Sociology - Families and Households: Marriage and Divorce - Part 1

How has changes in the law been a reason for the increase in divorce?

Divorce was very difficult to obtain in 19th century Britain, especially for women. Gradually, changes in the law have made divorce easier. There have been three kinds of changes in the law:

a. Equalising the grounds (the legal reasons) for divorce between the sexes.

b. Widening the grounds for divorce.

c. Making divorce cheaper.

Since, the divorce reform act in 1971 has widened the ground for 'irretrievable breakdown' made divorce easier to obtain and produced a doubling of the divorce rate almost overnight.

How has declining stigma and changing attitudes been a reason for the increase in divorce?

- It refers to the negative label, social disproval or shame attached to a person, action or relationship. In the past, divorce and divorcees have been stigmatised e.g. churches tended to condemn divorce and often refused to conduct marriage services invoking divorcees.

- Julia Mitchell and Jack Goody (1997) note that an important change since the 1960s has been the rapid decline in the stigma attached to divorce. As stigma decline and divorce becomes more socially acceptable, couples become more willing to resort to divorce, as a means of solving their marital problem. In turn, the fact that divorce is now more common begins to 'normalise' it and reduces the stigma attached to it. Rather than being seen as shameful, today it is more likely to be regarded simply as a misfortune.

How has secularisation been a reason for the increase in divorce?

As a result of secularisation (the decline in the influence of religion in society), the traditional opposition of the churches to divorce carries less weight in society and people are less likely to be influenced by religious teachings, when making decisions about personal matters such as whether or not to file for a divorce.

How has Women's increased financial independence been a reasons for the increase in divorce?

One reason for women's increased willingness to seek a divorce is that improvement in their economic position have made them less financially dependent on their husbands and therefore freer to end an unsatisfactory marriage e.g. the proportion of women (16-64 years) working in the UK rose from 53% in 1971 to 64% in 1990, 67% in 2013 and up to 73% in January 2023.

How has rising expectations of marriage contributed to increase in divorces?

The ideology of love has given people an inflated view on what marriage should be like and couples are less willing to tolerate an unhappy marriage. When love dies, there is no longer any justification for remaining married and every reason to divorce so as to be able to renew the search for one's true soul-mate. In the past, people often married for economic reasons, so they had lower expectations and were less likely to be dissatisfied by the absence of romance and intimacy.

How has Domestic Tension contributed to increase in divorces?

- Feminists argue that married women bear a dual burden; they are required to take on paid work in addition to performing domestic labour (housework and childcare). This has created a new source of conflict between husbands and wives, and this is leading to a higher divorce than in the past.

- While there may have been big improvements in women's position in the public sphere of employment, education, and politics etc., feminists argue that in the private sphere of family and personal relationships, change has been limited and slow. They argue that marriage remains patriarchal and men's continuing resistance in doing housework is a source of frustration and make marriage less stable.

How has Modernity and Individualisation contributed to increase in divorces?

- Sociologists such as Ulrich Beck (1992) and Anthony Giddens (1992) argue that in modern society, traditional norms, such as the duty to remain with the same partner for life, lose their hold on individuals. As a result, each individual becomes free to pursue his or her own self-interest. People have greater individual freedom of choice. This view has became known as the individualisation thesis.

- Relationships thus become more fragile, because individuals become unwilling to remain with a partner if the relationship fails to deliver personal fulfilment. Instead, they seek what Giddens calls the 'pure relationship' - one that exists solely to satisfy each partner's needs and not out of a sense of duty, tradition or for the sake of children.

How has greater availability of, and more effective contraception contributed to increases in divorce?

This has made it safer to have sex outside the martial relationship, and with more than one person during marriage. This weakens traditional constraints on fidelity to a marriage partner, and potentially exposes relationships to greater instability.

How has longer life expectancy contributed to increases in divorces?

People are living longer, which means the potential number of years a couple may be together, before one of dies. This give more time for marriages to go wrong and for divorces to occur.

How do the New Right thinker such as Morgan see the decrease in marriage & increase in divorce?

- Dr Patricia Morgan (2000) expressed concerns about decline in marriage. Morgan argues that marriage is centrally important to society, morality, and social order because it involves unique attachments, obligations and mutual expectations that legally and ethically regulate and limit people's behaviour.

- In her view, marriage contributes to social stability. She argues that married people make better parents, workers and citizens became marriage reinforces and promotes the sharing of the same legal and social duties and obligations to the community. In this sense, marriage helps bind the individual to society. She also argues that marriage is good for the health and wealth of the married couple. An analysis of marriage by the ONS in 2007 concluded that married people live longer than single or divorced people.

