Partner effects

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Partner effects refer to the ways in which a spouse or consensual mate influences the life of their significant other. More specifically, the effect a partner has on another's career and overall occupational status. In the past, less research had been done to observe the effects of spousal education and status position on one another because it had been assumed that the wife would adopt the husband's status. Over the past few decades, however, opportunity for women in the workplace has increased dramatically giving them a larger role in overall family income and status. Women's expanded role has brought about many changes in the opportunities for families. [1]

Marriage Social union or legal contract between people called spouses that creates kinship

Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a socially or ritually recognised union between spouses that establishes rights and obligations between those spouses, as well as between them and any resulting biological or adopted children and affinity. The definition of marriage varies around the world not only between cultures and between religions, but also throughout the history of any given culture and religion, evolving to both expand and constrict in who and what is encompassed, but typically it is principally an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually sexual, are acknowledged or sanctioned. In some cultures, marriage is recommended or considered to be compulsory before pursuing any sexual activity. When defined broadly, marriage is considered a cultural universal. A marriage ceremony is known as a wedding.

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Time use and productivity

Partners often face time budget problems when both are working full-time. Therefore, partners have to devise a plan to balance between paid and unpaid work. Unpaid work includes domestic work around the house, such as cooking and cleaning. Couples must decide how much time each person will spend in the labor force and how much time they will spend doing domestic work. Most often this decision is weighed by comparative advantage. While this is often the most productive way to reach a balance in time, it generally places women in the domestic work and men in the labor market. [1]

Unpaid work

Unpaid labor is defined as labor that does not receive any direct remuneration. This is a form of 'non-market work' which can fall into one of two categories: (1) unpaid work that is placed within the production boundary of the System of National Accounts (SNA), such as gross domestic product (GDP), and (2) unpaid work that falls outside of the production boundary, such as domestic labor that occurs inside households for their consumption. Unpaid labor is visible in many forms and isn't limited to activities within a household. Other types of unpaid labor activities include volunteering as a form of charity work and interning as a form of unpaid employment.

The law or principle of comparative advantage holds that under free trade, an agent will produce more of and consume less of a good for which they have a comparative advantage. Comparative advantage is the economic reality describing the work gains from trade for individuals, firms, or nations, which arise from differences in their factor endowments or technological progress. In an economic model, agents have a comparative advantage over others in producing a particular good if they can produce that good at a lower relative opportunity cost or autarky price, i.e. at a lower relative marginal cost prior to trade. One shouldn't compare the monetary costs of production or even the resource costs of production. Instead, one must compare the opportunity costs of producing goods across countries.

Career opportunities

There are two possibilities that influence a partner's career opportunities.

The first possibility is that the spouse will positively effect on the other's career. This often happens when one can use their partner's social network to better themselves in the labor market. [1] Research has also found that married men tend to make more money and increase wages at a faster rate versus single men. Research suggests that when a man gains a new partner, he loses some of the domestic responsibilities and can put forth more energy toward his job. [2] This gain in ability can be seen as a positive partner effect on a career opportunity.

Social network Theoretical concept in sociology

A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors, sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for analyzing the structure of whole social entities as well as a variety of theories explaining the patterns observed in these structures. The study of these structures uses social network analysis to identify local and global patterns, locate influential entities, and examine network dynamics.

The second possibility of a partner's influence on a career opportunity is a negative effect. This means that by obtaining a spouse, one of the partners is now restricted in the labor force. This negative influence can be seen in the economic theory of comparative advantage. [1] If it is more efficient for the husband to work in the labor force full-time and the wife to work at home full-time, it can be viewed as a negative effect on the wife's career. Another example of a partner's negative impact on career opportunity is when the family must move because of a job change. This is a common occurrence and can ultimately decrease the opportunities for career advancement in the new area. On the contrary, in some circumstances it can positively effect the partner and broaden their career outlook.

Labor effects on health

When viewing the effects of labor on health, one would assume that with more earnings, more can purchase advanced health care. While this statement is true, there can also be other factors that affect the health care of workers and their spouses. Studies have shown that there can actually be a negative effect on people when their spouses work excessive amounts. According to Ross Stolzenberg, when a man's wife works more than forty hours a week it shows largely negative effects on the husband. Strangely, women's health on the other hand is generally not affected by the number of hours their husband works. [3]

Earnings are the net benefits of a corporation's operation. Earnings is also the amount on which corporate tax is due. For an analysis of specific aspects of corporate operations several more specific terms are used as EBIT -- earnings before interest and taxes, EBITDA - earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.

