Unit 5 - Childhood, Gender and Demographic Change

Define the term 'demography'. (2 marks)

Demography is the study of populations, their structure, movement and change.

Briefly explain what types of conjugal roles Willmott and Young discovered (a) in working-class marriages in the 1950s and (b) in the 1970s family. (2 marks)

In the 1950s Willmott and Young concluded that in most of these marriage roles were segregated. In 1973 they found that more modern marriages featured joint roles.

To start you thinking about this topic, spend a few minutes reflecting on this domestic division of labour - how roles such as childcare, shopping, cooking, housework and so forth are shared between spouses in the families you know. How similar are these roles to your parents' generation? What may have changed?

It would seem likely that sharing of domestic tasks and childcare is more likely to happen if: - women go out to work full-time - both husband and wife have professional careers with similar salaries - because of unemployment, men spend more time in the home while their wives work either part-time or full-time. However, is this really the case? We shall go on now to discuss the sociological views and evidence about domestic roles.

Define the term 'birth rate'. (2 marks)

The birth rate is the number of live births per 1000 of the population each year.

Define the term 'general fertility rate'. (2 marks)

The general fertility rate is the number of live births per 1000 women of childbearing age each year. This is different from the total fertility rate which is the average number of children that women have during their childbearing years.

Using one example, briefly explain why men were able to dominate areas of very important decision-making in Edgell's study? (2 marks)

Men were able to dominate because they were the breadwinners.

Briefly explain what Gatrell found out about why women accept domestic roles in families? (2 marks)

Women accept domestic roles with reluctance and for the sake of their relationships when children are born.

Figure 3.1 International migration into and out of the UK, 1970-2013 What can you learn from the graph?

- There have been changes over time - for much of the 1970s and 1980s net migration was negative - more people left than came into the country. - Since 1995 net migration has been positive - more people have entered the country than have left the country. - In 2013, almost 320,000 people left the UK while almost 530,000 people entered the UK.

Women's labour-market participation is clearly affected by their domestic responsibilities. Women with young children tend to withdraw from the labour market, to return to part-time work when the children reach school age and to full-time work when the children are older. Very few women have continuous full-time careers because of their domestic responsibilities. Consequently, many married women have semi-professional jobs while their husbands have careers. The lack of a continuous career (unlike men) means that promotion and training opportunities are less likely and women are significantly predominantly found on the lower rungs which pay less, whilst men hold a disproportionate percentage of highly paid posts. Women are also likely to earn less because they are found in part-time jobs. Women's withdrawal from the labour market means that they are likely to have breaks in their pension contributions which may mean poverty after retirement. Hartnett's research noted that male managers often subscribe to myths about the mother-housewife role that directly impact on decisions about women's jobs and promotion, e.g. some believed that women were unreliable because of family commitments.Abbott, P and Wallace, C (1997) An Introduction to Sociology: Feminist Perspectives, Routledge, 1997 Try to identify five disadvantages experienced by women in the job market that are related either to women's domestic responsibilities or male perceptions of these.

-Because having children involves interrupting their working life, many women with children have semi-professional jobs or take whatever jobs are available when they return to work part-time rather than having particular career plans. - Lack of continuous experience leads to less opportunity for promotion and missing of training opportunities. - Women lag behind men in terms of pay. - Women miss pension contributions, which has serious implications for poverty in old age. - Gatrell et al (2011) argue that employers and managers may believe outdated myths about married women, such as their being less reliable than men because they are more committed to their family than to their career. There may also be an ethnic dimension to women's participation in the labour market as certain ethnic communities have low levels of female participation in employment. Pakistani and Bangladeshi women tend to have larger than average families, and are more likely to subscribe to traditional gender roles within the family. However, there are generational changes, and younger women are more likely to work, seeking part-time jobs to reconcile work and family demands.

The triple shift and the impact of male unemployment

-The triple shift: As you can see, several empirical studies tend to contradict Young and Willmott. The evidence indicates that women are increasingly taking on a dual burden - they are expected to be mainly responsible for the bulk of domestic tasks despite also being expected to take on paid labour. There are even those who talk of the 'triple shift' for women - that of paid work, domestic work and emotional work. - The impact of male unemployment: Other studies have looked at the impact of male unemployment: - Pahl and Wallace (1985) conducted a survey of 750 couples on the Isle of Sheppey and found that unemployed men did more around the home than other men but that their wives, even when they were in full-time work, were still expected to do the lion's share of housework. - McKee and Bell (1986) suggest that men's masculine identity may be threatened by unemployment and by the consequent pressure from their wives to take on more domestic responsibilities. - Wheelock's (1990) research into 30 couples suggested that men do help significantly with housework and childcare when unemployed, while Morris (1990) found that traditional gender roles are unaffected by unemployment.

As sociologists, we must be aware that children's experiences will be tremendously diverse even within the same country. Bernardes (1997) notes that the evidence indicates that a significant number of children do not experience the popular image of childhood at all. This concern is shared by the childhood liberationists who argue that the 'march of progress' towards a safer, more valued childhood is for many children illusory, as they continue to be dogged by factors such as poverty and domestic violence. Identify potential differences in the childhoods of each of the following in terms of their educational experiences: 1. a child of a member of the Royal family 2. a child of professional parents 3. a child of a single, unemployed mother living on an inner-city council estate.

1. A royal child will have had a personal nanny, attended a private prep school as an infant and spent his/her secondary education at the top public school in the UK. 2. The son or daughter of a professional worker is likely to have had a fairly positive experience of education and probably will have been encouraged to see higher education as a very natural progression. 3. In contrast, a child in an inner-city estate is likely to have had a rather different education - the schools in their catchment area may be subject to social problems (and consequent disruption). They may not have been brought up to aspire to higher education. See the discussion of the research by Sutton et al (2007) towards the end of this topic.

Through his studies of French children [Ariès] concluded that medieval society throughout Europe did not recognize childhood. The evidence produced suggested that children were viewed as inseparable from adults. They were painted as small adults, dressed like them and were treated without consideration of their physical, mental or sexual immaturity ... as soon as the infant could survive without the constant attention of mother or nurse, he or she joined adult society. The infants who were too fragile to participate in adult life were not taken into account. If they died it was God's will. Ariès' thesis received support from many other authors maintaining that childhood was a product of modernisation ... Childhood came to be accepted as invented about 300 years ago. To Ariès this invention produced the restrictions on the behaviour of children in the modernfamily. When children were not seen as separate from adults they were given licence to behave as adults.Identification as children led to an often strict upbringing to ensure that they were morally and physically chaste... M Shipman, The Limitations of Social Research, Longman, 1988 1. As far as you can tell from the passage, what kind of evidence does Ariès appear to have used for his conclusions? 2. How likely do you think it is that this kind of data gives an accurate picture of childhood in the past (or the absence of childhood)?

