Expressive Leader in Families

Synonyms

Emotional leader; Socio-emotional specialist

Introduction

While many factors affect intrafamilial relationships, it is generally agreed that the family is an economic unit as well as a social unit. Thus, it was expected that economic (instrumental) and social (expressive) roles would evolve to preserve the unit. The instrumental leader can be described as the task specialist, whereas the expressive leader can be described as the socio-emotional specialist*.

Theoretical Context for Concept

In the mid-twentieth century, sociologists began to question the appropriation of roles among partners within American households. This division of roles was evidenced most poignantly in the heterosexual, middle-class, Euro-American family of the time where wives/mothers tended to the internal affairs of the home (also called the private sphere), while husbands/fathers tended to the external demands (public sphere) of the home. These roles began to take on new, independent meaning for the...