Assess the contribution of feminist sociologists to an...

Assess the contribution of feminist sociologists to an understanding of family roles and relationships. In this essay I will explore the different schools of feminism such as Marxist, liberal and radical feminism, who share the view that women are oppressed in a patriarchal society but differ in opinion on who benefits from the inequalities. Each school of feminism has their own understanding of family roles and relationships which I will assess through this essay. Firstly one must look at the division of domestic labour and conjugal roles. Conjugal roles refer to the roles performed by men and women in relation to housework, childcare and paid work. Traditionally men had the instrumental ‘bread-winning’ role which the women had the†¦show more content†¦As this essay has shown so far, there is inequality in who does what in the home but there is also inequality in decision-making; in deciding who gets what and how the family resources are shared out between them. Barrett and McIntosh note that mean usually make the most important decisions, the financial support from men is often unpredictable and they usually gain more from women’s domestic labour than they give back in return. Feminist sociologists Pahl and Vogler suggest that because of men’s higher earnings women have more financial dependence on their husbands and this is why men take more control over major decisions. Edgell agrees with this view and st ates that women only exert some control on less important decisions such as home dà ©cor. Finch argues that wives’ lives are generally structured around the husbands’, such as if the husband had to move for work, the wives would pick up and go with them, whereas it is unlikely that the husband would follow their wife for work. Radical feminists also suggest that domestic violence is evidence of patriarchy as men use the threat or use of violence to control women. Domestic violence is a widespread problem being a sixth of all violent crime in 2007 and the cause of over 100 deaths per year. Domestic violence is mainly perpetrated by men against women with 1 in 4 women being assaulted by their partners at some point in their lives and only 1 in 7 men being assaulted. However these figures may be underShow MoreRelated, assess the contribution of feminist sociologists to an understanding of family roles and relationships.1085 Words   |  5 Pagesï » ¿ In this essay I will be talking about how feminist have contributed to our understanding of family roles and relationships. There are several different types of feminist theory, but all of them share certain characteristics in common; there is a fundamental division in society between men and women, that women are to some extent exploited by men and that society is male dominant or patriarchal this means â€Å"rule by the father† but is used by feminist to indicate that men have more power than womenRead MoreFamily Roles and Relationships: Examining the Contribution of Feminist Sociologists1732 Words   |  7 Pagesfrom Item 2B and elsewhere assess the contribution of feminist sociologists to an understanding of family roles and relationships. In this essay I will be assessing the contribution of feminist sociologists to an understanding of family roles and relationships. There are different roles in families such as: Conjugal; where both the partners share task such as housework and childcare, the opposite of this would be segregated roles; where the couples have separate roles, the male is breadwinner andRead MoreSociology5053 Words   |  21 PagesPossible sociology questions January 2012 Item 2A Sociologists analyse the domestic division of labour in many different ways. Parsons describes the division of labour in the traditional nuclear family in terms of an expressive role and an instrumental role. However, this traditional arrangement may have changed as families have changed, and many feminists use the term ‘dual burden’ to describe the woman’s role in the family today. 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Copyright  © Guardian News Media Ltd 2000; Will Woodward, ‘Testing †¦ testing †¦ testing’, The Guardian 20.05.00. Copyright  © Guardian News Media Ltd 2000; ‘Adoption boost for gay couples’Read MoreAssess the Contribution of Marxism to Our Understanding of the Role of Education1676 Words   |  7 PagesUsing material from Item A and elsewhere assess the contribution of Marxism to our understanding of the role of education. As mentioned in Item A, Marxists take a critical view of the role of education. They see society as based on class divisions and capitalist exploitations. The capitalist society is a two class system as mentioned in Item A and it consists of a ruling class, the bourgeoisie and the working class, the proletariat. The bourgeoisie exploits the proletariat according to Marxists andRead MoreAlternative Learning Systems9735 Words   |  39 Pages39(2) 165–178 Ó American Sociological Association 2011 DOI: 10.1177/0092055X11400440 http://ts.sagepub.com Kylie L. 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