' normally falls to mother. Became more difficult in recent years with social changes. Changes have led to time being more fragmented and 'de-routinised'
Taking responsibility for 'Quality Time'	Southerton- "Achieving quality time is becoming more difficult as working mothers find themselves increasingly juggling the demands of work and career, personal leisure time and family, while at the same time managing and coordinating their own and their families' social activities."
Explaining the Gender Division: Cultural Explanation	Gershuny- couples who's parents had a more equal relationship are more likely to share housework equally themselves. Suggests parental role models are important. Kan- Younger men do more domestic work. Most men claim to do more housework than their fathers and women less than their mothers suggesting a generational shift.
Explaining the Gender Division: Cultural Explanation	BSAS- less than 10% of under-35's agreed with traditional D.O. , as against 30% of the over 65's indicating a long term change in norms. Dunne- Lesbian couples had more symmetrical relations due to absence of traditional heterosexual 'gender scripts'
Explaining the Gender Division: Material Explanation	Kan- found that every £10,000 a year more a woman earns, she does 2 hrs less housework Arber & Ginn- Better paid, m/c women more able to buy in commercially produced products and services e.g. ready meals or labour saving devices.
Explaining the Gender Division: Material Explanation	Ramos- The woman is the full-time breadwinner and the man is unemployed, he does as much D.L as she does Sullivan- Working full-time rather than part-time makes the biggest difference in terms of how much domestic work each partner does.
Are Couples Becoming More Equal Conclusion	-There is some evidence that a woman being in paid work lead to more equality in the division of labour, especially if she is in full time work -Feminists argue that, in reality, the extent of this is limited: women still continue to shoulder the dual/triple burden. -feminists argue the problem is patriarchy
Resources and Decision-Making in Households	1. Barrett and McIntosh 2. Money management 3. Decision-Making 3a. Cultural vs. material explanations 3b. Meaning of money 3c. 'personal life' perspective of money
Barrett and McIntosh	-There is inequality in how the family's resources are shared out between men and women -which is linked to who controls the family's income and who has the power to make decisions about how it's spent.
Barrett and McIntosh	Notes Barrett and McIntosh's made -men gain far more from women's domestic work than they give back in financial support -financial support that husbands give to their wives is often unpredictable and comes with 'strings' attached -Men usually make the decision about spending on important items
Barrett and McIntosh	Research shows family members don't share resources such as money and food equally. E.G.-Kempson (1994) found that among low income families, women denied their own needs like eating smaller portions in order to make ends meet.
Barrett and McIntosh	In many households women have no entitlement ti a share of household resources in her own right. As a result, she is likely to see anything she spends on herself as money that ought to be spent on essentials for the children. Even in households with apparently adequate incomes, resources may be shared unequally leaving women in poverty.
Money Management	Feminist sociologists Pahl and Vogler identify two main types of control over family income: -The allowance system-men gives wives allowance which they have to budget to meet the family's needs -Pooling- both partners have access to income+joint responsibility for expenditure. Pooling is on the increase and is now the most popular form of money management.
Decision Making	It is often assumed that pooling equals a more equal relationship in decision making and controlling resources. However, where the pooled income is controlled by the husband, this tends to give men more power in financial decisions (not as much as allowance system). Pahl and Vogler found even with pooling the men usually made major financial decisions.
Decision Making	Hardill's (1997) study of 30 dual-career professional couples found that important decisions were usually taken by the man or jointly and that his career took priority when deciding whether to move house or look for a job. This supports Finch's (1983) observation that women's live are structured around their husbands' career.
Decision Making	Edgell's (1980) study of professional couples found that: -Very important decisions, e.g. finance, a change of job, moving house, taken by husband or taken jointly, but husband has final say. -Important decisions, e.g. children's education or holidays taken jointly, sometimes by just the wife. -Less important decisions, e.g. home decor, children's clothes, food, usually made by wife alone
Decision Making	Edgell argues the reason men are likely to take the decisions is that they earn more. Women usually earn less than their husbands and, being dependent on them economically, have less say in decision making.
Decision Making	However, there is evidence of a limited move towards greater quality in financial decision-making. Laurie and Gershuny (2000) found that by 1995, 70% of couples said they had an equal say in decisions. They also found that women who were higher earning, well qualified professionals were more likely to to have an equal say.
Cultural Vs Material Explanations	Gershuny and Laurie's findings show support for the economic or material explanation of gender inequality as described by Crompton and Lyonette.
Cultural Vs Material Explanations	However, feminists argue that inequalities in decision-making are not simply the result of inequalities in earning. They argue that in patriarchal society, the cultural definition of men as decision-makers is deeply ingrained in both men and women and is instilled through gender role socialisation. Until this definition is challenged, decision-making is likely to remain unequal. This view reflects the cultural of gender inequality as described by C+L.
The Meaning of Money	Pahl notes, just pooling money doesn't=equality. It is also necessary to note who controls the pooled money and whether each partner contributes equally (despite any differences in income). E.G. if a man earns 2x as much as his wife, but they put the same amount into a joint account is it equal?
The Meaning of Money	Both partners keeping money separate also doesn't=equality. E.G. Vogler et al found cohabiting couples are less likely to pool - perhaps due to the desire to remain separate. Yet evidence suggests that cohabiting couples are more likely than married couples to share domestic tasks equally.
The Meaning of Money	These ideas point to the fact that we need to understand the meaning of money for couples. As Nyman (2003) notes, money has no automatic, fixed or natural meaning + different couples can define it in different ways. These meanings can reflect the nature of the relationship.
A 'Personal Life' Perspective of Money	The P.L.P focuses on the meanings couples give to who controls the money. From the P.L.P, the meanings that money may have in relationships cannot be taken for granted. E.G. while we might assume 1 partner is controlling the money is a sign of inequality, for some it might not mean this.
A 'Personal Life' Perspective of Money	There is evidence that same-sex couples often give a different meaning to the control of money in the relationship. Smart found that some same-sex couples attached no importance to who controlled the money and were perfectly happy to leave this to their partners. They did not see control of money as meaning either equality or inequality in the relationship.
A 'Personal Life' Perspective of Money	Weeks et al found that the typical pattern was pooling some money for household spending, together with separate accounts for personal spending. This money management system thus reflects a value of 'co-independence' - where there is sharing, but where each partner retains control over some money and maintains a sense of independence. This is like the pattern among cohabiting couples found by Vogler et al.
A 'Personal Life' Perspective of Money	Smart found there is greater freedom for same-sex couples to do what suits them as a couple. She suggests this may be because they do not enter relationships with the same 'historical, gendered, heterosexual baggage of cultural meanings around money' that see money as a source of power.
A 'Personal Life' Perspective of Money	Hence supporters of the P.L.P argue that it is essential always to start from the personal meaning of the actors involved in the situation. This echoes Weeks' and Smart's point about the division of labour in same-sex couples.
Domestic Violence	1. Definition 2. Patterns and Views 3. Official Statistics 4. Explanations of D.V 4a. radical feminist explanation 4b. Evaluation of R.F.E 4c. Materialist Explanation 4.d. Evaluation of M.E
Definition	The Home Office (2013) defines D.V as: 'Any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive or threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are or have been intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality' This can include psychological, physical, sexual, financial and emotional violence and abuse.
Patterns and Views	A common view of D.V is that it is the behaviour of a few disturbed or 'sick' individuals, and that its causes are psychological rather than social.
Patterns and Views	However sociologists have challenged this view:

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	Created by Chloe Woods over 8 years ago