This is a digital booklet for AQA sociology alevel
It consists of 70 pages altogether and all notes have been written by myself.
It includes exam questions that are relevant to the spec as well as the PEEL structure.
Parsons:Instrumental and expressive roles
• Parsons functionalist model of the family- Clear division of labour
• The husband playing an 'instrumental' role which means focusing on achieving success at work to be the
breadwinner for the family and focusing on the financial needs of the family.
• The wife plays an 'expressive' role which is focused on looking after the children and household and focusing
on the family in terms of emotional needs. Parsons (1955) argues that this model fits because women are
naturally suited to nurturing the family and men are naturally suited to be a provider for the family.
• Willmott and Young argue that en are now taking a greater share of domestic tasks and more women are
becoming wage earners
• Feminist sociologists reject parsons view that the division of labour is natural.They also argue it only benefits
Joint and segregated conjugal roles
• In a famous study called Family and social network, Bott presents an interesting and original interpretation
about conjugal role
• In her research she identified two types of roles:
• Joint conjugal roles-One in which husband and wife carry out many activities together with a minimum of task
differentiation and separation of interests
• Segregated conjugal roles-One in which husband and wife have a clear differentiation of tasks and a
considerable number of separate inters and activities.They have a clear division of labour.
• Based on 20 in depth interviews with families in Greater London
• She made a link between conjugal roles and social class-Working class had the most extreme segregated roles
• She claims the variation in conjugal roles lies in social relationships they bring with them to the marriage
• If the husband and wife each bring a close knit network with them to the marriage, they will be less dependent
on each other for companionship
• There is likely to be less emotional support from loose-knit network and less pressure on married member to
remain contact
• We should probably see Bott's analysis as what Weber called "ideal types" - idealised versions of social reality
that we construct in order to help us measure the reality of social life
• Criticised for its methodology-Only 20 couples
• But her work remains influential and has stimulated considerable research
The symmetrical family
• Willmott and Young carried out ground-breaking research into family life in the UK over a long period of
time. One concept they developed, the subject of a 1973 book, was the symmetrical family.
• They developed their ideas about family life, following on from the functionalist ideas of sociologists like
Talcott Parsons. From their research of families in East London, they developed an idea of the family
developing through a number of stages through history: a march of progress.
• In their study of working-class families in the East End of London in the 1950s, they had observed that
conjugal roles and the domestic division of labour in working-class families were clearly segregated.
• Men were primarily wage-earners and were responsible for very few domestic tasks around the home. It was
rare for a father to attend the birth of his child or to be involved with the day-to-day care of his children. Men
regarded themselves as the head of the household – they exercised this social power on the basis of their
superior earning power and consequently were responsible for family discipline and decision-making.
• In contrast, few females worked outside the home and consequently they were often economically
dependent on their husband who would allocate her ‘housekeeping’ money.
,• But on the basis of research they conducted in the 1970s, Young and Wilmott claimed that men and women’s
attitudes towards the distribution of labour in the home had undergone radical change so that in both middle-
class and working-class households, conjugal roles were more likely to be jointly shared.
• They argued that this trend towards joint conjugal roles meant that marriage in the 1970s was likely to be
egalitarian.
• This is because:
• Women now go to work, but this may still be part time
• Men now help out with housework and childcare
• Couples now spend their leisure time together instead of separately
• They see the rise of symmetrical nuclear families as the result of the following social changes:
• Changes in women position
• Geographical mobility
• New technology
• Higher standards of living
• Definition of symmetrical family- Young and Wilmott argued that in this type of family, both spouses were
involved in paid work and therefore made a joint contribution to the family income and bills whilst housework
and childcare tasks were more fairly distributed. Decision-making was shared and spouses enjoyed spending
leisure time together.
• The introduction of technology into the home has not reduced the amount of time devoted to housework. On
the contrary, it appears to have increased the time burden, since women now spend more time cleaning
"thoroughly" than in the past.
• Similarly, the social / ideological pressures on women to fulfil their domestic labour tasks do not decrease with
the buying of a vacuum cleaner or a tumble-dryer. All that happens, in this respect, is that such "labour saving"
devices decrease the physical effort needed to complete various jobs, leaving the woman "free" to devote any
time saved to "making a better job" of all the other tasks she has to complete as part of her role as "housewife
and mother
• In a more recent study Edgell tested Willmott and Young theory of symmetrical family by examining conga roles
in a sample of 38 middle class couples
• Edgell found little evidence of symmetrical family.None of the couples were classified as having joint conjugal
roles
Feminist response
• Domestic labour as an integral part of "being female". In our society, women are socialised into the idea that
domestic labour is part-and parcel of a woman's life. A woman's sense of self is developed in a social
environment that actively encourages men and women to adopt "gender appropriate" roles.
