Abstract
Since the early 1990s, the diversity of work–family arrangement models has increased in Spain. It is difficult to understand this phenomenon without attending to the Spanish population’s preferences for such models. This article analyses the attitudes towards gender roles, and family model preferences within a normative and socio-structural framework. Using data from the International Social Survey Programme 2012, we developed descriptive and explanatory analyses. The findings reveal contradictions between attitudes towards the mother’s and father’s work intensity and gender roles that seem to be resolved through preferences for a “hybrid” or “adaptive” family model. We also identified the determinants of family model preferences for both men and women. The results show that gender plays a significant role in explaining preferences (women are less likely than men to prefer the male-breadwinner family model) and that socio-structural factors such as age, education level, immigrant condition, religious status and social class influence the preferences of men and women differently. Ultimately, these results contrast with Hakim’s Preference Theory, which emphasises individuals’ choices over socio-structural factors as determinants of family models, and align with Crompton’s and Pfau-Effinger’s theories.
Highlights
Since the 1990s, diversity of family models has increased in Spanish society, suggesting that the traditional model of the male breadwinner is becoming a thing of the past
We examined the attitudes of the Spanish population towards gender roles and its preferences for family models based on theoretical antecedents and data from the 2012 “Family and Changing Gender Roles IV” Module of the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP)
(2011), among other studies on attitudes toward gender roles in diverse countries, enable us to confirm the influence of specific socio-structural factors such as sex, country of origin, education and profession on these attitudes. We extended this analysis by attempting to determine the influence of the socio-structural factors on the three factors indicated—the ideal work situation for the mother and father when the children are under six, attitudes toward gender roles and family model preferences
Summary
Since the 1990s, diversity of family models has increased in Spanish society, suggesting that the traditional model of the male breadwinner is becoming a thing of the past. Similar to Pfau-Effinger (2004a, 2004b, 2004c), we argue that relationships of mutual influence exist between the cultural and structural levels (attitudes and socio-structural factors, respectively) and the social actors’ actions. This argument is based on the theoretical contributions of Weber (Weber 1964), Lockwood (1964) and Archer (1995), who consider the conceptualisation of these interpellations as the foundation for analysis of social change. We understand the theoretical conceptualisation of preferences for family models to contain the prevailing ideas in a society (in this case, Spanish) of the most desirable way as the best way to attend to family and work outside the home, a concept that implies specific expectations about gender relations.
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