Assignment 2

1.  According to the functionalist theory, the definition of the instrumental leader is the person who led the group discussion about how to accomplish the task they had been assigned. The definition of an expressive leader was the person who kept up the group's spirit with warm, supportive remarks and jokes.  The family role of the husband was the instrumental leader because his labor provided the financial support for the family.  The stay-at-home wife was the expressive leader because she provided emotional support for her husband and children.  

2. The main demographic change that led theorists to be critical of the functionalist perspective was the growing body of sociological research that was influenced by the resurgence of the feminist movement in the 1960's. 


3. The main theme of conflict theory is inequality, power, and social change. Conflict theorist’s study how individuals, or groups of individuals, come to dominate others and the circumstances under which those who are dominated are able to reduce or eliminate the disadvantages they face.  


4. Social exchange theory is based on the ideas of human behavior.  People are viewed as rational beings that decide whether to exchange goods or services by considering the benefits they will receive, the costs they will incur, and the benefits they might receive if they chose an alternative course of action.  Exchange theorists believe that the degree of dependency is greater the more highly person A values the goods and services of person B, and the fewer alternative sources person A has. Also, the more dependent person A is on person B, the more power person B has. When one person is more powerful then the other, he or she may be able to shape the exchange so that he or she receives greater benefits and incurs fewer costs then the other person.  Husbands are in stronger bargaining positions when they are the sole earner in their family, because their wives have fewer alternative sources of income.  


5. Gender/Feminist theory is based on the main idea of the inequalities between men and women.  The central concept is gender and how the gender differences we see in the roles of men and women are of cultural origin and has been socially constructed. By socially constructed, they mean arising not from biological differences but rather from culturally accepted rules, from relationships of power and authority, and from differences in economic opportunities


6.  Yes, the power of wives versus husbands is changing, because women are becoming more powerful in today’s society, and are growing to become equally capable to men, to achieve the same goals. Women are gaining more recognition in society.  A demographic that has changed the power women have to men in society is that women are having less and less children, so they can work and have a career.  Today, more women in there 40’s are childless, when in 1970 only 1 in 10 women were.