• The predominant ideological images to which females are constantly exposed are ones that encourage - and
reward - actions that reaffirm "feminine traits and behaviours”
• . Women are capable of rejecting "traditional" roles and beliefs, but the constant ideological bombardment
makes it difficult for women to break free of gender stereotyping.
• Mayes : "Images of being a wife and mother are incorporated into a woman's perception of herself as a
woman. They are the only occupations into which workers are socialised from birth and the only occupations
so bound with notions of love and duty, and with romantic illusions about women's reproductive functions.
Given the strength of the ideology, the role of women within marriage is highly resistant to change.”
• The feminist sociologist Ann Oakley responded to Young and Wilmott’s ideas that marriage was increasingly
becoming egalitarian with her own academic study of domestic work.
• As Chambers notes until Oakley’s study appeared, housework had not been considered worthy of study by
male sociologists because it was regarded as an everyday private activity. Chambers notes that ‘the domestic
sphere of labour had been marginalised and rendered invisible’ by malestream sociology.
• The idea that equality is a central characteristic of marriage was strongly opposed by Oakley who rejected the
notion of a symmetrical family. She argued that patriarchy was still very much a major characteristic of modern
nuclear families and that women still occupied a subordinate and dependent role within the family and in wider
society.
• Oakley interviewed 40 housewives living in suburban London and found some quantitative evidence of
husbands helping in the home but found little evidence of symmetry or equality.
• Only 15% of husbands had a high level of participation in housework but even this group saw housework as
‘her work’ rather than something to be jointly shared.
• Oakley’s research was carried out over forty years ago but recent research suggests that her view that
domestic labour was organised in a deeply unequal way and consequently her rejection of symmetry may still
hold true.
• Contemporary feminist sociologists suggest that there is little hard evidence in the 21st century for equality in
marriage with regards to domestic labour despite the fact that many women are now engaged in paid work and
working long hours outside the home. The gender revolution in the home so celebrated by Young and Wilmott
seems to have fizzled out as can be clearly seen in the following recent studies of the distribution of domestic
labour.
,MORE RESEARCH SUPPORT
• The British Social Attitudes Survey observed that there has been very little change over the last twenty years
in terms of the division of labour. In 2012 women were still primarily responsible for doing the laundry in 70
per cent of households whilst men were still mainly responsible for carrying out small repairs around the
house in 75 per cent of households. Furthermore, women in 2012 were much more likely than men to always
or usually, do the household cleaning and prepare meals.
• A survey of 1000 men and women by BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour in 2014 – argued that modern marriage
was characterised by ‘chore wars’ rather than equality and symmetry. It found evidence of consistent conflict
between partners over domestic chores. Two-thirds of those aged between 18-34 years admitted that they
regularly argued with their partners over housework. Women were particularly frustrated with their partners
over how little they did around the home or about the male standard of cleanliness which many felt did not
achieve their standards.
• Boulton 1983 found that fewer than 20% had a major role in childcare
• Warde and Hetherington found that sex typing of domestic tasks remained strong
• Wives are 30 times for likely to be the last person to have done the washing up and men are 4 times more
likely to have asked the car last
• Men would only carry out female tasks when their partners were not around
Are couples becoming more equal?
Impact of paid work
• The female employment rate reached a record high of 72.4% in October-December 2019. The male
employment rate was 80.6%.
• 40% of women in employment were working part-time compared to 13% of men.
• Either this is leading to a more equal division of domestic tasks, with a new man taking responsibility and doing
eval share of housework and childcare
• Or it could mean women just do a dual burden of paid work and domestic work
March of progress view
• They argue that women going to work is leading to a more equal division of labour
• Men are becoming more involved in childcare and housework
• Sullivans analysis of nationally representative data collected between 1975 and 1987 and 1997 found a trend
towards more women doing less domestic work and men doing more
• Gershuny argues that women working full time is leading to a equal division of labour in the home as, using
time studies, found that these women did less domestic work than other women
• Gershuny examined 1974 and. 1975 data from BBC audience research department and 1987 data from an
economic and social research council project
• 1987-The husbands of working women continued to do less than half the total paid and unpaid work done by
their spouses.
• But in different household types husbands did more than half the total work
• Although the dual burden remained men did seem to be making more effort to do housework when their
wives were in paid work
• British social attitudes survey 2013 found a fall in the number of people who think its the mans job to earn
money and women to look after the home
• 2012- 13% of men and 12% of women
• 1984- 45% of men and 41% of women
• Crompton (1997) argues that as women’s earning power increases relative to men’s, so men do more in the
home. In 2015, women’s earnings still remain unequal at about three-quarters of those of men. However,
Crompton’s analysis concludes that if female earnings were to improve then so too will the division of labour
in the home. Thirdly, research does indicate that men are more likely to be involved in childcare rather than
housework. There is a wealth of evidence which supports this.
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