F+H Changing family patterns

What are the changing patterns of divorce?

Since the 1960s, there has been a large increase in the number of divorces in the UK.

Divorce rates peaked in 1993 and have since fallen.

This is because now fewer ppl are getting married in the first place, instead choosing to cohabit.

What did the 1969 Divorce law reform act do?

Made ‘irretrievable breakdown’ of marriage the sole grounds for divorce, established by proving unreasonable behaviour, adultery, desertion or separation.

Also allowed couples to divorce after they had been seperated for two years if they both desired to (5 years if only one wanted to).

What are the six explanations for an increase in divorce?

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1. Changes in the law - widening the grounds for divorce + equalising for the sexes.

2. Declining stigma and changing attitudes - ‘divorce became more socially acceptable’, Mitchell and Goody

3. Secularisation - decline in the influence of religion on society, churches’ opposition less significant

4. Rising expectations of marriage. Fletcher argues that the higher expectations people place on marriage today are a major cause of rising divorce rates - higher expectations less likely to tolerate an unhappy marriage.

5. Women’s increased financial independence.

6. Feminist explanations - dual burden.

Partnerships: Why are fewer people marrying? 3

• more remarriages - “serial monogamy”- pattern of marriage, divorce, re-marriage.

• People are marrying later

• More cohabitation.

Reasons for changing patterns of marriage. 4

• Changing attitudes - less pressure to marry- the norm of marriage is weakened.

• Secularization - church influence declines - people feel freer to choose not to marry.

• Changes in the position of women - less economically dependent on men

• Fear of divorce.

What are some different households? 3

Cohabitation - rising due to decline in stigma surrounding sex outside marriage.

Same-sex relationships - impossible to judge if increased or not because in the past , stigma and illegality meant relationships were more likely to be hidden.

One-person households - big rise - three in ten households - mostly over 65 year-old men.

Parents and children: what are new childbearing patterns? 3

Nearly half of all children are now born outside of marriage (47%)

Women are now having children later (average late 20s now).

Women have had fewer children in the 20th century. More going childless.

Reasons for childbearing changes?

• Increases in cohabitation due to declining stigma and growing social acceptance help explain why nearly half of children are born outside of marriage
  Women want to establish themselves in a career which helps explain why the average age for women to have their first child is 28
  Women want to be able to return to their careers which helps explain why women now have fewer children to help reduce the amount of time spent out the workplace
  Women see themselves in terms of careers rather than mothers which helps explain why some women are choosing to remain childless so they can entirely focus on their job

What NEW RIGHT sociologists talks about lone-parent families.

CHARLES MURRAY sees the growth of lone-parent families as resulting from an over-generous welfare state providing benefits for unmarried mothers and their children.

Bean pole family

A long and thin type of vertically extended family, with just one or two members representing each generation.

Reconstituted Family

The joining of two adults via a divorce and remarriage who have children from previous relationships

3 Major Changes in the Family in the past 50 years

Cohabitation, same sex, lone parents families has increased,

The traditional nuclear family has declined because of more births outside marriage.

Women are having fewer children later in life. Fewer first marriages and more remarriage.

Divorce

Since the 60's there has been a huge increase in the number of divorces in the UK, approximately 40% of marriages now end in divorce

Explanations for Divorce: Changes in the Law

The divorce reform act widened the grounds for divorce, allowing divorce for the irretrievable breakdown of marriage. The act made divorce easier to obtain and led to the doubling of divorce rates.

Explanations for Divorce: Women's increased financial independence

Improvements in women's economic position due to education and careers has made them less financially dependent on a husband and therefore free to leave an unhappy marriage and support themselves.

The availability of welfare benefits means women feel less pressure to stay in a marriage as they don't rely on their husbands salary

Evaluation of Secularisation

A large number of first time marriages still take place within a religious context

Explanations for divorce: Rising Expectations

Some sociologists argue that couples today have higher expectations of marriage, and that once the honeymoon period has worn off couples are left disappointed with the reality of married life. Fletcher found that films offer an unrealistic image of marriage, which cannot live up to and this can help explain the high levels of divorce, particularly within the first few years of marriage. However, many divorcees choose to remarry, which demonstrates an ongoing commitment that people have to marriage.

