SCLY1 - Families and Households theorists - Topic 1 Couples quiz (AQA AS sociology)

Instrumental and Expressive roles: Husband has instrumental role and Wife has the expressive role. Based on biological differences.

Joint and Segregated Conjugal roles.

Feminist view of housework. Husband helped wives once a week. 15% of husbands had high levels of participation in house work. 25% high participation in childcare. Pleasurable aspects of childcare.

Explains Gershuny (1994) in terms of economic factors rather than changing values or role models. As women's earning power increases relative to men, men do more in the home.AS long as earning remains unequal so will the division of labour.

The rise of the housewife role: Although women were once part of the labour force they gradually became excluded and pushed into the housewife role.

Boulton (1983) supports Oakley's findings. 20% of husbands had major role in childcare. Argues that Y and W exaggerate mens contribution by looking at tasks in stead of responsibilities.

Symmetrical family - MARCH OF PROGRESS, Women - Work Men - Housework. Leisure time together. Result of Changes in women's position, Geographical mobility, New tech, Higher living standards

The impact of paid work: The trend towards equality. Wives who don't work - 83% of housework, wives who work part-time - 82%, Full time - 73%

Where one partner in lesbian couple did more paid work than the other, the time that each partner spent on domestic work was likely to be unequal. This suggests that paid work exerts an important influence on the division of labour even in same sex couples.

The commercialisation of housework - Economic developments which have reduce the burden of housework for women. Goods and services available that housewives previously had to produce. Women working means they can buy these things.

The dual burden - men who suffered loss of their masculine role as a result of unemployment saw domestic work as women's work and to be avoided.

Resources and decision- making - Men gain far more from women's domestic work than they give back in financial support. Financial support has strings attached. Men make decisions about spending on important items.

Most victims of domestic violence are women. 99% of all incidents against women are committed by men. Nearly 1 in 4 has been assaulted by a partner at some time in her life and 1 in repeatedly so.

Emotion work - women expected not only to do a double shift of housework and paid work but also a triple shift which includes emotion work.

Rejects the radical feminist view that all men benefit from violence against women. Not all men are aggressive and most are opposed to domestic violence.

Gender Scripts - expectations or norms that set out the different gender roles men and women in heterosexual couples are expected to play. Contrasts with the situation among lesbian couples. Evidence of symmetry in childcare and careers.

Ramos (2003) - opposes Morris (1990) and found that in families where the man is not in paid work and his partner works full time male domestic labour matches that of his wife (19 hours per week)

Fill in the missing numbers; Radical feminists also fail to explain female violence, including child abuse by and violence against male partner. For example Mirrlees-Black found that 1in __ men had been assaulted and 1 in ____ repeatedly so.

Two main types of control over family income: Pooling and allowance system. Pooling on increase(19 - 50%) Decrease in allowance (36% to 12%)

Professional couples - Very important decisions (Finance/Job) - Made by husband or jointly with husband having the final say. Important decisions (Childrens Education/ Holiday)- Made jointly but seldom by the wife alone. Less important decisions (Home Decor) - Made by the wife

Inequalities in decision making are not simply the result of inequalities in earnings. They argue that that in a patriarchal society, the cultural definition of men as decision makers is deeply ingrained in both men and women.

British Crime Survey (2007) - Domestic violence accounts for almost a sixth of all violent crime. Mirrlees - Black (1999) - Surveyed 16,000 people and estimates that there are 6.6million domestic violence assaults every year, about half involving physical injury.

Which social groups at at high risk of domestic violence?

Cite examples of wives being slapped, pushed about, beaten, raped or killed by husbands. Violent incidents could be set off by what a husband considered a challenge to his authority. such as when his wife asked why he was late home. Argue that marriage legitimates violence against women by conferring power and authority on husbands and dependency on wives.

Domestic violence, inequality and stress - He sees domestic violence as the result of stress on family members caused by social inequality. For example worries about money, jobs and housing may spill over into domestic conflict. Lack of money and time restricts peoples social circle and reduces social support for those under stress. This approach is useful in showing how inequalities produce stress and triggers conflict and violence in families. However this approach does not explain why women rather than men are the main victims of domestic violence.

Official stats understate the true extent of the problem of domestic violence. On average a woman suffers 35 assaults before submitting a police report.

Police and state agencies do not always record domestic violence because they make three assumptions about family life ; Family is a private sphere and therefore state agency contact should be limited. The family is a good thing and so agencies tend to neglect the darker side of the family. Individuals are free agents and so a woman experiencing abuse is free to leave, this is inaccurate.

Radical feminist explanation of domestic violence - All societies founded on patriarchy. The key division in society between men and women. MEN ARE THE ENEMY; they are the oppressors and exploiters of women.