Family

Parsons

2 irreducible functions of the family:

primary socialisation
stabilisation of the adult personality

Sex role theory: that

women do the expressiverole (nurturing)
men do the instrumentalrole (breadwinner).

this theory holds thatgender roles are

biologically predetermined/suited
beneficial for men and women, because they have complementaryroles to each other, and so everything the family needs (both nurturing and breadwinning functions) are provided for by the heterosexual couple
equallycontributing, albeit in a qualitativelydifferent way.

Murdock

4 functions of the family:

reproductive
economic
sexual
educational

Fletcher

Functions have increased, not reduced:

care - for young and old
regulate - sex
responsibility - for child-bearing & child-raising
socialisation - family is the earliest & most powerful agent

Gallagher & Waite

quote a 1990 article in the ‘journal of marriage’. it states that mortality rate in:

non-married women = 50% higher than married
non-married men = 250% higher than married

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Engels

agreed with Fit Thesis: the family evolved from extended ("promiscuous horde") to nuclear. but said it was to suit capitalism.

patrilineal descent
serial monogamy
locked-in privilege
specialisation of tasks
private property

Laslett

used Parish Records to conclude that:

monogamous marriage
the nuclear family

were both common in pre-industrial societies (which disproves/critiques Engels' claim that these societies were polygamous and extended families)

Gough

"the general trend of Engels' argument still appears to be sound" because while in non-industrial societies, family appeared nuclear in structure, members still had duties to kith and kin in adjacent households, so really it was modified extended.

Zaretsky

family is upheld as a place of love, separate from exploitation of capitalism. but really it cannot meet the psychological and personal needs of its members as they are tormented under capitalism.

illusion of private life
unit of consumption

Buckingham

pester power: refers to the power of children to use their parents' emotional connection to them, to persuade parents to buy expensive toys and brands.

the role and exploitation of children in post-industrialcapitalism
how targetted ads exploit emotional bonds

Evans and Chandler

children are aware of larger, 'cooler' brands that will increase their status. this supports the idea of 'pester power' where children engage in conspicuous consumption.

Althusser

Developed Marx and Engels' theory of false class consciousness.

Ideological State Apparatus (ISA) covert, informal ideological control, over minds. manipulate ideas and beliefs. family, education, religion. eg.
Repressive State Apparatusovert, formal social control, over bodies. discipline and punishment. police, armies, and prisons.

Lasch

'Haven in a Heartless world'

the family is a haven or retreat from capitalism

both Lasch and Donzelot argue that while the family is genuinely a safe haven, it still is insufficient. There is a trend of invasion or interference with the family.

Donzelot

'Policing of Families'

safe and secure institution. freedom & self expression away from repressive, exploitative society.

loved
appreciated
humanised
not just an 'empty stomach'
particularistic judgement

both Lasch and Donzelot argue that while the family is genuinely a safe haven, it still is insufficient. There is a trend of invasion or interference with the family.

Foucault

surveillance

routine state intervention via these fields:

law
social work
social security
tax
welfare

the state exercises power through discipline. Discipline = the ability to conform to a norm of behaviour/performance. The knowledge base of society acts as a definer of this norm.

they are known as the 'thought police', comprising of:

teachers
doctors
psychiatrists
social workers

this means that we end up explaining to lay experts (loosely: counselors and doctors) our own perceived inadequacies. This is called 'Confession'

state control is the mechanism through which the state advises and intervenes with personal lives, such as family life, eg. providing mandatory parenting lessons to parents of YO.

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Delphy and Leonard

Differ from most radical feminists in that they focus on the material factors as the most important cause of oppression of women. Particularly in the arena of work, men are the main beneficiaries.

Dutchman-Smith

DRA (1969-71) liberated women previously trapped in empty shell marriages. Marriage as an institution has its roots in "outdated notions of ownership and immutable gender roles"

Barrett & McIntosh

The family = an 'Anti-social unit'

This means that the family:

oppresses women
excludes people who don't want to live in families, and/or want to live differently

It does this through a strong ideology that upholds (patriarchal traditional nuclear) family life as the ideal way to live, such that every other way 'pales in comparison'. This oppresses women by ensuring they put up with domestic violence and dysfunctionality, in order to follow the norm.

