Family and Conjugal Roles

Today many students up and down the country will probably be doing a lot of revision for the AS Families and Households paper. So here is the final installment of revision material for that topic. This last installment focuses on that old favourite - conjugal roles. Here are a few notes which should provide some food for thought:

There are several ways of tackling the conjugal roles topic and obviously, you have to take this advice in the light of the way any particular question is phrased. Remember, the examiners like to keep you on your feet, so they will not just repeat questions from year to year. But looking through past papers will help you see the general sorts of angles that are possible.

With conjugal roles I always feel that a strong methodological slant is a good way to answer - again - dependent on the exact wording of the question.

But the key issue about conjugal roles is usually the extent to which there has been change, so a focus on methods seems reasonable.

Another angle though is time -and how things have changed. To this end, it’s notable that a lot of the old studies are, er, old. So one little tactic is to divide your knowledge of research findings/studies into two groups - the old ones and the more recent. I have a few examples - that’s all they are - below. Yes, my more recent examples are now getting on for ten years old. But even so, they are useful, especially if you take the view that in fact the empirical findings don’t reveal huge changes in the broad patterns. Yes, there are some changes, but how much? That’s another reason why methods and measurement are so important.

My own take is that in trying to measure changes in conjugal roles, and to fully evaluate the regular studies you’ll find in the textbooks, you have to focus on the validity, reliability, and representativeness. To do that you need to be able to define and distinguish between the three concepts and relate them to a number of research studies. Take a look through what follows below and see what you think. You may have other studies, more studies - that’s fine -use these as you wish.

A final point - on the more recent studies mentioned below. Giddens - a theoretical contribution - so it’s a moot point on how much evidence can support his claims. Ward - beware of the sample frame there - not everyone banks with Barclays, or indeed, not everyone has a bank account. Wilkinson - interesting, but speculative - what empirical evidence is there, and maybe this sort of thing changes a lot as economic conditions vary. Duncombe and Marsden - great study - depth, innovative and provocative. But it is a small sample.

Good Luck

Early Studies

Young and Willmott

72% of men help with housework at least once a week

Ann Oakley

Double burden. More women working, but also having to spend more time on housework than men - 1970s.

• Validity

The validity of questionnaire work is questioned by various sociologists, including: Oakley, Boulton, Edgell.

• Operationalization

How do we turn the abstract notion of ‘conjugal roles’ into something we can observe and measure? Y and W and Oakley have examined housework tasks. Others though, such as Edgell, suggest that other factors may also be important indicators - e.g. decision making in the family. We need to consider alternative ways of operationalizing and measuring conjugal roles.

Social Change - More Recent Studies

If you can, look up Ferri and Smith, Sullivan and Gerhsuny in your textbook.

Lydia Morris 1980s

Measured conjugal roles by examining decision making and ‘final say’ in families in the North-East in the late 1980s. At a time of high male unemployment, when it might be expected that men would help more in the household, traditional patriarchal ideas of gender roles in the family were maintained.

Duncombe and Marsden - Emotion Work 1990s

Argue that there is yet another way to measure conjugal roles - in terms of emotion work. This concept refers to the gendering of identity. Women are encouraged to be more expressive and ‘emotional’ than men. In the context of the family, this means that it is women who make more effort to make marriages and families work emotionally, by looking after children, reassuring fragile egos, comforting, and so on. Duncombe and Marsden argue that in the 90s and the first decade of the 21st century, women have moved on from the double burden. Not only do women work in paid employment and do the housework - they are also doing more emotional work. There is in fact a ‘triple burden’.

Anthony Giddens - The Transformation of Intimacy 1995

Giddens argues that the change from tradition to modern society has led to a shift in family and interpersonal relations. We now choose a partner freely, on the basis of notions of ‘romantic love’, not with the aim of economic survival or betterment. We are all seeking what Giddens calls ‘the pure relationship’; a relationship based on finding a true soul mate. This and other social changes have led to the democratisation of the family. Where women find the family unconducive to their aspirations to be treated as equals, they are increasingly likely to leave it - divorce and separation. Meanwhile there is a crisis of masculinity as men try to reorient themselves to being men in a rapidly changing society, where more traditional notions of masculinity are being challenged.

Terry Ward - Sociology Review September 2000

Article reviews current trends and particularly the tendency towards ‘cash rich, time poor’ households, which has led to an increase in domestic labour. Research by Barclays Bank estimates that 82% of Barclays customers earning £30K or more, employ other people to provide domestic services (e.g. cleaning, washing, etc). Market research organization Mintel estimate that some 165,000 people in the UK work as cleaners, nannies, or gardeners - presumably in other peoples homes. Probably an underestimate, but indicative of the extent of the phenomena.

Helen Wilkinson - Family Fortunes (Demos Report) 2000

Argues that the family is mirroring ‘outsourcing’ which occurs in the workplace.
Companies are giving work which they cannot do to people outside of the company (outsourcing), a practice which allows them to concentrate on their main activities and areas of expertise. Wilkinson argues that the family is also ‘outsourcing’ in contemporary society, allowing some families (those in a relatively high class location) to focus on their core activity - earning a high income.