Final answer:
Spouse-dominant decision making means one partner has more control over decisions in a marriage, often based on access to resources like money, leading to traditional gender roles and potential marital discord.
Step-by-step explanation:
Spouse-dominant decision making implies that one partner in a marriage has more influence or control over decisions, often due to having greater access to valuable resources such as money. This concept links to the findings of the first study of marital power in 1960, where researchers found that typically, the person with the most access to value resources held the most power. In many traditional contexts, this meant that men who worked in paid labor outside of the home held more power than women primarily engaged in unpaid household labor. Consequently, this power dynamic was associated with the definition of gender roles, with men often making the big decisions and women's roles being more circumscribed. Conflict theorists highlight that such imbalances in decision-making power can lead to marital discord, particularly around the division of household labor, an area with its own dynamics of power and authority.