The Breadwinner/Housewife Model: The Ideal Family

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The ideal family is portrayed to society as a breadwinner husband and stay at home wife. Through analyzing my family of origin, and being able to contextualize different and relevant sociological theories and concepts, it can be seen that the breadwinner / housewife model allows for children to be taught that there are specific gender roles and socializations associated with being a female or a male, as well as relying heavy on patriarchy and not matriarchy. When evaluating the housewife/breadwinner model as an ideal family, one must be able to analyze sociological terms and theories relating to this specific concept. Luxton and Fox identify multiple types of families that are prominent in society. In regards to the breadwinner/housewife model …show more content…

Secondly, when looking at the breadwinner/housewife model as ideal, one must also look at the idea of patriarchy. Luxton and Fox(2014,page:4) define patriarchy as a kind of marriage contract that spousal relations are related to class relations, as husbands benefit from the unpaid labour of their wife. This is seen to many feminist as a system of relations among men, used to control woman(Clark-Rapley, lesion 1). My family of origin aligns with Fox and Luxton’s definition of a nuclear family. My mom and dad have been married for 27 years living in one house with my older sister and myself. However, my family differs in the aspect of having a breadwinner farther and a stay at home mom. Since I was little my mom was working as well as my dad, and I had a nanny that stayed at home with me during the day. My family dynamic, growing up can be interconnected to the concept of the family economy. The family economy can be exemplified through the idea that the interdependence of work and residence of the household labour needs, subsistence requirements and family relationships was constituted as family economy. The labour needs of the house define the tasks that must get done and not gender(Clark-Rapley, Lesson 1). In the morning my mom and dad would both

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