Health care Prevention of disease and promotion of wellbeing

Health care or healthcare is the maintenance or improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health professionals in allied health fields. Physicians and physician associates are a part of these health professionals. Dentistry, midwifery, nursing, medicine, optometry, audiology, pharmacy, psychology, occupational therapy, physical therapy and other health professions are all part of health care. It includes work done in providing primary care, secondary care, and tertiary care, as well as in public health.

See also

Family economics applies economic concepts such as production, division of labor, distribution, and decision making to the study of the family. It tries to explain outcomes unique to family—such as marriage, the decision to have children, fertility, polygamy, time devoted to domestic production, and dowry payments using economic analysis.

A double burden is the workload of people who work to earn money, but who are also responsible for significant amounts of unpaid domestic labor. This phenomenon is also known as the Second Shift as in Arlie Hochschild's book of the same name. In couples where both partners have paid jobs, women often spend significantly more time than men on household chores and caring work, such as childrearing or caring for sick family members. This outcome is determined in large part by traditional gender roles that have been accepted by society over time. Labor market constraints also play a role in determining who does the bulk of unpaid work.

Material feminism highlights capitalism and patriarchy as central in understanding women's oppression. Under materialist feminism, gender is seen as a social construct, and society forces gender roles, such as bearing children, onto women. Materialist feminism's ideal vision is a society in which women are treated socially and economically the same as men. The theory centers on social change rather than seeking transformation within the capitalist system. Jennifer Wicke, defines materialist feminism as "a feminism that insists on examining the material conditions under which social arrangements, including those of gender hierarchy, develop... materialist feminism avoids seeing this gender hierarchy as the effect of a singular... patriarchy and instead gauges the web of social and psychic relations that make up a material, historical moment". She states that "...materialist feminism argues that material conditions of all sorts play a vital role in the social production of gender and assays the different ways in which women collaborate and participate in these productions". Material feminism also considers how women and men of various races and ethnicities are kept in their lower economic status due to an imbalance of power that privileges those who already have privilege, thereby protecting the status quo. Materialist feminists ask whether people have access to free education, if they can pursue careers, have access or opportunity to become wealthy, and if not, what economic or social constraints are preventing them from doing so, and how this can be changed.

Related Research Articles

Sterilization is any of a number of medical methods of birth control that intentionally leaves a person unable to reproduce. Sterilization methods include both surgical and non-surgical, and exist for both males and females. Sterilization procedures are intended to be permanent; reversal is generally difficult or impossible.

George Ritzer American sociologist

George Ritzer is an American sociologist, professor, and author who studies globalization, metatheory, patterns of consumption, and modern and postmodern social theory. His most notable contribution to date is his concept of McDonaldization, which draws upon Max Weber's idea of rationalization through the lens of the fast food industry. In addition to creating his own theories, Ritzer has also written many general sociology books, including Introduction to Sociology (2012) as well as Essentials to Sociology (2014), and modern and postmodern social theory textbooks. He coined the term “McDonaldization”. Currently, Ritzer is a Distinguished Professor at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Common-law marriage, also known as sui iuris marriage, informal marriage, marriage by habit and repute, or marriage in fact, is a legal framework in a limited number of jurisdictions where a couple is legally considered married, without that couple having formally registered their relation as a civil or religious marriage. The original concept of a "common-law marriage" is a marriage that is considered valid by both partners, but has not been formally recorded with a state or religious registry, or celebrated in a formal religious service. In effect, the act of the couple representing themselves to others as being married, and organizing their relation as if they were married, acts as the evidence that they are married.

In family law, effects of marriage is a legal term of art used to describe all of the rights and obligations that individuals may be subject and entitled to if they are in a common-law marriage, an annulled marriage, domestic partnership or a civil union.

Significant other (SO) is colloquially used as a gender-neutral term for a person's partner in an intimate relationship without disclosing or presuming anything about marital status, relationship status, or sexual orientation. Synonyms with similar properties include sweetheart, better half, other half, spouse, domestic partner, lover, soulmate, or life partner.

A widow is a woman whose spouse has died and a widower is a man whose spouse has died. The treatment of widows and widowers around the world varies.

Sociological studies of the family look at:

Women in Japan

While women in Japan were recognized as having equal legal rights to men after World War II, economic conditions for women remain unbalanced. Modern policy initiatives to encourage motherhood and workplace participation have had mixed results.

Hypergamy

Hypergamy is a term used in social science for the act or practice of a person marrying a spouse of higher caste or social status than themselves.

Husband male spouse

A husband is a male in a marital relationship. The rights and obligations of a husband regarding his spouse and others, and his status in the community and in law, vary between cultures and have varied over time.

