Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
The Domestic Division and Labour - Coggle Diagram
The Domestic Division and Labour
Parsons: Instrumental and Expressive Roles
the husband has an instrumental role: geared towards achieving success at work so he can provide financially for the family - he is the breadwinner
the wife has an expressive role, geared towards socialisation of the children and meeting the families emotional needs - she is the homemaker
Parsons argues that this division of labour is based on biological differences
He also argues that the division of labour is beneficial for both men and women, their children and wider society
Young and Willmott (1962) argue that men are now taking a greater share of domsestic tasks and wives are becoming wage earners
Feminist sociologists reject Parsons view that the division of labour is natural and that it only benefits men
Bott: Joint and Segregated Conjugal Roles
Segregated conjugal roles, where a couple have seprate roles such a male breadwinner and female homemaker and their leisure activities also tend to be separate
Joint conjugal roles: where the couple share tasks such as housework and childcare and spend their leisure time together
Young and Willmott found segregated conjugal roles in their study of working class families in the 1950s
Young and Willmott: The Symmetrical Family
'march of progress view' - they see family life as gradually improving for all its members
Roles are not identical but are becoming more equal with more women working part time and full time, men helping with housework and childcare and couples spending leisure time together
As a result of changes in women's position, geographical mobility, new technology and higher standards of living
A feminist view of housework
Oakley argues Young and Willmott's claim is overstated - they have hardly found evidence of symmetry
In her own study only 15% of husbands had a high participation in housework and only 25% of men had high participation in childcare
In Younger couples men were less likely to assume that the woman was going to do the housework and they were more likely to think they were doing less than their share