Is the British family a patriarchal institution?
A patriarchy family is a social system in which the male has the most authority in the family. There are many different arguments for and against the question, “is the British family a patriarchal institution?” The key topics for this discussion include: the division of domestic labour; the impact of paid work; the decision making and the control of the family finances; the “triple shift”; and domestic violence. All of these points have arguments supporting and opposing the question in hand and different sociological perspectives will have very different views on all of these matters. Feminists, for example, will most likely agree with the question and will try to prove that the British family is a patriarchal institute, whereas functionalists would argue that the members of the family all of separate roles and purposes in order to fulfil society’s needs, therefore being more likely to oppose the feminist view.

Domestic labour is work performed in the home, e.g. cooking, cleaning, and childcare. Some functionalists, such as Parsons, view that traditional division of labour in a family reflects the biological differences men and women. He also believes that everybody benefits from this as society's needs are met due to the roles being complimentary of each other; the male’s traditional roles of being the “breadwinners” and the women's “expressive” role help everyone involved in the family and society. The “march of progress” view claims that the conjugal roles in the family are gradually improving and are becoming more equal and symmetrical. Willmott and Young have also argued that due to the fact that the number of women workers has risen significantly, men are more likely to help with the domestic duties; this has been called the rise of the “New Man”. However, feminists would disagree with the functionalist view