Sociology 8th Edition by Margaret Andersen ,Howard Taylor ,Kim Logio

Exercise 1

Men's Caregiving
Research Question: Much research has documented the fact that women do the majority of the housework and child care within families. Why? Many have explained it as the result of gender socialization-women learn early on to be nurturing and responsible for others, while men are less likely to do so. Yet, things are changing, and some men are more involved in the "care work" of family life. What explains whether men will be more engaged in family care work?
Research Method: Sociologists Naomi Gerstel and Sally Gallagher studied a sample of 188 married people. They interviewed ninety-four husbands and ninety-four wives, married to each other; the sample was 86 percent White and 14 percent African American but was too small to examine similarities or differences by race.
Research Results: You might expect that men who had attitudes expressing support for men's family responsibilities would be more involved in family care (defined by Gerstel and Gallagher to include elder care, child care, and various household tasks). But this is not what Gerstel and Gallagher found. Gender attitudes did not influence men's involvement in caregiving. Rather, the characteristics of the men's families were the most influential determinant of their engagement in housework and child care. Men whose wives spent the most time helping kin and men who had daughters were more likely to help kin. Having sons had no influence. But, in addition, men with more sisters tended to spend less time helping with elder parents than men with fewer sisters. Furthermore, men's employment (measured as hours employed, job flexibility, and job stability) did not affect their involvement in care work.
Conclusions and Implications: It is the social structure of the family, not gender beliefs, that shapes men's involvement in family work. As they put it, "It is primarily the women in men's lives who shape the amount and types of care men provide" (Gerstel and Gallagher 2001: 211). This study shows a most important sociological point: Social structure, not just individual attitudes, is the most significant determinant of social behavior.
Questions to Consider
Who does the work in your family? Is it related to the social organization of your family, as Gerstel and Gallagher find in other families?