Millet

'sexual politics' (1970) society organises itself so that men can dominate. (in extreme form, this takes place in Domestic Violence).

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Oakley

'The Sociology of Housework' (1974) 1960s: qualitative interviews with 40 housewives (20 mc; 20wc), all had at least 1 child under 5. All were aged 20-30s. Both classes had an 85:15 split with their partners on housework. 70% ="dissatisfied" with the amount of housework they did.

Sharpe

'Just like a girl' 1976 girls in 1970s wanted:

love
marriage
husbands
children

but by the 1990s, they wanted:

career
job
financial independence

MaryBoulton

(1983) less than 20% of husbands took a major role in childcare.
argues Willmott and Young overestimate men's role. they poorly operationalise symmetry (as simply doing one task other than washing up). also, while men may help in childcare, it is still ultimately the woman's main responsibility for the security and wellbeing of the child.

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David Cooper

family = an "ideological conditioning device in an exploitative society"

Cooper also talked from a radical psychiatrist perspective.

the family destroys the inner self of a person
by trapping us in relationships based on loveit creates self-other dependencies .
we constantly rely on lovefor our wellbeing, and soon this becomes a basis for repression, violence, and guilt.

Feeley

family = designed to teach passivity not rebellion. it has an authoritarian ideology where women teach passivity to children and husbands.

Benston

"as an economic unit the nuclear family is a valuable stabilising force in capitalist society."

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David Lane

studied USSR(1960) compared to Western capitalist economies.

Gender Equality
- women better represented at all levels of workforce.
- better childcare provision.
Continued gender inequality
- some jobs (senior management & admin) were still male-dominated.
- political institutions = male-dominated
- rural nature of USSR meant a lack of small businesses which would otherwise relieve women of domestic tasks (e.g. laundrettes and bakeries). Therefore, there was continued division of labour.

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Elizabeth Bott

conjugal roles

joint conjugal roles = both partners do the same chores and spend leisure time together
segregated conjugal roles = partners do gender-differentiated chores and spend leisure time apart, e.g. the man does car repairs and shopping, and goes to the pub; the woman does cooking and cleaning, and spends leisure time caring for the kids.

Willmott and Young

'The symmetrical family' (1975) Bethnal Green, East End London couples study.

1960 wc = segregated: men in pub; women at home.
1973. revisited. found stratified diffusion = mc symmetry filtered down to the wc.

Parsons

2 irreducible functions of the family:

primary socialisation
stabilisation of the adult personality

Sex role theory: that

women do the expressiverole (nurturing)
men do the instrumentalrole (breadwinner).

this theory holds thatgender roles are

biologically predetermined/suited
beneficial for men and women, because they have complementaryroles to each other, and so everything the family needs (both nurturing and breadwinning functions) are provided for by the heterosexual couple
equallycontributing, albeit in a qualitativelydifferent way.

Cordelia Fine (2018)

criticises Parsons' sex role theory. He has no scientific evidence for the claim that gender rolesare biologically suited. His claims are sexist

Sprague and Zimmerman

Critiques Parsons' Sex role theory. It dichotomises and genders the qualities of reason and emotion. They are not in fact equally valued by wider society; reason is given patriarchal privilege over emotion, as per enlightenmentideas.

Oakley

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Oakley

Helen Couprie

(2006) research based on data from The British Household Panel Survey. more than 2000 working women (single or cohabiting; with or without children). 15hr/week on housework when they cohabit; 10hr/week when single.

Ramos (2003)

Housework increases with age of partners and number of children.
there is symmetry when the man is unemployed and the woman is employed.

Ferri and Smith

In all types of paid employment relations, it is more common that women = mainly responsible for childcare.
fathers took main responsibility for childcare in less than 4% of all families.