1. From this passage Ariès appears to have used as evidence the depiction of children in paintings, where they are frequently shown dressed as adults, sharing in adult activities. 2. One of the difficulties for sociologists who use data from another historical period was identified by Shipman, who said that the quality of the evidence depends very much on who produced the information and for what reasons. This is true of all secondary data. The problem with Ariès' evidence is that the subjects of paintings in medieval Europe were probably not representative of ordinary people living in this period. Only those families who were wealthy could afford to pay an artist.As a point of evaluation, you should note that regardless of the quality of the specific evidence used by Ariès, his main point - that childhood is a social construct - remains relatively sound because there are significant legal, historical and cultural variations about what a child is and how that child should behave.

1. Can you suggest an argument against the view that childhood is disappearing? 2. One of the arguments used to support the case that childhood is disappearing is the influence of the media. Can you suggest a limitation to this argument?

1. It is possible to argue that many parents are far more intrusive in their children's lives. Children may play at home for fear of strangers and may be guarded from danger at all times. They may travel to school by car rather than walking. 2. In order to evaluate Postman, it is worth being aware that it is almost impossible to conclusively prove media effects on people. Postman could not in fact find strong research evidence to support his theories. The problem about researching such an issue is the fact that not all children watch the same things on television and not all children will react in the same way. Equally, Postman's views are difficult to reject entirely.

1. When was the death rate highest? What may have caused this? 2. What gender-based pattern do you notice in death rates? 3. Suggest reasons for the overall trend in death rates.

1. The highest rate of death was in 1918. There were two reasons for the high death rate in that year: the Great War and an influenza pandemic that resulted in a very high number of deaths. Other reasons for peaks in death rates include particularly difficult weather such as extreme cold or fogs, which result in deaths among vulnerable elderly and young people. 2. As you can see, the death rate for females is significantly lower than that for males although the gap is narrowing slightly. This can be explained in both biological and social terms. It is argued that women are not as vulnerable to certain diseases as men, but also that until recently females were much less likely to smoke and drink to excess or to engage in risky behaviour that results in accidents and early death. 3. Falls in death rates since can partly be attributed to: - public hygiene and sanitation improvements - the decline of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis - improved housing and working conditions

Define the term 'segregated family'. (2 marks)

A segregated family is one with clearly identifiable roles for men and for women, and with little or no crossover between these gender roles. Young and Wilmott found that such families were common in 1950s working-class London.

Define the term 'social construction'. (2 marks)

A social construction is a concept that has been created and defined by society. For example, the experience of childhood, rather than being a fixed universal experience, will differ according to a range of social influences - including historical period, locality, culture, social class, gender and ethnicity.

Using one example, briefly explain how the improvement in life expectancy is not equally shared across the UK. (2 marks)

Although life expectancy across the UK has improved markedly since 1901, there remain significant inequalities across both classes and regions. For example, men in low-status, low-income occupations have higher mortality rates, whereas men in the high-status, professional groups have low mortality rates. Poverty and deprivation are a risk factor in terms of health and life expectancy.

Ann Oakley

Ann Oakley is a leading British feminist sociologist. In her first academic book, Sex, Gender and Society, she introduced the term 'gender' to describe the social treatment of men and women, as distinct from the biology of sex. She went on in 1974 to writeThe Sociology of Housework and Housewife in which she argued that 'women's domesticity is a circle of learnt deprivation and induced subjugation: a circle decisively centred on family life'. She went on to research the experience of childbirth and in 2005 returned to the theme of housework inThe Ann Oakley Reader: Time-budget studies show that women's housework has decreased and men's has increased somewhat with the growth in women's employment, but men's greater efforts do not fill the gap left by women doing less ... Men create more housework than they do and, in many households, children do as much housework as men ... Even in supposed paradises of gender equality, such as Sweden, 87% of couples do not share housework.

Research into childhood

As you might imagine, there are a number of practical and ethical difficulties associated with the sociological study of childhood. Interpretivist sociologists nonetheless argue that children and their experiences are deserving of study in their own right and independent of the perspective of adults. They suggest that ethnographic research methods can enable sociologists to see childhood through the eyes of children. In Sections 1 and 2 we looked at some of the ethnographic research carried out with young people in schools. Although the sociology of childhood is surprisingly lacking in research about the experiences of younger children, some interpretivist sociologists - such as Hood-Williams (1990) - have researched how children feel about their lives. Kellet and Dar (2007) studied the meanings of literacy to children while Smith (2005) interviewed children about the role of religion in their lives. -Class and childhood: Liz Sutton and her colleagues (2007) looked at perceptions of class difference among children from widely differing backgrounds. They worked with 42 children aged 8-13. One group of children lived in a disadvantaged housing association estate while a second group of children were recruited from an independent, fee-paying school.The researchers used participatory methods whereby they allowed children to choose the research questions and to decide its focus. Children thus became active participants in the research process itself and were invited to comment on the progress and the findings as the research progressed.This type of approach to research is often associated with postmodernism. Methods were experimental and unusual, in that children were invited to participate in activities in order to explore meanings in their lives. The methods include role-playing, mapping important places in their lives, drawing and writing, photography and 'walkabouts' with the children.They found that children did not see themselves as being 'rich' or 'poor'. The children from more disadvantaged backgrounds generally had much more negative attitudes towards education than those attending private schools.The researchers also made interesting findings around the role of street play in the housing association estate. They found that 'the children 'emphasised parents' active role in setting and monitoring rules and restrictions on their street play' and went on to argue that this 'highlights the need to avoid and challenge assumptions about associations between street play, anti-social behaviour and inadequate parenting'. David Buckingham (1993) researched the ways in which children between 7 and 12 talk about television. He organised discussions with small groups of between two and five children selected from four schools. The discussion groups met in the schools and discussion was started by asking the children to retell the stories of films they had seen or asking them about their most and least favourite characters on television. He concluded that children are very active in interpreting, modifying and even rejecting media messages.

