topic five - changing family patterns

Some reasons why family patterns have changed?

In the past 40 - 50 years there have been some major changes in the family and household patterns for example:

• divorce rates have increased

• There are fewer marriages, but more re marriages

• There are more lone parent families

• There are more step families and more couples with out children

Changing patterns in divorce

• since 1960s there has been a great increase in divorces in the uk

Peaking in 1993 at 165,000

• since then numbers have fallen - 118,000 in 2012

This rate means that about 40% of marriages will end in a divorce

• one reason for the fall in numbers of divorce is that fewer people are marrying and choosing to cohabit instead

• About 65% of applications for divorce now come form women. In 1946 only 37% of applications from women

• Couples whose marriages are at greater risk include those who marry young, have children before they marry or cohabitation before they marry

Explanations for the increase in divorce - changes in law

3 kinds of change in the law

• equalising the grounds - fro divorce between sexes, when the grounds where equalised for both men and women to file fro a divorce in 1923 it was followed by a sharp increase in the number of divorces from women

• Widening the grounds from divorce

• Making divorce cheaper

Other solutions to the problem of an unhappy marriage

• desertion - leave each other but still remain married

• Legal separation - court separates the financial and legal affairs remain married but not free to re marry

• ‘Empty shell marriage’ live under the same roof married in name only

Decline in stigma and changing attitudes

In the past divorce and divorcees have been stigmatised

Eg: churches tended to condemn divorce and often refused to conduct marriage involving divorcees

Juliet Mitchell and goody note that an important change since the 1960s has been the rapid decline in the stigma attached to divorce becomes more socially acceptable, couples become more willing to resort to divorce

Its more common and has become more ‘normalised’ which reduces the stigma attached to it

Secularisation

• divorce carries less weight in society and people are less likely to be influenced by religious teachings when making decisions about personal matter such as whether to file for a divorce or not

• At the same time man y churches have also begun to soften their views on divorce and divorcees because they are losing credibility with their members

Rising expectations of marriage

• Ronald felt her argues that the higher expectations people place on marriage today are a major cause of rising divorce rates higher expectations make couples less willing to tolerate an unhappy marriage

• By contrast individuals often has little choice in who they married and at a time when the family was also a unit of production marriages were often contracted largely for economic reasons or out of duty to one family

• Today marriage is increasingly viewed not as a binding contract but as a relationship in which individuals seek personal fufillment and this encourages couples to divorce if they do not find it

Women’s increased financial independence

• one reason fro women’s increased willingness to seek divorce is that improvements in their economic position have made them less financially dependent on their husband and therefore free to end a unsatisfactory marriage

• Women today are much more likely to be in paid work the proportion of women working rose from 53% in 1971 to 67% in 2013

• Girls greater success in education now helps them achieve better paid jobs than previous generations

• These developments mean women are more likely to be able to support themselves in a event of a divorce

Feminist explanation

• feminists argue that married women today bear a dual burden - they are required to take on paid work in addition to performing domestic labour feminists believe this has created a new source of conflict between husband and wives leading to higher divorce rates

• There have been big improvements in women’s positions in the public sphere of employment, education etc but feminists argue that in the private sphere of family change has been limited and slower

• Hochschild argued that for many women the home compares unfavourablely with work. At work women feel valued at home men continuing resistancce to doing housework is a source of frustration and makes marriage less stable

Modernity and individualisation

• beck and giddens argue that in modern society traditional norms such as the duty to remain with the same partner for life lose their head over individuals

• As a result each individual becomes free to pursue his or her own interests this view has become known as the individualisation thesis

• Modern society also encourages individualism in other ways for example - women as well as men are now expected to work and are encouraged to pursue their own individual career ambitions. This can cause conflict between spouses and contribute to martial breakdown

Explanations for the increase in divorce

• changes in law

• Declining stigma and changing attitudes

• Secularisation

• Rising expectations of marriage

• Women’s increased financial independence

• Feminist explanation

• Modernity and individualisation

The meaning of a high divorce rate - the new right

The new right sees a high divorce rate as undesirable because it undermines marriage and the traditional nuclear family, which they regard as vital to society stability

In their view a high divorce rate creates a growing underclass of welfare dependent female lone parents who are a burden on the state

The meaning of a high divorce rate - feminists

Feminists see a high divorce rate as desirable because it shows that women are breaking free from the oppression of the patriarchal nuclear family

Do postmodernists and the individualisation thesis see a high divorce rate as desirable or undesirable and why?

Sees a high divroce rate as showing that individuals now have freedom to choose to end a relationship when it no longer meets their needs they see it as a major cause of great family diversity

The meaning of a high divorce rate - functionalists

Argue a high divorce rate is not necessarily a threat to marriage as a social institutions it is simply the result of people’s higher expectation of marriage today

The meaning of high divroce rate - interactionalists

Aim to understand what divorce means to the individual

David Morden argues that we cannot generalise about the meaning of divorce because every individuals interpretation of it is different

The meaning of a high divroce rate - the personal life perspective

Accepts that divorce can cause problems such as financial difficulties and lack of daily contact between children and non resident parents

Some important changed in the pattern of marriage in recent years

• people are marrying later - the average age of first marriage rose by 7 years between 1971 - 2012 when it stood at 32 years old for men and 30 for women

• Couples are less likely to marry in church. In 1981 60% of weddings were conducted with religious ceremonies but by 2012 this had fallen to 30%

Reasons for changing patterns of marriage - changing attitudes to marriage

• there is less pressure to marry and more freedom for individuals to choose the type of relationship they want

• Quality of a couples relationship is more important than its legal status. The norm that everyone ought to get married has greatly weakened

Secularisation

The churches are in favour of marriage but as their influence declines people feel freer to choose not to marry

Declining stigma attached to alternatives to marriage

Cohabitation, remaining single and having children outside of marriage are all now widely regarded as acceptable so that pregnancy no longer automatically leads to a ‘shotgun wedding’

Changes in women’s position

With better educational and career prospects many women are now less economically dependent on men

The feminist view that marriage is an oppressive patriarchal institution may also dissuade some women from marrying

Fear of divorce

With rising divorce rates some may be put off of marrying because they see the increased likelihood of marriage ending in divorce

What is cohabitation

Involves an unmarried couple in a sexual relationship living together. while the number of marriages has been falling the number of couples cohabiting continues to increase

Reasons for the increase in cohabitation

• young people are more likely to accept cohabitation

• Increased career opportunities for women may mean they have less need for financial security of marriage and are freer to opt for cohabitation

Reasons for changing patterns in marriage

• changing attitudes to marriage

• Secularisation

• Declining stigma attached to Alternatives to marriage

• Changes in women’s position

• Fear of divorce