What does New Right Charles Murray argue about the impact of the Welfare State on marriage?

Murray (1990) believed that the welfare state has damaged marriage, because the benefits system has encouraged single parenthood, at the expense of married parenthood, by reducing the financial need for marriage. He notes that less educated mothers (the 'underclass') in particular here increasingly become married to the welfare state and to the taxpayer rather that to the fathers of their children.

How do Post-Modernist and Feminist see the decline of Society?

- Feminist & Post-modern thinkers argue that the decline in marriage and rise in divorce rates in the UK over the last 40 years reflect a positive change for society.

- Feminists such as Sylvia Walby (1981) argue that the high divorce rate is desirable, because it shows that women are breaking free from the oppression of the patriarchal nuclear family.

- Postmodernists see a high divorce rate as showing that individuals now have the freedom to choose to end a relationship, when it no longer meets their needs. They see is a major cause of greater family diversity.

What is a possible conclusion for the decline of marriage and increase in divorce.

- There is no doubting that marriage rates have been declining and divorce rates increasingly over the last 40 years, more recent statistics would suggest that there has been a slowdown in the rate of change. Television programmes relating to getting married are as popular as ever, although the way in which people are choosing to 'tie the knot' might be radically different to the past.

What does Ronald Fletcher (1966) conclude about the decline of marriage and increase in divorce?

- Despite high divorce rates, functionalist Fletcher (1966) takes an optimistic view. They point to the continuing popularity of marriage. Most adults marry, and the high rate of re-marriage after divorce shows although divorcees may have become dissatisfied with a particular partner, they have not reject marriage as an institution.

What does Carol Smart (2011) conclude about the decline of marriage and increase in divorce?

- Carol Smart (2011) adds that even though divorce has become 'normalised', family life can adapt to it without disintegrating. Rather than seeing divorce as a major social problem, we should see it as just 'one transition amongst others in the life course.'

- One aspect that is often ignored in the debate is how emotionally damaging marital breakdown can be for adults and especially for children, although this would also apply for cohabitating couples. A loving parent, whether they are married or not/straight or gay, is surely the most important factor when raising a child.

What are the patterns with Childbearing in the UK for the last hundred or so?

- Families have been getting smaller, as the number of births has been dropping, with women having fewer children - and delaying having them until they are older - and more women choosing to remain childfree.

- Women in England and Wales born in 1985 who completed their childbearing years in 2020, has on average 1.92 children, no change from those born in 1974 but a lower average compared with the 2.08 for their mothers' generation (assumed to be born in 1949).

- Two child families remain the most common family size (37%), however this is a decrease in the proportion of those having two children compared with their mothers' generation born in 1949 (44%).

- Of women aged 45 years and born in 1975 who had completed their childbearing years in 2020, 18% were childless, with 17% having only one child, both of which are increases compared with their mothers' generation (both 13%).

- The most common age for women born in 1975 to give birth was 31 years, an increase compared with 22 years for their mothers' generation born in 1949.

- Half of women (50%) born in 1990 (the most recent cohort to reach age 30 years) remained childless by their 30th birthday; this is the first cohort where half remain childless by 30 years of age.

Why are women having fewer children?

1. The decline in the infant morality rate (infants under the age of one are less likely to die).

2. The introduction of reliable contraception, such as the pill in the 1960s, allowing women to have sex without conception.

3. The increased expense of children. We're more child-centred and spend lots of money on you!

4. Women are having children later. There's less time to have more children due to a woman's fertility clock.

5. The impact of feminism and prioritising careers. Women now have greater choice with regard to education, employment and attitudes.

What are the patterns in childbearing with Children born outside of marriage?

- In 2013 47% of all births in England and Wales were outside of marriage/civil partnerships - about five times more than the proportion in 1971.

- In 2021, more babies - 51% - were born to unmarried mothers in England and Wales than to those in a marriage or civil partnership for the first time since records began in 1845. This is a huge chance. The civil registration of births only began in 1845, but we have parish register data that goes back to 16th century. Although it fluctuated, the "illegitimacy ratio" - the proportion of births marked as to unmarried parents in parish registers - never passed 7% of the total from the 16th century until the 1960s.

- Despite this, nearly 9 out of 10 of those births in 2011 were registered jointly by parents. Both parents in 3 out of 4 of these case gave the same address. This suggests the parents were cohabitating and that children are still being born into a stable couple relationships.

What are the reasons for children being born outside of marriage?

1. Increasing number of people cohabiting.

2. Less stigma attached - it's more socially acceptable.

3. Secularisation - in a less religious society people are more likely yo have sex outside of marriage.