Changing Family Roles and Interactions

Abstract

Popular literature and textbooks depict an image of family relationships undergoing rapid change. Slogans such as "Changing Families," "Families in Transition," or "Marriage and Alternatives" increasingly replace the simple "Marriage and the Family" titles of previous textbooks. In contrast, feminists insist that women's position in the family is still subject to traditional role expectations and behaviors. At the center of this critique are analyses of the division of labor between spouses and power asymmetries between the sexes (Thorne, 1982;Bernard, 1982;Freedman, 1979;Richardson and Taylor, 1983).In this paper, evidence of changes in family roles and interaction within the last two to three decades is reviewed, emphasizing issues at the center of the feminist critique, namely, the division of labor between spouses, power and decision-making processes, and sexual relations.' In the first section of the chapter, models of family change are outlined and criteria for the assessment of change are presented. Subsequent sections depict changes in selected role domains, and appraise available empirical evidence as well as theoretical contributions. The chapter concludes with an overall evaluation of familial role changes over time and some speculations on future trends. Maximiliane E. Szinovacz is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at the Florida State University.I would like to express my special thanks to Beth Hess for her comments and extensive editorial work.

The Effects of Work on Family Life: A Review and Analysis of the Literature

“…Based on a comprehensive review of the literature on family roles and relationships, Szinovacz (1984) recently concluded that the participation of men in household and child care tasks is becoming increasingly acceptable in society at large.…”

“…Changes In patterns of behaviUL of men within the home have lagged behind ideological changes (Miller and Garrison, 1982;Szinovacz, 1984), however, there is recent evidence that a shift toward greater domestic task sharing ii, dual earner couples is finally occurring (Juster, 1985;Maret and Finlay, 1984;Pleck, 1979;Robinson, 1985). Pleck's (1983) analysis of data from the 1975/76 Study of Time Use indicated that husbands perform about 32% of the couples' total family work if the wife is employed, compared to 21% if the wife is not employed.…”

“…Pleck's (1983) analysis of data from the 1975/76 Study of Time Use indicated that husbands perform about 32% of the couples' total family work if the wife is employed, compared to 21% if the wife is not employed. Much of this increase is due to the increase the time husbands devote to child care when their wives are employed and there are young children in the household (Pleck, 1983;Szinovacz, 1984).…”

“…Attitudinal and behavioral changes with regard to the divisLon of labor within the home appear to be especially pronounced among the younger and more highly educated segments of the population (Juster, 1985;Szinovacz, 1984). Lopata, Barnewolt and Norr (1980), for exinple, found that college educated husbands were four times as likely as the least educated husbands in their n" tional sample to do at least some housework if the wife was working.…”

División del trabajo en familias de dos proveedores. Relato desde ambos géneros y dos generaciones

“…En suma, como se encontró en otros contextos (Dunn, 1997;Duran, 1988;Hass, 1993;Hochschild, 1989;Hood, 1986;Morris, 1990;Ramos Torres, 1990;Szinovacz, 1984;Warshofsky, 1988; Zhang y Far¬ ley, 1995, entre otros), en estas familias de dobles proveedores, de sectores medios, la conducta de los varones está menos marcada por el género cuando actúan como padres que cuando lo hacen como esposos. Los varones participan más con los hijos que con el hogar.…”