1. According to functionalist theory, what was the definition of the "instrumental leader" and what was the definition of an "expressive leader."
The “instrumental leader” is an individual that becomes known as the person who would lead a group discussion and devise ways in which to perform a delegated task. The “expressive leader” is also known as the “socioemotional leader”. This individual ensured the group’s moral was positive and full of support.
What family roles were connected to each of these leader definitions?
The husband was defined as the “instrumental leader” provided that he was the provider of income whereas the wife was labeled the “expressive leader” due to her emotional support for the family.
2. What main demographic change during the 1960s and 1970s led theorists to be critical of the functionalist perspective?
The feminist movement of the 1960’s forced theorists to modify their research on the functionalist perspective. Women have now entered the workforce more than in the past decade and the men were no longer viewed as the primary source of income.
3. In contrast to functionalist theorists, in your own words, what is the main theme of conflict theory?
The position of men versus women in both the workplace and society is the main theme of the conflict theory.
4. Social exchange theory is based on ideas from what discipline (not sociology). What do exchange theorist’s say about husbands bargaining power versus that of wives?
The social exchange theory is based on the ideas from the efficiency of men and women and the choice they make on the benefits to be received.
The husband’s bargaining power is stronger when he is the exclusive income earner per the exchange theorists.
5. Feminist theory is based on what main idea?
The main concept to the feminist theory is gender and its social and cultural traits.
6. After reading about the various methods or ways that we collect data to study the family, tell us:
A) A research question about family/relationship satisfaction.
How often do you sit down as a family for dinner?
B) Do you want to study the family at the micro or macro level?
My study would be conducted at the micro level. The study would involve families with children under (18) in Essex County. Family would be defined as (2) parents (heterosexual or homosexual) married or cohabiting with one or more children under the age of (18).
C. What method will you use to collect data? Refer to the methods listed in the lecture slides.
I will start my data collection with a mailed questionnaire to the randomly selected families in Essex County that have children under (18). Once I have received enough participants for the study, I will perform a face-to-face field observation with follow up open-ended interview questions.
D) How many people will be in your study?
In my study, there will be (30) family samples of multiple backgrounds.
E) Devise 3 questions you will ask them to answer your research question.
1. How important do you feel eating dinner as a family is and why?
Very important – somewhat important – not important
2. Family dinners are a great time to open the lines of communication. What is a popular dinnertime conversation that you have with your child/children?
3. Do you have any traditional dinnertime rituals? Theme nights/dinner games?
Heather: Most of your answers are correct and conplte. Your answer for conflict theory is not quite there. You need to compare structural functionalism to conflict theory, maybe re-read.
ReplyDeleteYour idea to study family dinners is very interesting. I had a student do a senior thesis on that topic. If you are using a survey, however, you would normally have a larger sample size. Smaller samples would be for observation or in-depth interviews.