FAMILY - COHABITATION, MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE

Overall, what has happened to marriage rates since 1833?

they have decreased

What must you have to get married?

a marriage certificate

What are the 7 types of marriage?

open, polygamous,polygyny, polyandry, arranged and forces

What is the difference between Polygny and Polyandry?

Polygny refers to having more than one wife whilst polyandry is more than one husband

What was the average of age of marriage for men in 1972 vs 2012?

28.8 VS 36.4

What was the average of age of marriage for women in 1972 vs 2012?

26.2 VS 34

Why does Patricia Morgan believe that marriage is under threat?

falling marriage rates, people marrying later in life, growth in acceptance of alternatives to marriage, increase in single person households, lowered fertility in married couples and rising divorce rates

Why are there declining fertility rates among married couples?

people are getting married later in life

What was the marriage rate in 2013?

22.5 for men and 20.4 for women

What are the 7 main reasons for declining marriage rates?

reduced functions of the family, changing roles of women, growing secularisation, reducing risk, rising divorce rates, changing social attitudes and economic reasons

How may reducing functions of the family decrease marriage rates?

as roles of the family are replaced with institutions, marriage is no longer a necessity, women go out to work

How is the changing roles of women contributing to the decrease in marriage rates?

women no longer confined to the domestic sphere, women in the workplace

How is reducing risk leading to lower marriage rates?

people don’t see the point in marriage anymore

How are rising divorce rates leading to lower marriage rates?

people don’t see the point in marrying if they are then likely to get divorced

How are changing social attitudes leading to lower marriage rates?

less stigma around cohabiting, so people might as well

How are economic reasons leading to lower marriage rates?

marriage is expensive, so is the cost of living so people would rather use the money in other ways

What percentage of british people live in LATs?

nine

Why do people live in LATs?

not ready to move in together, to expensive, situations stopped them from moving in together, past trauma prevented them

What do Duncan and Philips say about LATs?

choice and constriants both play a part in forming these relationships, LATs are no longer abnormal but also not viewed as wholly traditional

What is divorce?

a judicial declaration dissolving a marriage either in whole or in part, especially one that releases the marriage partners from all matrimonial obligations

What is annulment?

the solution when the marriage was not legal and did not happen at all?

In what cases would a void annulment occur?

under 16, already married, forced or a close family member

In what cases would a defective annulment occur?

not consumated (opposite sex only), influence of drugs or alcohol, STI prior to marriage, woman is pregnant by another man prior to marriage

What 5 laws towards divorce are there?

1949 - legal aid of divorce act, 1969- divorce reform act, 1985 - matrimonial and family proceedings act, 1995 - removal for the need of a fault in the amrriage and 1996 - family law act

What percentage of marriages end in divorce?

42

What is the average lifespan of a marriage?

32 years

What percentage of marriages reach their 60th anniversary?

16

What percentage of marriages don’t make it to the 20th anniversary?

34

What percentage of women file for divorce now vs in 1946?

65 vs 37

What are the eight reasons for an increase in divorce?

changes in the law, secularistion,changing social attitudes and reduced stigma, rising expectation of marriage, declining influence of extended family, postmodern theories, changing role of women and rising life expectantcy

What changes in the law have caused an increase in divorce rates?

making divorce cheaper, widening the grounds for divorce, equalising the grounds of divorce between the sexes

How has changes in social attitude caused an increase in divorce?

Mitchell and Goody note this trend as being key for divorce!, people more willing to resort to divorce more quickly, divorce is normalised

How has secularisation caused an increase in divorce rates?

church attendence rates decline, churches are becoming more accepting of divorce, church’s teachings carry less weight in society

Why has the rising expectation of marriage causing an increase in divorce?

FLETCHER - argues that people expect more out of marriages now as they are no longer just a ontract for a unit of production

Why has women’s increased financial independence created an increase in divorce?

women no longer need husbands,gender pay gap is decreasing, families are no longer a unit of production

How is modernity and indivitualisation causing an increase in divorce rates?

people now seek a needs based family and pure relationships/ confluent love and people will look for this now

New right views on divorce

terrible, undermines the traditional nuclear family, causes a high growth in the underclass and lone parent families and thus deviant sons who leach from the welfare state

Feminist views on divorce?

desirable as shows women are breaking free from the patriachy and the patriachal nuclear family

Postmodernist views on divorce

shows individuals freedom to choose and end relations (proves individualisation thesis)

Functionalist views on divorce

not necessarily a threat to marriage as it shows people still have high expectations of marriage and still value it

interactionist views on divorce

MORGAn - we cannot generalise about the meaning of divorce because every individual interpretation is different

personal life perspective views on divorce

divorce can cause issues (kids, finances) but Smart argues that divorce is being normalised and family is adapting without disentergrating, sees divorce as a natural progression of the lifecycle of families