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Couples - Coggle Diagram
Couples
Dobash & Dobash argue that marriage legitimates violence against women by conferring power & authority onto the husband and dependency on wives. The CSEW found 7.3% of women compared to 5% of men reported having exp DA.
Official stats understate true extent as victims may be unwilling to report. Yearnshire found that a wmn suffers 35 assaults b4 making a report. Also, police may b reluctant to to investigate. Cheal argues its bc they r not prepared to become involved in the family.
Radical fem exp: see the family & marri as key institution in patriach. society & the main source of women's oppression. Within the family, men dominate women thru DV or the threat of it. DV is a ft of patriarchal society & serves to preserve the pwr that men have over women. male dom of the state explains reluctance of police to deal with cases of DV. :<3: - Evalu: Elliot rejects fem view that all men benefit from violence against women. It fails to expl female violence includ, child abuse & viol against males & within lesbian relationships. E.g CSEW fnd 18% of men exp DV since age of 16. They fail to expl which women r more likely to exp DV. e.g ONS suggest younger, lower class, LIC r more likely.
Materialist exp: focuses on inequalities in housing & income to explain why groups r at risk more than others. Wilkonson & Pickett see DV as a result of stress on family memb. caused by social inequality. Those on low incomes or overcrowded accom r likely to exp higher lvls of stress which reduces their chances of maint a stable, caring relationship & increases risk of conflict.
- worries abt money may spill over into domestic conflict as tempers become frayed
- lack of money restricts people's social circle which reduces social support.
Conc: not all people r at risk e.g those w less power, status, wealth or income r often at greater risk.
Eval: Wilkinson & Picketts appr is useful in showig how SI prod. stress & triggers conflict however doesn't exp why women rather than men r the main victims. Marx fems fran ansley describe wives as 'takers of shit' - male wrkers r exploit. at wrk n they take it out on their wives.
Young & Willmott see family as gradu. improving 4 all its members, becoming more equal & democratic. They argue there has been a long term trend away from SCR and towards the 'symmetrical family'. E.g
- Women now go out to work
- Men now help w housework & childcare
- Couples now spend their leisure time together instead of separately.
In a study, they found that symmetrical families was more common amongst young people who are geographically & socially isolated & more affluent.
The feminist view: women going into paid work has not lead to a more equal DOL. There is still lil sign of a 'new man'. E.g the BSAS shows that men did 8 hours of housework whilst women did 13 hours of h/w a week. Men spent 10 hours on care for family members whilst women spent 23 hours.
However, one thing it does not measure is the qualitative difference in the tasks men n women perform. E.g Allan argues that women's tasks such as washing & cleaning r less satisfying.
Pahl & Vogler fnd that when pooling men mad financi. decisions.
Edgell's study of prof. couples found that:
- v important deci, were taken by the husband alone or taken jointly but w the husband having the final say.
- important dec: were usually taken jointly or seldom by the wife alone.
- Less important dec: usually made by the wife.
Edgell argues that this is bc men earn more. women earn less and become economic. dependent on them, having less say in DM. However there is some evid. of a lmt move towards equality. E.g Gershuny found that 70% of couples said they had an equal say in DM.
Parsons roles:
- The husband has an instrumental role geared towards achieving success at work so he can prov. 4 the family financially.
- The wife has an expressive role, geared towards primary socialisation of the child. & meeting the families emotional needs.
Parson argues this is based on biological differences, with women naturally suited to the nurturing role and men to that of the provider.
Criticisms:
- Young & Wilmott argue that men now take a greater share of domestic tasks & more wives are becoming wage earners.
- Feminist socio. reject Parsons view that the DOL is natural. They argue it only benefits men.
Segregated conjugal roles: Where the couple have separate roles: a male breadwinner and a female carer. Their leisure activities tend to be sep.
-Joint conjugal roles: Where the couple share tasks such as childcare and housework & spend their leisure time together.
Young & Willmott identified a pattern of segregated conjugal roles in couples in Bethnal Green. Men were the breadwinners & spent their leisure time seperate with workmates in pubs. They also played lil part in home life. Women were full time housewives w sole responsibility 4 childcare.
Feminist view of housework: Ann Oakley criticises the MOP view. She argues that claims r exagg. In her own research, she found only 15% of husbands had a high lvl of pp in housework & only 25% had a high lvl pp in childcare. Boulton also found that fewer than 20% of husbands had a major role in childcare.
Impact of paid work: Some socio. argue it leads to a equal DOL. In this view, men r becoming more involved in housework & childcare just as women r becoming involved in paid work. Gershuny time studies found that women in paid work did less domestic work than other women.
Emotion work: where the wives r responsible for managing the emotions & feelings of family members whilst also exercising control over their on emotions.
Triple shift: women have to perform housework, paid work and emotion work.
Explaining the DOL:
- Cultural explan: The DOL is determ. by patriarch. norms & values that shape the gender roles in our culture. Women perf. more domestic labour bc its what society expects of them.
- Material explan: the fact that women earn less than men means it is economically rational for women to do more h/w while men earn money.
Evidence for CE: Gershuny found that couples who had more equal relationships r more likely to share h/w equally themselves. This suggest parental role models r import. He argues social values r grad. adapting to the fact that women r working est. a new norm that men should do domestic work.
Evidence for ME: Arber & Gin found that for better paid, m/c women were more able to buy labor-saving devices rather than having to spend time to carry out labor-intensive tasks.
The allowance system: where men give wives an allowance out of which they have to budget to meet the families needs w the man retaining any surplus income for himself.
Pooling: where both partners have access to income & joint responsibility for expenditure.
Personal life persp: Focuses on the meanings couples give to who controls money. E.g there is evid. that same-sex couples often give diff. meanings to control of money. Smart found that gay men & lesbians att no import to who controlled money & were perf. happy to leave this to their partners. They did not see the control of money as inequality in the relationship.