MaryBoulton

(1983) less than 20% of husbands took a major role in childcare.
argues Willmott and Young overestimate men's role. they poorly operationalise symmetry (as simply doing one task other than washing up). also, while men may help in childcare, it is still ultimately the woman's main responsibility for the security and wellbeing of the child.

Man-Yee Kan

(2001) CHanges to the time spent on paid work hardly changes the time women spend on domestic labour.

women do average 12hr/week. and do 65% of the DL. When they work full-time, the time spent on domestic labour reduces by just 5.2mins / extra hour of paid work.
men do average 5-7hr DL/week. this reduces by 1.8mins/hour in full time paid work.

Crompton and Lyonette

(2008)

women spend average 2h30/day on DL.
men 1h/day

women and men spent similar time on gardening and pets. The only tasks on which men spent more time than women were car maintenance, and DIY.

Dryden and Hart

Dryden (1999) and Hart (1976) argued that women's dual burden strains relationships, leading to marital breakdown.

Dale Southerton

Women are responsible for organising family 'quality time'. whereas men are more likely to obtain sustained blocks of this time.

Oswald and Wilson

(2005): both men and women benefit from marriage but men benefit more.

Hochschild

(2013) 'Emotion work'. Women perform emotional labour of:

resolving family fights
handling and managing family feelings

Craig

(2007)

men only engage in childcare when mother is around/nearby.
men's approach to childcare = emotional (talking and playing); whereas women are deprived of meaningful engagement with children because they spend most of the time on practical interactions (feeding and clothing).

BSA

BSA (2012)

the total DoL for housework is about 2:1 ratio - women : men.
Housework:
- men spend 8hr/week.
- women spend 13hr/week.
Caring for family members:
- men spend 10hr/week.
- women spend 23hr/week.
60%of women felt the DoL was unfair and unjust.

Dex and Ward

(2007)

even though 78% of fathers played with their 3 y.os
only 1% took responsibility when the child was ill (eg. taking the day off work to care for child.

Braun, Vincent, and Ball

(2011)

3/70 families had father as the main carer.
whereas in most families, the father = a 'background father' who had a 'provider ideology' (Parsons' term), but did not take a caring role.
in these families, the mother took on the role of the 'intensive carer', a role perpetuated by media, which tells women how to be 'good mothers'.
when men did offer to help, they were motivated by a desire to improve their relationship with their partner, rather than with their children.

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Warde and Hetherington

(1994)

a key factor that induces men to cook is when women are in full-time jobs.
women predominated key activities like preparing meals
me predominate marginal activities like:
- collecting takeaway
- BBQs
- beer/wine-making
shopping is a shared activity in 30% of households containing a couple.

Gershuny

men do more houeswork when women work full-time
couples are more likely symmetrical when their parents modelled equal relationships. (this suggests social attitudes to housework are gradually changing as 72% of women now work.)

Sullivan

(1996)

men only spend a bit more money on leisure than women do, and the gap is narrowing.

BSA

1994
- 45% of men
- 41%of women
2012
- 13%of men
- 12%of women

believe that it is the man's job to be the breadwinner, and the woman's to be the nurturer. This shows that there is a decline in the percentage of both genders believing in/accepting traditional Parsonian gender roles as legitimate. Therefore there is a march of progress away from these sexist, unequal notions.

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Crompton and Lyonette

gave 2 explanations for gender DoL:

cultural - gender roles are shaped by patriarchal norms and values; the social expectations of women. (see Man-Yee Kan, 2001; Dunne, 1999; BSAS, 2013).
Material/economic it is

Arber and Gin

better-paid mc women are more able to buy labour-saving devices. (this supports Crompton and Lyonette's economic explanation for gender DoL).

Fawcett Society

report: 'home truths' (2002), authors = Jayatilaka and Rake

found that women stockpile their savings, creating a nest egg for their own financial security, because men still call the shots in many financial decisions, especially in low-income households.
women are afraid men will spend the money in the nest egg, so they keep it secret.
"it is clear from this research that for many, the egalitarian family is a myth"

Delphy

when men buy products for themselves, they spend more money than when women buy products for themselves.