Explanations for Divorce: Individualisation

According to many sociologists, people today aspire to personal fulfilment as opposed to following traditional norms and duties. For example, Beck and Giddens argue that nowadays people are unwilling to remain in an unhappy relationships if they do not feel fulfilled. This can explain the high rates of divorce in modern society. Although, it must be remembered that 60% of the marriages in the UK do not end in divorce, which shows that monogamy with one partner for life remains important.

New Right opinion on high divorce rates

High divorce creates a growing underclass of welfare state dependent lone parents who are a burden on society.

Feminist opinion on higher divorce rates

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

Postmodernist opinion on higher divorce rates

See high divorce rates as showing that individuals now have freedom to choose to end a relationship when it no longer meets their needs

Functionalist opinion on higher divorce rates

High divorce rates do not necessarily represent a threat to marriage as a social institution, but instead that people now have higher expectations. The high rates of remarriage show that people are still committed to marriage.

Interactionist opinion on higher divorce rates

Aim to understand what divorce means to the individual. Morgan argues that we cannot generalise about divorce because it means something different to all people. The personal life perspective argues that divorce has become normalised.

Evaluation point for cohabitation

Despite huge increases in cohabitation most couples who cohabit do still get married at some point in their lives, it could therefore be seen as a trial run to marriage, not an alternative.

Explanations for changing patterns of marriage: changes in the position of women

Due to better education, qualifications and career prospects women are now increasingly financially independent, this gives women greater freedom not to marry. The feminist view that marriage is oppressive and patriarchal puts many women off getting married, and they prefer to focus on their career
Ao3: Women still marry, they just increasingly get married later in life once they have established their own careers

Remarriage

Remarriages have increased, largely due to the rise in divorces. The two have grown together so that the rising number of divorces provides a supply of people available to remarry.

Marriage age is rising

The age at which couples marry is rising because young people are postponing marriage in order to spend longer in full time education, and establish themselves in a career.

Couples are likely to cohabit for an extended period of time before committing to marriage. This demonstrates a rise in serial monogamy (many long term, monogamous relationships during the course of an individuals life).

Same-sex relationships

it is estimated 5-7% of the adult population today are in same sex relationships. However, this may not be an increase compared to the past, as relationships may have been kept hidden due to stigma and illegibility. There is now increased acceptance of same sex relationships
The homosexual age of consent has been equalised with heterosexuals

One person households

Fewer people today are living in couples. There has been an increase in the numbers of people living alone. In 2013 approximately 3/10 households contained only one person. 40%. are pensionable age

Why women are more likely to head lone parent families

The widespread belief women are by nature more suited to the expressive role.
Men may be less willing than women to give up work for childcare.
New Right sociologist Charles Murray sees the growth of lone parent families as resulting from over generous welfare provisions, which provide benefits for single parents and children. This has created a dependency culture where people rely on the government to provide for them as opposed to earning their own money. Encourages women to have children outside of marriage as they can claim more benefits as lone parents.

Step families

Ferri and Smith found that step families are very similar to first families in all major aspects, the involvement of stepfamilies in child rearing and childcare is a positive one

Ethnic differences in family patterns - black families

High levels of immigration to the UK in the past 60 years has helped to create greater ethnic differences, and therefore contributed to changing family patterns. Black families have a higher proportion of lone parent families. In 2012 over half of families with dependent children headed by a black person were lone parent families. This can be contributed to by high rates of unemployment among black males leading to desertion. Mirza argues that black lone parent families demonstrates the high value black women place on independence

Ethnic differences in family patterns - Asian families

Asian families tend to be larger and extended. This is due to both having more family members living together and Asian nuclear families having more children. This reflects family values in Asian culture. Ballard - extended families provided an important source of support amongst Asian migrants in the 1950's.