In this particular study I will examine the concept of equality in marriage. I will use Bott’s theories as a basis for my study. My aim is to find if chores are equally shared between men and women in Upper Newbolds households. My motivation has arisen by an observation of my mother undertaking all the domestic chores. I am interested to see if other families are similar or if conjugal roles are implemented in these households. My study is part of a wider debate which links social networks and class with conjugal roles.
I will use Bott’s theories so I can relate close-knit networks and lose-knit networks with conjugal roles. Rosser and Harris’ concepts of pulsive domesticity and close-knit networks will be used to explain why women traditionally do domestic chores. Bott uses feminist theories to elaborate on conjugal roles. Botts’ theory was implemented in the 70’s nevertheless I feel this is still relevant in today’s society as the concept of inequality still exists.
Bott found extreme segregation in working class families. This maybe due to their connected social networks. Bott’s study showed the degree of segregation in the role relationship of husband and wife has direct connections with the connectedness of their social networks. The more connected the network the greater the segregation of the roles. Bott’s theory has been criticised as she only studied twenty families in one particular area therefore her findings are not representative of the population.
Rosser and Harris addopt Bott’s arguments but have elaborated on them.
They argue that there is a connection between social networks and conjugal roles but also find the degree of domesticity of the woman involved is a greater contributing factor. They place emphasis on what occurs during marriage rather than the social relationships that preceded it. They found that modern attitudes mean that women are losing their compulsive domesticity. Rosser and Harris’ study shows that women’s social networks are becoming increasingly lose-knit but their conjugal roles are becoming joint.
Young and Willmott share Rosser and Harris’ views on joint roles however most research suggests little evidence of inequality in marriage being reduced significantly. Young and Willmott study joint roles undertaken by symetrical families. They found that spouses share domestic chores and leisure activities equally.
Functionalists argue that families lose their patriachal side when conjugal roles are adapted, this is a concept I will take into account when carrying out my study. Functionalists state that families are adapting to modern industrial societies. The family is still a vital institution to society. Some argue that new functions are replacing the old ones but the family remains a key institution.
To research equality it is better to find out the inequal concepts of marriage. The degree of inequality between husband and wife must be determined. Different researches measure different types of inequality. I will concentrate on the division of labour in the household. I will do this by examining the husbands and wifes’ participation in domestic chores.
My primary research method will be researching quantitative data from various researcher’s studies. I will use secondary evidence to provide a basis for my primary evidence.
My secondary research method will consist of a sample of twenty families in the Upper Newbold area. This will enable me to get a representative sample of the division of labour in the area. I will collect male and female views on this subject. This will allow me to compare their views on their participation in domestic chores. My research will help me explore the degree of segregation in middle class families. I will relate this to their social networks by examining their family connections.
A survey will be implemented. All the surveys will be the same, allowing better patens to emerge. I will limit the number of possible answers for each question. This will improve my results as a trend will appear allowing precise evidence to base my results upon. My theory will be based upon my two concepts of “division of labour” and “patriarchal loss”.
Using primary and secondary evidence will allow a precise result to be established. The secondary evidence will help back up my secondary research. Secondary evidence will be researched first so I have a better knowledge of what is needed for my primary evidence.
Although twenty families is a relatively small sample I feel that I can get good results that act as a representative. After all Bott seemed to establish precise results from a twenty family sample.
Like any good study I will need to limit the number of variables. I will attempt to create a survey that can be the same for males and females. This would allow me to make better comparisons of their views. My survey meanings will have to be extremely precise so the respondents know what is meant by a particular word. My questions will have to be unbiased so I can attain unbiased results
My survey will have to be carried out at separate times for males and females so they wont see their partners views on division of labour therefore any conflict between partners will be avoided. Separate interviewing of partners will allow better answers that have not been pressured by the other partner. I feel that implementing my survey in this way allows for the best results to be established.
My results can be criticized as they only represent a small part of the community therefore they cannot represent society as a whole. Bott’s theories are judged for this. In my survey my questions will have limited answers therefore I may not get a full view of the spouses opinions. I will need to decide on how many questions I will ask and also how to word them so the questions aren’t leading and won’t influence the respondents. As I want both male and female views I may have to draw out different questionnaires. This may cause problems when trying to compare the males and females views on their contributions to the division of labour in the household.
I am not sure how I will determine a close-knit network form a lose-knit network. I will need to establish the precise contents of a close-knit network. I will also need to determine my view of patriarchal. This is to say I will need to decide exactly what I mean by male dominance in the household and make this clear to my respondents.
As there are only twenty families I may not get a clear enough pattern so my results may be hard to summarise. My time will be limited therefore I may have problems doing the primary and secondary research. The primary evidence is most valuable because I can compare it to existing evidence but I am implementing primary evidence after I have researched secondary evidence. I may not be able to compare my results to Botts as she studied working class families whereas my study will use middle class households. If my results differ considerably I will have to research sociologists who studied middle class households.
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