The consequences of inequality

Clearly work and employment allow women to make choices that would not have been possible for their grandmothers. However, it is also clear, from the evidence we have looked at, that there remains significant inequality for many women. In this part of the topic we will look at key consequences of this inequality. Inequality in employment: Firstly, women's employment and career opportunities may be affected. In other words, inequality within marriage may be an obstacle to equal opportunities in paid employment. The economic power associated with being the breadwinner may ensure power in other spheres, including being the head of the household. Previous

The graph below shows the mortality rates by occupation for men of working age - with high-status, high-income jobs at the bottom of the chart and unskilled low-wage jobs at the top. What do you notice about the figures?

Clearly, men in low-status, low-income occupations have higher mortality rates, whereas men in the high-status professional groups have low mortality rates. This pattern cannot be accounted for simply in terms of the danger of the work. Social class is also a significant factor in mortality rates. Poverty and deprivation are a risk factor in terms of health and life expectancy.This is supported by research such as that by Woods et al (2004), who pointed out that there are significant geographical variations in mortality rates, with high mortality in the north and north-east of the UK and lower mortality rates in the south-east. Again, they suggest that this can probably be explained in terms of poverty and deprivation: areas of the country with high rates of poverty are very likely to experience high mortality.

Demography

Demography is the study of populations, their structure, movements and changes. In this topic we are concerned with births, deaths and migration patterns in the UK. Currently, the population of the UK is just over 64 million people, and there has been a steady pattern of growth of the UK population for many years. These simple statistics, however, hide a complex pattern of changes in the UK population.

How good is it to be a child today?

Despite the growth of child-centredness, and the changes in education, child care and legal recognition of children's rights, it is important to consider how all this is reflected in the reality of how children are actually treated in modern Britain. A UNICEF survey (2013) of children's well-being ranked the UK as 16th of 29 of the world's most advanced economies, behind most other EU countries but ahead of Canada and the USA. The survey Child Well-being in Rich Countries, carried out on a regular basis, compares factors such as material well-being, health, education and housing. Some headline findings relevant to the UK include: - Over 85% of UK children report a high level of overall life satisfaction - a slightly higher percentage than in 2001. - Child poverty appears to be a greater problem in the UK than in countries like France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Scandinavia. Infant mortality is also higher in the UK than in most other EU countries. - The UK has a relatively high take-up of pre-school education, but the lowest take-up of further education among the 29 countries. - Almost 30% of children in the UK report being bullied in recent months - much higher than in countries like Spain, Sweden and Italy. - 83% of UK children find it easy to talk to their mothers (though just under 70% find it easy to talk to their fathers). Some writers such as Womack (2011) paint a bleaker picture of childhood in the UK than the UNICEF report. This to some extent reflects the methodological difficulties in gathering data about children's experiences. Margo et al (2006) suggest that children in the UK may feel less supported by their parents than those in other similar countries. Rees (2011) found that almost 10% of teenagers run away from home for at least one night each year. The negative effects of divorce have also been documented by surveys of teenagers. Funder and Kinsella (1991) in Australia found that levels of income fell for single parents, and linked this to problems in school. A growing issue may also be that some children as young as 10 are the main carer in family situations where a parent is chronically ill or disabled. -Abuse of children: Some children's experiences of childhood may be very damaging due to a range of different types of child abuse, including neglect and physical, sexual and emotional abuse. In their report How Safe Are Our Children? (Jütte et al, 2014) the NSPCC reports that: - almost one in five 11-17 year olds have experienced high levels of abuse and neglect. - almost 5% of 11-17 year olds have experienced sexual abuse - the figure is higher (7%) for girls than boys (under 3%). - almost 7% of 11-17 year olds have experienced severe physical abuse. Physical punishment is also still used by some parents in Britain, whereas in Scandinavian countries hitting or smacking children is against the law and considered barbaric. There are also occasionally reports of child prostitution and growing numbers of children living rough on the streets of London and other big cities. -Is childhood disappearing?: In his book The Disappearance of Childhood (1996) Neil Postman criticised the use of television as a device of busy parents to keep children occupied. He suggests that blanket viewing is threatening the quality of the experience of childhood and shortening its length by exposing children to the adult world of sex and violence.

Briefly explain what Elston's study of doctors found in regard to equality in marriage. (2 marks)

Elston discovered that in marriages in which both partners were doctors (i.e. where both partners have the same job, status and pay) women overwhelmingly took the responsibility for childcare.

Spend a few minutes summarising how the perspectives of functionalism, liberal feminism, Marxist feminism and radical feminism explain family inequalities.

Here are some key points: - Functionalists see the sexual division of labour in the home as biologically determined, arguing that women are naturally suited to the caring and emotional role. Children need a mother's care if they are to grow up to be effective members of society. This position can be criticised because it fails to provide any scientific evidence for this assertion. - Liberal feminists argue that women have gained greater equality in a very short amount of time. They recognise that there is still some way to go before full gender equality can be reached, and that men must be educated to take on a more active role in families while each woman must work for her own liberation. Liberal feminists can be criticised for underestimating structural forces in society that condemn women to inequality. - Marxist-feminists argue that domestic inequality supports the capitalist system. Women bear and rear children to replenish the labour force, and socialise them with the beliefs and attitudes that make them accept their position in a capitalist society. In addition, labour has to be fed, housed, clothed, kept clean and kept happy and much of this is carried out through the unpaid work of women. - Radical feminists regard domestic violence as part of patriarchal domination - women are made vulnerable to male control by the bearing and rearing of children. This domination is perpetuated by patriarchal ideologies that make women believe that serving men is their true destiny, to the extent that they even pity their unmarried 'sisters'. Marxist-feminists and radical feminists can be criticised for being over-deterministic in their view of women - they may fail to acknowledge that women are active, choice-making individuals who can rationally choose either not to have children or to postpone childbearing to later in their careers.For example, Catherine Hakim (1996) suggests that while women have been the victims of male discrimination in the job market, this is mainly the product of women making rational choices about their day- to-day lives. She argues that women choose to give more commitment to family and children and, consequently, they have less commitment than men to work. This has been strongly criticised by many women and remains a controversial viewpoint.

Topic 1 - Gender roles and power

In Section 4 we looked at some of the major changes that have taken place in the family in the last hundred years: the decline of the extended family, the emergence of the nuclear family, the impact of the women's movement and the increasing role of women in the workplace, and the growth in family diversity. In this topic we will go on to look at the impact that this has had on relationships within the family, and in particular on gender roles and power. We will examine the evidence about the distribution of domestic labour (for example, housework, childcare, and 'emotion work') and ask whether relationships between spouses have become more equal.

