Gender and Domestic Labour in Classical Sociology

About the lecture

In this lecture, we think about gender and domestic labour in classical sociological theory, particularly functionalism, focusing in particular on: (i) the relative neglect within early sociology of work within the household as an important aspect of society; (ii) Talcott Parsons’ theory of the nuclear family as a “functional fit” for modern industrial society; (iii) the assumption within this theory that women were naturally best placed to perform the “expressive” role within the family and men the “instrumental”; (iv) the emergence of feminist critiques of this approach to the domestic division of labour.

About the lecturer

Dr Vicki Harman is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Surrey. Her research interests include family life, motherhood and gender. She is co-editor of Feeding Children Inside and Outside the Home (2019) and Mothering, Mixed Families and Racialised Boundaries (2015), and author of The Sexual Politics of Ballroom Dancing (2018).