Delphy (1992) called this unequal spending rate on leisure purchases 'differential consumption'
this provides further evidence for gender inequality

Hardill

(2003) 'a tale oftwo nations? Juggling work and home in the new economy'

found that women follow their husbands to a different part of the country (moving house), and leaving all their friends/job in order to further his career.

Dunne

(2009)

found lesbian couples had more symmetry
this is because they had no polarised gender scripts

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Leighton

when the man becomes unemployed, the woman takes control of spending and debt. (this supports the argument that unequal gender DoL is caused by economic inequality, however it also implies the functionalist solution of a 'march of progress' since it posits that if economic inequality is resolved, so will unequal gender DoL).

Pahl

(1993)

corroborated Edgell's (outdated) 1980 study

key takeaway: the most egalitarian financial arrangement between couples was wife-controlled pooling, where there is a joint bank account, but the wide has more of a say on expenditure. This was also the second least common type, occuring in only 1/4 of households (27/102).

similar income = more egalitarian.

further details:

she studied the financial arrangements of 102 couples
classified them into 4 categories:

husband-controlled pooling: joint bank account but husband controls most important decisions. this was the most common: 39/102
wife-controlled pooling:joint bank account, but wide has most control. More common in middle-class, and when the woman earns more than the man. 27/102.
husband-control where there is no joint account; the husband has is own bank account, and controls all major financial decisions. This is more common when: men have higher income, or when the couple is low income (the woman doesn't need her own account, because most of her income is spent in cash, and there's little disposable income to save. This is the least egalitarian and occurs in 22/102.
wife-controlwhere there is no joint account, and neither has an account. the woman controls the cash earned, and ensures the bills are paid. 14/102.

Edgell

(1980) study (outdated) of financial power in middle class families.

found that men are responsible for the major decisions e.g. house, holiday, car.

and women for the minor decisions e.g. food, clothes.

argued for stratified diffusion, and therefore this gender inequality will seep down into the working classes as well.

overall this study provides further evidence for continued gender inequality in power and family decision-making, and while outdated, it is corroborated by Pahl (1993).

Max Weber

"power is the probability that the actor within a social relationship will be in a position to carry out his will despite resistance, regardless of the basis on which this probability rests."

Laing

radical psychiatrist and phenomenological psychiatrist (meaning only studies the family interactions when one member is schizophrenic.

the family is an arena.
in which members play a complex tactical game
the family group is known as the Nexus
the nexus is a place of reciprocal concernmeaning: each member is concerned with what other members think and feel about them.
because of this, there is a constant unmet requirement by all members for 'mutual concern anxiety', meaning: the offerance of mutual protection against each others' violence (kind of like a truce).
Laing found that, within such a family, there was 'reciprocal interiorization', meaning, that members internalised the idea of themselves as a single unit; a family together, rather than a collection of individuals in their own right.
Laing considered this negative, as it restricted self development. when members carried around a blueprintof how their family is and how they are expected to behave as a member of that family.
this situation led to them having no autonomy of self.

Laing further argued that this harms wider society

it creates a virtue out of blind obedience to authority, and therefore citizens don't question their leaders, and soldiers shoot civilians on command.
it creates an us vs. them ideology (the family unit against everyone else; the reciprocal concern of the family nexus, according to Laing, is one which puts its members in constant mutual fear of and reliance upon eachother; so they reject the outside world as a threat to this. From this Us vs Them ideology, many racist and bigoted ideas are prone to form.

Leach

'A Runaway World' (1967).

anthropologist - looking at small-sclare pre-industrial family.

found it is part of a wide kinship unitwhich offers practical and psychological support for individuals.

argues that now, in industrial societiesthere is a different family; one that is isolated, and inward-lookingplace of emotional stress
an analogy is an overloaded circuit; it demands too much of us, and so it blows.
Laing calls the family a "prison" we must break out of in order to rejoin the rest of society.