Summary
Summary The symmetrical family
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- AQA
Aqa a level sociology families and households summary notes for the symmetrical family.
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THE SYMMETRICAL FAMILYSOCIOLOGY.
THE FAMILIES
SYMMETRICAL FAMILY AND
SOCIAL MOBILITY HOUSEHOLDS.
HOUSEWORK
The decline in the extended family, coupled Evidence indicates that women still carry out the
Gender roles, domestic labour and power
with greater social mobility leads to looser majority of domestic tasks around the house
relationships within the family in
networks of friends and kin form both male and despite being in paid employment themselves.
contemporary society.
female partners to mix with and reduces the There is no modern country in the world where
DOMESTIC DIVISION OF LABOUR pressure on newly married/cohabiting couples men do more of the housework, or even as much
to retain traditional segregated roles. as, women (Knudsen Waerness).
The domestic division of labour refers to
the way gender roles are assigned within WOMEN’S RIGHTS CHILDCARE
the family, such as the man as
With the improved status and rights for women Women living with a male partner who are in full-
breadwinner and the woman as
and with more women in paid employment, time work are responsible, on average, for two-
homemaker, known as instrumental and
men are being encouraged to view women on thirds of the time couples spend on household
expressive roles. Partners in these
equal terms. and childcare activities (European Social Survey,
traditional kinds of relationships are also
2010/2011).
likely to have separate friends and engage DOMESTIC LABOUR
in different leisure activities. SHOPPING
The commercialisation of domestic labour
THE MARCH OF PROGRESS means that there are many consumer goods More than three-quarters of women take all or
that help ease the burden of domestic labour, most of the responsibility for household food
Symmetrical families refer to those that
such as washing machines and dishwashers, shopping (Food Standards Agency, 2007).
are equally balanced and flexible and
where partners share both the and home delivery of groceries, although these
CARE
instrumental and expressive roles. Young may only be accessible to the middle-class.
and Willmott support the ‘march of Women are more likely to take time off paid work
POSTMODERNISTS
progress’ view of modern families, in that to look after sick children (Harkness).
families are becoming less patriarchal and Postmodernists argue that couples are free to
THE ‘DUAL BURDEN’
more symmetrical. pick ‘n’ mix roles and identities leading to the
weakening of traditional gender identities, Feminists argue that women entering paid work
LIVING STANDARDS which in turn, weakens the gendered division have led to them carrying a ‘dual burden’, that is,
Bott describes this as a change from of housework and childcare. having to carry out both paid work and unpaid
segregated conjugal roles to joint conjugal domestic labour.
EVALUATION
roles and suggests a number of factors DUNCOMBE AND MARSDEN
that have led to this, such as: THE DOMESTIC DIVISON OF LABOUR
Duncombe and Marsden argue that women are
o Improved living standards e.g. Feminists reject the view that the family is now putting in a ‘triple shift’, the dual burden plus
labour-saving consumer goods and symmetrical, arguing that families remain having to engage in emotional work, such as
better housing have resulted in patriarchal and that inequalities in the caring for upset children and dealing with family
couples being more home-centred. domestic division of labour remain widespread. rows.
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