Domestic abuse

In some cases families can be genuinely dangerous and unpleasant places. Far too many women find themselves in relationships where lack of economic power and lack of status leaves them powerless and open to abuse from their partners. An important aspect of power within marriage is domestic abuse. One of the most important aspects of domestic abuse is violence, which is known to be the most common type of violence in UK society. For example, in 2012/13, there were an estimated 1.2 million female and 700,000 male victims of domestic violence in England and Wales. Many victims fail to report abuse because they feel that they may not be taken seriously or because they are afraid of repercussions in the form of further violence. The figures above are taken from the Crime Survey for England and Wales. This is an annual survey which collects statistical data on the incidence of crime that is not reported to the police. In 1996, it was realised that domestic violence should be part of the study. Given that domestic violence is a major crime, and that it is estimated that at least 100 women will die at the hands of a partner each year, it was important to learn how much violence takes place in British homes. From 1996 until 2004/5 the data on domestic violence waere gathered via interviews. However, it became clear that this resulted in underestimates because some respondents were not prepared to reveal domestic violence to an interviewer. So the data are now gathered using confidential self-completion modules, which respondents complete in private by responding to questions on a computer. It is hoped that this provides a more accurate picture of the extent of domestic violence.

Are gender roles changing?

In the first topic in Section 1 we met the traditional nuclear family described by the functionalist Talcott Parsons, consisting of a male breadwinner, female carer and their children. He claimed that men had an instrumental role in the family, taking charge of finances and decisions, whereas women were described as having an expressive or emotional role (doing the 'emotion work') which meant that they acted as caregivers for the family group. However, even as Parsons was describing this family type, changes were taking place in families and indeed Parsons and fellow functionalist Fletcher acknowledged an increase in egalitarian (or equal) marriage. This view became accepted as a truism by many commentators who believed the conjugal relationship between spouses had become more equal and interdependent in terms of participation in housework, childcare and decision making.

Summary of Demographic change and the family

In this topic we have looked at a number of changes that have taken place in the structure of the population of Britain since 1900 and examined some of the causes of these, including changing migration patterns, mortality rates and birth rates. You will have seen that underlying causes of structural change are many and complex. They are linked to historical and social change in society, as well as to changes in social norms. For example, large families would have been seen as common in the 1930s but are much more unusual today. Family forms are also becoming more diverse. Now that you have completed your work on this topic you should be able to: - explain and use terminology associated with the study of demography - outline various changes in the structure of the population of Britain that have occurred since 1900 - offer reasons for those changes that you have identified - outline how those changes have impacted on families and the wider society.

Summary of Gender Roles and Power

In this topic we have looked at a number of dimensions of the relationship between men and women in families. We have looked at the claim that there has been movement towards equality between the sexes in terms of the distribution of housework, childcare and decision making. However, much evidence suggests that this is an over-optimistic picture. While there may have been some changes in the allocation of domestic tasks in some families, most research shows that women remain largely responsible for childcare and housework. And the continuing inequalities between spouses have knock-on effects for women's employment and can even lead to domestic abuse.

Summary of Childhood

In this topic we have seen how the historical evidence about childhood suggests that children's experiences have radically changed in the past few centuries. Many sociologists argue that there is no single, universal experience of childhood. Historical period, locality, culture, social class, gender and ethnicity all have an influence on the character and quality of childhood. It is therefore more appropriate to talk about a diversity of childhood experiences. We have also discussed the debate about whether childhood is at risk of disappearing altogether as well as some of the important issues associated with research with children.

Topic 3 - Demographic change and the family

In this topic we will look at the subject of 'demography' through studying demographic trends in the United Kingdom. In the course of this you will explore the concepts of birth and death (or mortality) rates and life expectancy and discover how these have changed since 1900. We will consider some of the reasons for the changes in birth and mortality statistics and explore the very many factors that influence population size and structure.

Topic 2 - Childhood

In this topic you will now consider childhood as an aspect of family life. We will discuss the sociological idea that childhood is a 'social construct' and will look at how the experience of childhood may differ at different times and places. We will go on to examine the latest data about what it is like to be a child in the United Kingdom today, and the extent of abuse of children. We will also ask whether - as some people claim - childhood is at risk of disappearing altogether. We will finish by looking at some of the issues involved in research with children. As you read through this topic, bear in mind the contrasting interpretations of changes to childhood. Certain sociologists (often referred to as march of progress sociologists) stress the positive changes - that children are now better valued, protected and educated. Others (sometimes called childhood liberationists) argue that there is still much progress to be made before children have their full rights.

After reading the section in your textbook, how much do you conclude that gender roles have changed since the middle of the twentieth century?

It is clear from the research that we have looked at that this is a complex situation. While individual families have changed - as with Sean who we met in Activity 2 - in many families women still carry the large proportion of the domestic burden. In 2012 the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) published its latest analysis of data from Understanding Society (2009/10), the British Cohort Study (BCS70) and the National Child Development Study (NCDS58). It found that: - 77% of married women do more housework than their husbands, 13% do less and 10% do the same amount - 87% of married women do seven or more hours a week of housework, the equivalent of an entire working day. - There has nonetheless been a small change: 85% of women born in 1958 said they do more 'laundry and ironing' than their partner, while that figure reduced to 75% of those born in 1970 - 22% of women born in 1958, but without children, say their partner shares laundry and ironing equally. This figure rises to 30% for women without children born in 1970. - The number of 'househusbands' has trebled in the last 15 years but still only stands at 62,000 men. Taylor et al (2010) studied 30 low-moderate income British couples. They found that 'overwhelmingly, both women and men said that women did more housework than men'. Nonetheless, some couples shared housework, though often this involved 'helping' the women with housework rather than taking responsibility for it. In more couples, men took greater responsibility for childcare, though this varied according to factors such as type of work. They conclude that 'gender equality has increased since the 1960s' but that the division of tasks often remains unequal, though this may nonetheless be perceived as fair. Looking internationally, Lynne Prince Cooke and Janeen Baxter (2010) found that 'a growing body of evidence also highlights important differences across social groups and family forms within countries. The pattern of relative gender, class and other group equality varies across countries, as do related family experiences and outcomes.' And Jonathan Gershuny, who we met at the start of this topic, concludes (Gershuny et al, 2005) that 'even where there is near-equality in the spouses' employment statuses', we are still 'far from equality of domestic work' and that this may be a case of 'lagged adaptation' where 'some further set of sociological and psychological processes ... resist or retard any rationally agreed re-division of domestic work'.

