Abstract
In 1957, Elizabeth Bott argued that the organization of family and social networks are intertwined and that the structure and composition of social networks are associated with the ways in which spouses divide household and paid labor. While this idea became a classic in the literature addressing the division of labor, societies have changed tremendously in the past 50 years, and it has become far more common for spouses to divide their labor more equally. In addition, the causal direction is not clear: Do networks affect the division of labor or vice versa? We inquired as to the causal relationship using a large-scale longitudinal data set, collected in 2009/2010 and 2011/2012 (n = 2477; PAIRFAM [Panel Analysis of Intimate Relationships and Family Dynamics]). We found moderate support for the hypothesis that personal networks influence the division of labor in households, but there were stronger effects for the reverse—that is, that the division of labor affects network patterns, particularly for women.
Highlights
In 1957, Elizabeth Bott argued that the organization of family and social networks are intertwined and that the structure and composition of social networks are associated with the ways in which spouses divide household and paid labor
Division of labor, personal network, marriage, Elizabeth Bott, PAIRFAM. In her classic 1957 study titled Family and Social Network, Elizabeth Bott argued that social networks affect how people organize their families. She observed that spouses who both have a close-knit network outside their family had a clear division of tasks, while spouses who both had a less dense social network more shared tasks such as working, cleaning, and child rearing
Bott elaborated on this relationship between the organization of the family and the composition and structure of social networks, and she developed several hypotheses, of which the above mentioned is the most well-known: A close-knit, dense network results in segregated conjugal roles and a clear division of labor between husband and wife
Summary
In 1957, Elizabeth Bott argued that the organization of family and social networks are intertwined and that the structure and composition of social networks are associated with the ways in which spouses divide household and paid labor. Bott elaborated on this relationship between the organization of the family and the composition and structure of social networks, and she developed several hypotheses, of which the above mentioned is the most well-known: A close-knit, dense network results in segregated conjugal roles and a clear division of labor between husband and wife.
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