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Family resources and decision making - Coggle Diagram
Family resources and decision making
Personal life perspective on money
Carol Smart's study of same-sex couples:
found some gay men and lesbian attached no importance to those who controlled the money and perfectly happy to leave to their partners
they did not see the control of money as equality or inequality
Weeks et al:
found there was a co-independence with money
typical pattern was pooling of some money for household spending together with seperate accounts for personal spending
this money management systems reflects value of 'co-independence'
sharing but also independence
Criticise the use of money management as a sign of inequality:
we do not see the personal meanings of the actors involved in the situation
some dont care if partner makes all decisions
Edgell's 1980 study
Very important decisions:
for example, those involving finance / housing
either taken by husband alone or taken jointly with husband having final say
Important decisions:
for example about children's education
usually taken jointly or seldom by the wife alone
Less important decisions:
for example food purchases
usually made by the wife
he says reasons for this is material, as men earn more, women dependent on men economically, so less say in decision making
feminist criticise this, say cultural also important
Hardill 1997
study of 30 dual career couples
1) the important decisions were usually taken either by the man alone or jointly
2) his career normally took priority when deciding whether to move house for a new job
Pahl and Vogler
2 types of control over family income:
1) allowance system (men gives wives an allowance out of which they have to budget to meet the families needs, the man retains any surplus income for himself)
2) pooling (where both partners have access to income and joint responsibility for expenditure e.g. joint bank account)
allowance can be a form of financial abuse
pooling is the most common money management system
even when the couple pooled finances, the men still made the most important financial decisions
Barrett and McIntosh
men gain far more from women's domestic work than they give back in financial support
the financial support that husbands give to their wives is often unpredictable and comes with 'strings' attached
men usually make the decisions about spending on important items such as housing
Kempson:
found that among low income families, women are denied their own needs, seldom going out, and had smaller portion meals or skipped altogether