From research online and your reading of the textbook, and your own knowledge of the topic, to what extent do you think the ageing population is a major challenge for the UK?

It is clear that the ageing population has significant implications for the UK. For example: - More people are now above pensionable age, which raises issues about financing pensions. - Will the reduced number of people of working age be able to generate enough economic activity for the whole society? - The impact on health and social care services is likely to grow, and more people are likely to be needed to work in these sectors. - Many elderly people live alone and most old people living alone are women. - Many older people are supported by their families, and indeed some people in their 50s and 60s are both caring for their very elderly parents and at the same time, supporting their children and grandchildren. Often it is women who are expected to take on these caring roles in families. At the same time, older people can also be a valuable asset in caring for young people. It is also likely that people will go on working for longer. The spending power of older people may provide a stimulus to the economy.

The social construction of childhood continued Diversity in childhood experience

Jane Pilcher and Stephen Wagg (1996) suggest that, even within modern Britain, the experience of childhood differs according to social class, gender and race. For example: - Girls' experience of childhood may differ from that of boys. They may dress differently, take part in different activities, play with gendered toys, such as dolls and household goods, and experience different expectations from their parents and teachers to those of boys. - Class will also have an impact on the experience of childhood - it will affect housing, the environment and the kind of school that children go to (Margo and Dixon, 2006). At the end of this topic we look at research by Sutton et al (2007) into class and children. - Ethnicity may also affect dress, behaviour and activities.

Jonathan Gershuny

Jonathan Gershuny, Professor of Sociology at Oxford University, has been involved in research into the domestic division of labour for over 30 years. Much of his research has drawn on time-use diaries where participants report in some detail what they have been doing, with whom, and how they feel about this. His 1992 research provided some support for the work of Young and Willmott. Using data from an Economic and Social Research Council project Gershuny showed that over time men had increased their share of housework. In an interview about his more recent research in 2012 he suggests that the process has continued and that there has been a 'transformation of gender relationships' (16:41). However, as we shall see in the next section, Gershuny stresses that, while there may have been progress with reducing gender inequalities, this progress has been slow and has lagged behind the growing role of women in the workplace.

Increasing life expectancy

Life expectancy refers to the number of years a person can expect to live from birth. The following graph, based on ONS data, shows the trend in life expectancy since 1911. Currently, life expectancy at birth is at its highest level ever in the UK. Men born in the UK today will on average live to 78.7 years old and women to 82.6 years old. In 1850, life expectancy for women was 44 and for men 40 and while this figure was partly due to the very high death rate among children, people could still expect to have much shorter lives than is considered normal today. Improvements in life expectancy are due to: - clean water and good drains - many of the killing epidemic diseases such as cholera and typhoid are water-borne - vaccinations, which mean that child death rates from epidemics or diseases such as measles or polio have fallen - the quality and quantity of food available has improved and the welfare state has reduced deaths from starvation and neglect. Nonetheless the increase in life expectancy hides some dramatic inequalities in life expectancy and death rates between different social groups, even in the modern UK.

The social construction of childhood

Many people think of childhood as a physical and psychological stage that we go through on the way to adolescence and adulthood. In this country we see childhood as a time of shared friendship, play and learning, as a period of life rather different from adulthood. The strength of our ideas about the nature of childhood is shown in our strong emotional reactions to child abuse cases. However, sociologists suggest that childhood is in fact a social construction - in other words, it is a concept that has been created and defined by society. Rather than being a fixed universal experience, the experience of childhood will differ according to a range of social influences - including historical period, locality, culture, social class, gender and ethnicity. So our own definition of childhood is very much a construction of our own culture. In other cultures, children are expected to behave very differently - they may for example be seen as an economic asset and expected to work for the family; they may even be in the front line of political conflict. - Historical changes in childhood: In 1962, the French historian, Philippe Ariès published what was to become an influential work called, in its later English translation, Centuries of Childhood. In this he argued that: - what we today think of as a natural stage of development - childhood - is actually something that is specific to our own culture and times - historically, what we would now call 'children' were part of the adult world. They grew up in an adult world and were expected to dress, behave - and often to work - as adults. However, during the nineteenth century, children were 'pushed out' of the adult world and into 'childhood'. This may partly have originated from the aspirations and requirements of the middle classes, including: - religious reasons: in the Christian thinking of the time, sexuality was seen as something bad that children should be protected from, in order to keep them 'innocent' and save them from sin - economic reasons: the need to produce future workers who were numerate and literate (which led to compulsory schooling) - societal reasons: the need to turn children into obedient adults, some of whom could help administer the British colonies - humanitarian reasons: the number of child deaths and injuries in the factory system in the nineteenth century was appallingly high - moral reasons: in the nineteenth century there was growing concern about juvenile delinquency, child beggars and child prostitution - there was felt to be a need to get children off the streets to protect them and give them a decent upbringing. -Children in the twentieth century: In the twentieth century children came to be regarded as being in need of society's protection. This new sense of responsibility for children was very firmly located in families, and women, in particular, were (and still are) largely viewed as being responsible for children's welfare. Families were supported by state legislation.

Using one example, briefly explain why victims of domestic violence may fail to report abuse. (2 marks)

Many victims of domestic violence fail to report abuse because they lack economic power and feel lack of status. For example, they may feel that they may not be taken seriously by the police or courts and indeed may not even be believed. They may also be afraid of the repercussions in the form of further violence from their partners.

Migration patterns

Migration patterns have changed over time. -The consequences of migration: The consequences of migration are complex. On the one hand there are concerns about the impact that immigration places additional stresses on housing, education, health and other social services. On the other hand repeated research suggests that migrants provide a net benefit to the UK, and contribute more in terms of taxes than they claim in terms of benefits. There have also been times in recent history when people have been concerned about skilled people leaving the UK - the so-called 'brain drain'.

