Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Questions about inequalities in marriage and the distribution of power within the relationship have long been a concern within family sociology. In particular, ideas about historic shifts in the dominance of husbands/fathers within families have vied with feminist-inspired views of the continuing significance of patriarchal control in both public and private spheres. The former perspective was captured well in Burgess's ( Burgess & Locke 1945 ) influential idea of a shift from “marriage as an institution” to “marriage as a relationship,” with some seeing the growth of “companionate” marriage as a sure indicator that marriage would increasingly become a relationship of equality ( Clark 1991 ). (See Young & Willmott 1973 for a particularly optimistic analysis.) Others, however, argued that marriage continued to be a structurally unequal relationship as a consequence of both the differential opportunities open to men and women, especially in the workplace, and the continuation of a highly gendered division of labor within the home (see, e.g., Delphy & Leonard 1992 ). One of the earliest – and most cited – studies examining the distribution of power within marriage was conducted by Robert Blood and Donald Wolfe in Husbands and Wives: The Dynamics of Married Living (1960). In this, they report on a study in which over 900 wives were interviewed about the character of ... log in or subscribe to read full text