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Chapter 10 Power the ability to exercise one s will Power exercised over oneself is personal power or autonomy Having a comfortable degree of personal power is important to self development Social power is the ability of people to exercise their wills over the wills of others Intimate partner power the analysis of power in couples originally focused on marriage but has extended to include couples who are not married both heterosexual cohabiters and same sex partners Marital partners husbands and wives Marital power involves decision making who makes decisions about everything from where the couple will live to how they will spend leisure time Division of labor who earns money Who does the work around the house Allocation of money earned by either or both who controls spending for the household Who has access to personal spending money Sense of empowerment being able to influence one s partner feeling free to raise complaints to one s spouse about the relationship o The concept involves both objective measures and power who actually makes more or more important decisions etc and a subjective measure of fairness in the marriage Equity rewards and privileges of the relationship are proportional to the contributions of the partners Equality both partners should share equally the rights and responsibilities of the relationship o When partners perceive themselves as reciprocally respected listened to and supported by the other they are more apt to define themselves as equal partners less depressed happier more satisfied with their marriage Power bases o Coercive power based on the dominant person s ability and willingness to punish the partner either with psychological emotional abuse or physical violence or more subtly by withholding favors or affection o Slapping a mate or spanking a child are examples of coercive power so is refusing to talk to the other person the silent treatment o Reward power based on the individual s ability to give material or nonmaterial gifts and favors ranging from emotional support and attention to financial support or recreational travel o Expert power stems from the dominant person s superior judgment knowledge or o Informational power is based on the persuasive content of what the dominant person o Referent power an individual gets emotional satisfaction from thinking as the more o Legitimate power the dominant individual s ability to claim authority or the right to ability tells another individual dominant person does request compliance In traditional marriages this involves acceptance by both partners of the husband s role as head of the family o Economic dependence of one partner on the other results in the dependent partner s being less powerful reward power and coercive power if I can reward you with financial support or threaten to take it away then I am more able to exert power over you Resource hypothesis the spouse with more resources education experience good judgment and earnings has more power in the marriage o the relative power of wives and husbands results from their relative resources o Most valuable the ability to provide money o 72 relatively egalitarian 25 husband made most decisions 3 wife dominated Criticism of the resource hypothesis the decisions made by wives were generally less important than those typically made by husbands o Important areas weren t included sexual life how many children to have how much freedom partners have from same or opposite sex friendships o Critics stated that power between spouses involves far more than which partner makes the most final decisions deciding what alternatives are going to be considered may be the real decision o Marital power is more than decision making it also implies the autonomy of wives and husbands along with the division of labor in marriages Husbands usually earn more money so they have access to more economic resources Husbands are often older better educated at the time of the study Husbands are more likely to have status and they may be more knowledgeable expert or informational power Greater physical strength coercive power Men can marry more readily than women In a traditional society male authority is legitimate power this is termed resources in cultural context it stresses the idea that resources are not effective in conferring marital power in traditional societies the legitimate male dominance with patriarchal norm The generation born in the US has moved to a transitional egalitarian situation typical of the rest of the country in which husband wife relationships are more flexible and negotiated and socioeconomic achievements become the basis for negotiation within the family The cultural context conditions resource theory It traditional norms of male authority are strong husbands will almost inevitably dominate regardless of personal resources It is only in the present transitional egalitarian situation in which neither patriarchal norms nor egalitarian norms are firmly entrenched that marital power is negotiated by individual couples and the power of husbands and wives may be a consequence of their resources Referent power a wife has considerable power through her husband s love for her o wife still holds less powerful position o women s power is high if husband needs her and lets her know o women desire more expression of feelings men are encouraged to engage in emotion work express emotion to their wives Cultural ideal today spousal and partner equality and of shared work and family roles Women s satisfaction with the fairness of their partners contributions to household work is strongly associated with women s relationship happiness marital commitment and depression and with the risk of marital disruption Work gives women access to knowledge that either gives them direct control or sometimes allows them an extra measure of influence in joint decision making o Thus women s informational power can offset men s resource or legitimate power or enable them to have the influence that their own resource power apparently does not Allocation systems whether they pool their money and who controls pooled or separate money o The joint account was not jointly controlled o Women may spend personal money on household needs otherwise egalitarian men may assume they have veto power over major decisions This is an example of traditional legitimate power ascribed to a male overriding the wife s resource power The bases of marital power interplays the three bases of social power


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FSU FAD 2230 - Chapter 10

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