Migration and globalisation

Migration refers to movements of population: - Immigration means movement into a country. - Emigration means population movements away from a country. Migration has always been a feature of British social life; people have moved from other countries, particularly Ireland and the continent, to live in the UK and people have moved from the UK to live abroad in Australia, Canada and the USA. In addition, there has been significant movement within the UK. The Industrial Revolution saw people moving from farming areas to cities in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and currently there is internal migration from areas of poverty in the UK to the south-east of England where there are more jobs. In your own family history there is likely to have been migration both within the UK and out of or into it. It is relatively rare for entire families to have remained in one location over many generations. -The impact of globalisation: Globalisation has had important effects on migration and these have changed over time. From the 1950s people from the Commonwealth - notably the West Indies and Southeast Asia - were encouraged to move to the UK to increase the labour force. Numbers of Commonwealth immigrants have fallen over the years. In 2014 around 290,000 immigrants came from non-EU countries; of these almost half came from Asia, with smaller numbers from Africa, the Americas and Australasia. There is now significant immigration from and emigration to other EU countries as part of the free movement of labour. In 2014 around 250,000 immigrants came from EU countries. People come to the UK principally for work or to study; in addition the number of people seeking asylum as a result of war and political persecution now make up 5% of migrants.

Using one example, briefly explain why Oakley was critical of Willmott and Young's methodology in their 1973 study The Symmetrical Family. (2 marks)

Oakley was critical of Willmott and Young because their argument that the domestic division of labour is now symmetrical was only based on considering the answer to one question: whether men helped their wives in the home. Oakley pointed out that this question implied that domestic labour was a female activity and was also insufficiently clear in that it did not specify the amount of work undertaken.

Make a list of possible factors that may have contributed to the changes in birth and fertility rates, and the age at which women choose to give birth.

Reasons for the changes in birth and fertility rates include: - increased education among women - women's increasing economic independence and the importance of establishing a career - changing social norms and attitudes towards parenting, with many women choosing to delay or reject motherhood - a decline in child mortality - the increasing cost of having and bearing children-alongside other financial pressures such as increased housing costs and debt from student loans - the availability of reliable contraception and the option of safe legal abortion (since the 1960s)

Outline three factors that may have led to the fall in birth and fertility rates. (6 marks)

Several factors have contributed to the fall in birth and fertility rates. Firstly, since the 1960s reliable contraception and legal abortion have given women greater control over their own fertility. Secondly, women's increasing education, economic independence and career prospects have opened up the range of life roles they can play. Thirdly, the increasing cost of having and bearing children - alongside other financial pressures, such as increased housing costs and debt from student loans - may discourage some people from having children.

Outline three reasons why life expectancy has increased since 1901. (6 marks)

Several factors help to explain why life expectancy has increased since 1901. Improved public hygiene through clean water and good drains, the decline of infectious disease and improved housing, the welfare state and cheap or free medical care such as vaccinations and changing health behaviours such as smoking and alcohol abuse, improved quality of food.

Suggest three difficulties with sociological research into childhood.

Some of the difficulties include: - Children may not understand the purpose of research, or the nature of the questions, and give unreliable answers because they may not understand what is required of them. - Because of concern over stranger danger, parents may withhold consent for their child's participation. - Children will want to please adults so they may give the answer that they think the researcher wants, not what they really think. - The research process itself may be intrusive and affect the development and the lives of the children. The researcher must be very aware of the need to avoid exploiting the children and be sensitive to their vulnerability. For instance, in research into poverty they need to bear in mind that the children interviewed may not be aware of how others view their situation and should not be alerted to it by the researcher. - Researchers dealing directly with children will need police clearance and parental permission is essential if research is to be conducted on people under the age of 16. - Relying on adult memories of childhood is unreliable as memories will be filtered and edited over time and may not reflect the actual lived reality of childhood.

Using one example, briefly explain how childhood may be seen to be disappearing. (2 marks)

Some sociologists argue that childhood is disappearing because a number of factors are bringing children into the world of adults. For example, in his book The Disappearance of Childhood (1996), Neil Postman criticised the use of television as a device of busy parents to keep children occupied. He suggests that blanket viewing is threatening the quality of the experience of childhood and shortening its length by exposing children to the adult world of sex and violence.

Stephen Edgell

Stephen Edgell (1980) studied 38 couples to identify responsibility for domestic tasks and the distribution of power within marriage. His couples included men who were industrial scientists, academic scientists and dentists. He interviewed both husbands and wives and asked them to categorise areas of family life into 'very important', 'important' and 'not important' decision-making areas. For example: buying a house and the children's education were regarded as very important, buying a car and deciding where to go on holiday were regarded as important, and how to spend the weekend, buying furniture, kitchen equipment and food were seen as not very important Edgell discovered that wives deferred to their husbands in the areas regarded as very important. Often these decisions were taken by the husband alone. 'Important' decisions tended to be shared and none were taken by wives alone. It was only in the area of 'not important' decisions that women were allowed free rein. Edgell concluded that the men in his sample were able to claim power in decision-making because they were the main breadwinners. They were therefore able to demand that the family and the interests of the wife be subordinated to the man's career.

What evidence did the Cambridge Primary Review offer to support the view that childhood may be disappearing?

The Cambridge Primary Review (2010) found that children are concerned about 'adult' issues such as global warming; and that parents find it difficult to control access to the internet.

Using one example, briefly explain how the average age at which women give birth is changing. (2 marks)

The average age at which women give birth has risen to 30. This results from a range of factors; for example, changing social norms and attitudes towards parenting and above all the increased choice and economic independence of women have made it easier for women to delay having children.

Using one example, briefly explain how the average age of the British population is changing. (2 marks)

The average age of the population is increasing as life expectancy increases and birth rates drop. For example, in 1985 the median age of the population was 35; it is now 40 and it is expected to rise to over 42 by 2035. In 1901 just 4% of the UK population was aged over 65; that has now risen to 17%.

Define the term 'domestic division of labour'. (2 marks)

The domestic division of labour describes how family tasks such as childcare, shopping, cooking, housework and so forth are shared between spouses.

Sean Baird, 48, and his wife, Donna, live in East Sussex with their children Jack, aged nine and Katie, aged seven. Donna works with children who have special needs. Sean has been a full-time dad since Jack was born. He says:'I used to work as a carpenter on building sites so the change to becoming a stay-at-home Dad was a big one. To start with, I was very nervous. Even before we had children, Donna and I used to share the chores equally. Donna has a better job and so it seemed sensible for her to keep on working when we had children. I found it hard at first, but a friend took me to a parent and toddler group which helped me a lot. I went there nearly every day.While Jack and Katie played and learned to interact with the other kids, I could talk to the adults about normal things.When we moved to Sussex five years ago, I found I was the only man at the parent and toddler club. Other Mums were nice, but one asked me what I was doing in a place like that with all the women. My life is very different from that of my Dad. He worked away and didn't see much of us growing up.' Adapted from the Sunday Express Magazine, 18 June 2006 Evaluate how useful it is as evidence of deep social change in gender relationships in recent years.

