PARSONS (Functionalist)
WILMOTT AND YOUNG (SYMMETRICAL FAMILY)
BOTT
EVALUATION
DIVISION OF LABOUR
OAKLEY (FEMINIST)
WARDE AND HETHERINGTON (Feminist)
- nuclear family is uniquely suited to meeting needs of modern society for geographically and socially mobile workforce
- Nuclear family with a division of labour between husband and wife best suited to perform functions effectively - expressive and instrumental roles
- Structural differentiation - now more specialised social institutes e.g. educational system and welfare so family really only have two main functions - socialization and stabilisation of adult personalities
WILMOTT AND YOUNG (SYMMETRICAL FAMILY)
- members of family becoming more equal because of
- improved living standards
- decline of extended family
- improved status of women
- weaker gender identities
BOTT
- 2 TYPES OF ROLES
- SEGREGATED CONJUGAL ROLES - separate roles, leisure activities - men in pub, females limited leisure with other families
- JOINT CONJUGAL ROLES - share task and leisure time
EVALUATION
- RAPPORT AND RAPPORT - proved women still mainly expected to deal with childcare and housework
- OAKLEY - found evidence of husbands help not being symmetrical - 15% high in housework and 25% in child care - claims because of their responsibilities most housewives only work part time
- Most important decisions made by men - EDGELL found women make less decisions such as food and clothing
DIVISION OF LABOUR
OAKLEY (FEMINIST)
- family not symmetrical - amount men do is exaggerated -15% high in housework and 25% in child care - claims because of their responsibilities most housewives only work part time
WARDE AND HETHERINGTON (Feminist)
- division of domestic tasks based on gender e.g. women 30x more likely to have been last to have done washing up whereas men more likely to have washed the car
- Men only carry out ‘female’ roles if the female is not around. However, men do expect to do the fair share of housework, now.
- FUTURE FOUNDATIONS STUDY
- FERRI AND SMITH
- ELSTON
- on average women spend 2+ hours a day doing housework compared to 60 minutes for men
- more common for women to take on main responsibility for childcare
- 400 couples both partners doctors - 80% of female doctors reposted that they took time off work to look after their sick children compared to 2% of male doctors
- BURGHES AND BECK
- SULLIVAN
- suggest fathers are increasingly taking active involvement in emotional side when marriages break down and would like to spend more time with their children, but are prevented from doing so due to work
- analysis of data collected over 25 years found trend towards greater equality as men did more domestic labour e.g. men participating in traditional 'women' tasks such as ironing