Life chances is a social science theory of the opportunities each individual has to improve their quality of life. The concept was introduced by German sociologist Max Weber. It is a probabilistic concept, describing how likely it is, given certain factors, that an individual's life will turn out a certain way. According to this theory, life chances are positively correlated with one's socioeconomic status.

Social inequality

Social inequality occurs when resources in a given society are distributed unevenly, typically through norms of allocation, that engender specific patterns along lines of socially defined categories of persons. It is the differentiation preference of access of social goods in the society brought about by power, religion, kinship, prestige, race, ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, and class. The social rights include labor market, the source of income, health care, and freedom of speech, education, political representation, and participation. Social inequality linked to economic inequality, usually described on the basis of the unequal distribution of income or wealth, is a frequently studied type of social inequality. Though the disciplines of economics and sociology generally use different theoretical approaches to examine and explain economic inequality, both fields are actively involved in researching this inequality. However, social and natural resources other than purely economic resources are also unevenly distributed in most societies and may contribute to social status. Norms of allocation can also affect the distribution of rights and privileges, social power, access to public goods such as education or the judicial system, adequate housing, transportation, credit and financial services such as banking and other social goods and services.

Occupational inequality is the unequal treatment of people based on gender, sexuality, height, weight, accent, or race in the workplace. When researchers study trends in occupational inequality they usually focus on distribution or allocation pattern of groups across occupations, for example, the distribution of men compared to women in a certain occupation. Secondly, they focus on the link between occupation and income, for example, comparing the income of whites with blacks in the same occupation.

Domestic violence pattern of behavior which involves the abuse by one partner against another

Domestic violence is violence or other abuse by one person against another in a domestic setting, such as in marriage or cohabitation. It may be termed intimate partner violence when committed by a spouse or partner in an intimate relationship against the other spouse or partner, and can take place in heterosexual or same-sex relationships, or between former spouses or partners. Domestic violence can also involve violence against children, parents, or the elderly. It takes a number of forms, including physical, verbal, emotional, economic, religious, reproductive, and sexual abuse, which can range from subtle, coercive forms to marital rape and to violent physical abuse such as choking, beating, female genital mutilation, and acid throwing that results in disfigurement or death. Domestic murders include stoning, bride burning, honor killings, and dowry deaths.

Social undermining is the expression of negative emotions directed towards a particular person or negative evaluations of the person as a way to prevent the person from achieving their goals. This behavior can often be attributed to certain feelings, such as dislike or anger. The negative evaluation of the person may involve criticizing their actions, efforts or characteristics. Social undermining is seen in relationships between family members, friends, personal relationships and co-workers. Social undermining can affect a person's mental health, including an increase in depressive symptoms. This behavior is only considered social undermining if the person's perceived action is intended to hinder their target. When social undermining is seen in the work environment the behavior is used to hinder the co-worker's ability to establish and maintain a positive interpersonal relationship, success and a good reputation. Examples of how an employee can use social undermining in the work environment are behaviors that are used to delay the work of co-workers, to make them look bad or slow them down, competing with co-workers to gain status and recognition and giving co-workers incorrect or even misleading information about a particular job.

Added worker effect

The added worker effect refers to an increase in the labor supply of married women when their husbands become unemployed. Underlying the theory is the assumption that married women are secondary workers with a less permanent attachment to the labor market than their partners. As statistics show, married women do not always behave as secondary workers; therefore, the effect is not a universal phenomenon.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to domestic violence:

Commuter couples are a subset of dual-career couples who live apart in separate residences while both partners pursue careers.

The widowhood effect is the increase in the probability of a person dying a relatively short time after their long-time spouse has died. The pattern indicates a sharp increase in risk of death for the widower, particularly but not exclusively, in the three months closest thereafter the death of the spouse. This process of losing a spouse and dying shortly after has also been called "dying of a broken heart". Becoming a widow is often a very detrimental and life changing time in a spouse's life, that forces them to go through changes that they may not have anticipated to make for a significant amount of time. Responses of grief and bereavement due to the loss of a spouse increases vulnerability to psychological and physical illnesses.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 De Graaf, Paul M. "Stratification: Partner Effects." Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology. Ritzer, George (Ed). Blackwell Publishing, 2007. Blackwell Reference Online
  2. ↑ Thorn, Elizabeth. "Gender, Work, and Family." Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology. Ritzer, George (Ed). Blackwell Publishing, 2007. Blackwell Reference Online. 12
  3. ↑ Stolzenberg, Ross M. "It's about Time and Gender: Spousal Employment and Health." The American Journal of Sociology 107 (2001): 61-100.
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