The evidence of change we can gather from this article is: - the fact that Sean is comfortable with his role as a househusband and full- time parent, even though his experience of his own father was that he was mostly absent from his life - that the group he attends is called a 'parent and toddler group' rather than a 'mother and toddler group'. However, in other ways this article suggests that there is little deep-seated evidence that gender role change has taken place: - the fact that the article has been written at all is evidence that gender change is not widespread and is still newsworthy. - Sean was the only man present at his parent and toddler group, despite the ungendered nature of the name of the group. Other women were surprised enough to see a male there that they passed comment on the fact. - This is only one family, and therefore not a large enough sample to be representative of a major social change.

The ageing population

The increase in life expectancy means that more people are living longer than in the past. This has been accompanied by declining birth rates which means that there are now fewer people in the UK under the age of 16. All this has led to an ageing population: - In 1985 the median age of the population was 35; it is now 40 and it is expected to rise to over 42 by 2035. (The median is a type of average used in population statistics.) - In 1985 15% of the population was aged over 65; by 2013 17% of the population was aged over 65 and this is expected to rise to 23% by 2035. (ONS, 2012) In 1901 just 4% were over 65. - The percentage of the population aged over 85 doubled between 1985 and 2010, from 1 to 2%. By 2035 it is expected to reach 5%. Across the EU there is a very similar pattern - indeed the change has been more dramatic in many other countries. In 1985, of the 27 countries now in the EU, only Sweden had a higher percentage of people over 65; now 14 EU countries have more people over 65 than the UK. In Germany 21% of the population is aged over 65. At the same time, there has been a fall in the percentage of young people in society. In 1901 a third of the population was aged under 16. By 1970 this had fallen to a quarter, and is now somewhat less than a fifth - only slightly more than people aged over 65.

This method is known as computer-assisted interviewing. What advantages might this method have for a topic like this? Can you identify any issues in terms of validity and reliability?

The key advantage of computer-assisted interviewing is that it is confidential, though it does require a certain level of literacy. In terms of validity and reliability: - We cannot be certain that people are more truthful on a computer screen than they are in real life; they may fear that the interviewer may look at what they have written. - They may also choose to underestimate or exaggerate their experiences for reasons of their own. - They may not even recognise what they have experienced in terms of domestic violence as a crime - some victims believe it to be justifiable punishment for things that they have done wrong. - It may be painful for respondents to recall at the time of the interview how many incidents have taken place.

Outline three reasons why people may choose to immigrate into the UK. (6 marks)

The most important reason why people move to the UK is for work; they hope to find jobs, even though they may well be over-qualified for the occupations they take. Secondly, many people come to the UK to study. In addition, the number of people seeking asylum as a result of war and political persecution now make up 5% of migrants.

Births and fertility

The number of children born in the UK has always fluctuated with baby booms - rises in the numbers of children born - and periods with fewer births, as this graph shows. In 1900 around 1.1 million babies were born in Britain and though this figure fell during the first world war, it rose to a peak in 1920. By 1930 there were fewer than 700,000 births but there was a further peak after the second world war. During the baby boom of the 1960s there were again almost 1 million births. Numbers of births fell during the 1970s, with further peaks in 1990 and 2012 when there were 800,000 births. However, beneath these figures there are some underlying trends: - In 1900 the annual birth rate stood at 29 per 1000 members of the population; it has now fallen to around 13 per 1000. - The total fertility rate has also fallen; the average number of children per woman of childbearing age was 2.8 in 1961, but this figure had fallen to 1.85 in 2013. - The average age of women giving birth has increased from just over 26 in 1974 to 30 in 2013. Not only are women having fewer children, later in life, but more are choosing to remain childless. Birth rates are affected by many factors, in particular the number of women of childbearing age in the population, and their willingness to have children.

Population change in the UK

The population of the UK has risen consistently since the start of the twentieth century. This has largely been due to increased life expectancy and the fact that the death rate has fallen more quickly than the birth rate. The Annual Mid-year Population Estimates: 2013 (ONS, 2014) show that: - since 1964 the UK population has grown by 10 million - in the year up to June 2013 there were 792,400 births and 580,300 deaths - just over 17% of the population was aged over 65. -Declining mortality: The death rate in the UK in 1901 was very high in comparison with today as the following graph from the ONS shows: Figure 3.2 UK mortality per million population, 1901-2001

The symmetrical family

The term symmetrical family was used and popularised by Young and Willmott in their study The Symmetrical Family (1973). In this work they argued that the working-class communities that they had researched in the 1950s in Bethnal Green were characterised by the segregated family, with clearly identifiable roles for men and for women, and with little or no crossover between these gender roles. Husbands went to work and spent their free time socialising with their workmates, while women were full-time mothers and housewives who maintained strong relationships within their own families, supporting their mothers and sisters.Young and Willmott argued that this traditional family form was being replaced in the 1970s by a privatised nuclear family characterised by 'symmetry' - a family where domestic tasks are shared more evenly between spouses. Although Young and Willmott acknowledged that women still took the major responsibility for housework and childcare, they strongly argued that men were spending more time and effort on home-related tasks and activities. Challenges to the symmetrical family: Many sociologists do, however, challenge the reality of the symmetrical family. In The Sociology of Housework, Ann Oakley (1974) was particularly scathing of Young and Willmott's methodology which, she argued, was only based on the question: 'Do you/does your husband help at least once a week with any household jobs like washing up and so on?' She argues that this is hardly a reliable indicator of symmetry. In her own research, Oakley reached very different conclusions from Willmott and Young, finding that the majority of housework was still carried out by women - with men having little involvement particularly in tasks such as washing and ironing. Oakley also argued that women participated in their own exploitation because of traditional assumptions about masculinity and femininity - one respondent said that she 'liked a man to be a man'. Oakley found similar ideas of the supposed 'femininity' of housework tasks from other respondents. It seemed that housework was wrapped up in ideas about female identity that made a simple change towards a more equal division of labour harder to achieve. Over that last 35 years repeated studies have tempered the idea that men are taking a larger share of domestic work. For example: - In the same year Elston's survey of couples who were both doctors found that 80% of female doctors, compared with only 2% of male doctors, reported that they were expected to look after their children when they fell ill. This was still true 25 years later (Harkness, 2005). In 1984 Piachaud and Fawcett found that the arrival of children changed the dynamics of couples. The superior earning power of the man usually meant that the decision as to who would look after children was predetermined. The young mothers studied experienced social isolation and frustration with being economically dependent upon their husbands - In 2004 Caroline Gatrell's study of professional women also found that the main responsibility for domestic work in the home becomes female when children are born. Women generally accepted it resentfully in order to preserve their relationships. If couples had paid help, the woman usually organised this and financed it. Women enjoyed the responsibility of work and disliked the low social status and lack of stimulation of full-time motherhood. - Kan et al (2011) found that, while some men were doing more domestic work, this was generally tasks such as DIY and gardening. Meet the researcher In 2008 Bryan and Sevilla Sanz found that in couples who both work, the women do the lion's share of domestic tasks.

Other aspects of birth and fertility

There are also other variations affecting fertility and birth rates among women, including the fact that women born outside the UK are likely to have more children than those born in the UK. In 2013 a quarter of all births were to women born outside the UK. However, second-generation, ethnic-minority heritage women tend to have fertility rates more in line with those of the general population. There are also social class differences in terms of childbearing, with middle-class women usually starting their families later and having fewer children. There are approximately equal numbers of males and females in the population under the age of 16. This is because roughly equal numbers of babies of each gender are born. There is often a slightly larger number of male births to females, but male children are more vulnerable to accident and early death. In 2013 47% of all babies in England and Wales were born to parents who are not married or in civil partnerships. Statistics produced by the Brook Advisory Service and drawing on census data from the ONS suggest that teenage conceptions are falling. In 1970, the conception rate was 8.2% of 15-19 year olds, whereas in 2004, it was 6%. In addition, more young women opt for abortions. Risk factors for becoming pregnant when young appear to include low educational attainment, low social status and poverty, emotional difficulties and being the child of a very young mother. Research by Allan et al, published in 1998, suggested that: - there was little evidence of teenage mothers becoming pregnant in order to obtain housing despite widespread popular belief - conception was accidental, often in the context of a long-term relationship and women had chosen to continue with unexpected pregnancy because of their own moral objections to abortion or because their own fathers or the fathers of the baby had objected strongly to abortion - many young single mothers relied on their families rather than on the state for support. Sue Innes and Gill Scott (2003) have suggested that many young, single mothers were often caught in a situation where they were in fact supporting both their children and their parents rather than being the welfare-dependent scroungers of popular myth. -The consequences of changing birth rates: Changing birth rates have several potential consequences. For example: - Changes in birth rates have an important impact on education and health services - for example, primary school places and use of maternity services. - Fewer births can accentuate the ageing population. - Fewer young people may reduce the number of people available for work. - Lower birth rates may reduce the rate of population increase.

Outline three reasons why research with children can be difficult to conduct. (6 marks)

There are several difficulties associated with research with children. Children may not understand the purpose of research, or the nature of the questions, and give unreliable answers because they may not understand what is required of them. Researchers dealing directly with children will need police clearance and parental permission is essential if research is to be conducted on people under the age of 16. The research process itself may be intrusive and the researcher must be very aware of the need to avoid exploiting the children and be sensitive to their vulnerability. For instance, in research into poverty they need to bear in mind that the children interviewed may not be aware of how others view their situation and should not be alerted to it by the researcher.

Outline three reasons why employment opportunities for women may be restricted by their domestic responsibilities. (6 marks)

There are several reasons why employment opportunities for women may be restricted by their domestic responsibilities. Because having children may interrupt their working life, many women with children have semi-professional jobs or take whatever jobs are available when they return to work part-time rather than having particular career plans. Lack of continuous experience leads to less opportunity for promotion and missing of training opportunities and is a key reason why they lag behind men in terms of pay. Employers and managers believe myths about married women, such as their being less reliable than men because they are more committed to their family than to their career.

Outline three reasons why the experience of childhood may be different for different children in UK society. (6 marks)

There are several ways in which children within the same society may have very different experiences of childhood. Children who are subject to neglect or abuse may find their childhood much more difficult and indeed dangerous than those who grow up in a safe and caring environment. Class will also have an impact on the experience of childhood - it will affect aspects such as housing, the environment and the kind of school that children go to. For example, in their research with children aged 7-13, Sutton et al (2007) found that children from more disadvantaged backgrounds generally had a much more negative experience of education than those attending private schools. Gender can also have an impact: girls may dress differently, take part in different activities, play with gendered toys, such as dolls and household goods, and experience different expectations from their parents and teachers to those of boys.

Children in contemporary Britain

There can be little doubt that childhood in the twenty-first century is very different from childhood in the sixteenth century, or indeed from working-class childhood in the nineteenth century. Most parents of 8 year olds at the start of the twenty-first century would not consider their child able to work in a factory for 14-16 hours a day - yet many nineteenth-century children did just this and many children in less economically developed countries do so at this age today. Most parents would be horrified at the thought of their pre-teenage child making a living from begging, trading, thieving or prostitution in the city - common among parentless children in nineteenth-century towns. The growth of child-centredness: One of the central changes in modern Britain has been the growth of child-centredness. It is now common for families to make the care, education and amusement of children their central priority.

Define the term 'symmetrical family'. (2 marks)

This term essentially means an equal balance between male and female roles within the family; for example, wives are now more likely to go out to work while husbands are more likely to share housework, childcare and decision making.

Research into domestic abuse

When feminist researchers started looking at domestic abuse in the 1970s, many of the studies focused on women who had escaped abuse and moved to refuges (the safe homes that were set up so that women and their children had somewhere to go to escape violent men). The findings of this early research came as a shock to most people. However, at the time it was difficult to obtain reliable statistical data on the incidence of abuse. There was also little known about those who experienced abuse and chose to remain with their abusing partners. This highlights a key issue with researching family relationships: most of what happens in people's personal relationships takes place behind closed doors. It is often inappropriate to observe personal relationships. And, while interviewing has been the most commonly used method of obtaining personal data about people's attitudes, there can be issues around how respondents interpret their own or other people's behaviour. While early research focused on the effects of male violence towards women, there have been significant studies to show that there are other victims of abuse within families: men, children, parents, older people and same-sex couples may all be abused by close relatives and partners In 2015 the Serious Crime Bill extended the law on domestic abuse to include an offence of 'controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship'. This will criminalise psychological and emotional abuse. - Theoretical perspectives on inequality: In this topic and the textbook we have seen that there are significant differences in how theoretical perspectives seek to explain family inequalities.