families and households part 2

trends in marriages 2019 ONS

marriages for opposite sex couple have fallen to their lowest on record since 1832

religious marriages accounted for less then one in 5 of opposite sex marriage in 2019

In england and wales there was a 6.4% decrease in marriages from 2018

reasons for changes in patterns for marriage

1. changing attitudes

2.secularisation- 18.7 marriages are religious

3. decline in stigma- in 1989 70% believed couples who want children should get married and in 2012 only 42 % agreed

4. cahnges in the position of women

4. fear of divorce

ferri and smith

reconstituted families are at higher risk of being in poverty as there are more children to provide for

allan and crow

there may be tension and conflict between step parents and the children or step siblings, 'divided loyalty'

Ribbens Mccarthy et al (2003)

step families rather than step family

reconstituted marriage statistics

• in 2019 15% of all mrriage were among couples who were remarrying

• graudual decrease in marriages and first marriages overall since the 1970s whereas the number of remarriages has largely stayed the same with a slight decrease from the mid 2000s

• 85% of stepfamilies, at least one child is from the womans previous relationship, 11% at least one child is from the man’s previous relationship and 4% there are children form both partners relationships

• 90% of children stay with the mother after a divorce/ separation

trends in child bearing

there was a decrease in live births by 4.1 % from 2019

fertility rate decreased from to 1.58 children per woman, this rate is 4.2% lower than 2019

hirsch

estimated each child cost nearly 154k for parents until the age of 18

lewis

marriage, sex and parenthood are no longer linked as 47% of births in 2013 were outside of marriage and civil parnership in england and wales

divorce statisticis ons 2022

• in 2020 there was a 40.4% increase in same sex divorce from 2019

• in 2020 there was a 4.5% decrease in divorces granted in England and Wales

• in 2020 there was a 4.8% decrease in opposite sex divorces from 2019

history of divorce

1923- equal grounds for divorce for men and women

1949- introduced legal aid for divorce

1969- introduced irretrievalble breakdown as a reason for divorce

2014- same sex marriages and same sex divorce becomes law

trends in divorce

trends in divorce peaked at 165k in 1993

65% of applications for divorce came from women

40% of marriages will end in divorce

most common reason for a divorce is unreasonable behaviour

Mitchell and Goody

Rapid decline in stigma attached to divorce and now attitude is based on misfortune and not moral degenerate

changing social attitudes towards divorce

Wilson

argues that the reduction in stigma is a result in of secularisation as less than 50% identify as christian in 2021 consensus

fletcher

Higher expectations of marriage

ideology of romantic love as people have the idea of Mr and Mrs right

ideology of romantic love- Marriage should be based solely on love and each individual has their Mr or Mrs Right out there. Without love or if the love dies there is no justification for remaining married

Allan and Crow

argue that love is the cornerstone of marriages

dennie

regards western style of marriages based on romantic love as fragile because they are held together by emotional ties

feminist explanations

Feminists argue women face a dual burden which has created a new source of conflict between men and women which is leading to a higher divorce rate. Men still benefit from women performing the triple shift.

• Hochschild argues this is frustrating for women and makes marriages unstable. Also with both partners working there is less time to solve the emotional problems couples face

Sigle-Rushton

mothers who have a dual burden are more likely to divorce than non-working mothers with a traditional division of labour. In couples where the husband is working and helping with domestic work the divorce rate is the same as for couples with a traditional division of labour

Individualisation thesis (Giddens and Beck)

in modern society traditional values such as staying with one partner for one's whole life has decline and as a result people are free to pursue their own self interest

pure relationship- only remains in relationship as long as it meets their interest

rise is due to female independence and same sex couples being pioneers for equal and democratic realationship

womens increased independence

• women are more likely to be in paid work as there were 53% in 1971 to an increase of 72% in 2022

• laws such as the equal pay act 1970 and hte equality act 2010 and greater educational success mean women have better jobs than previous generations

gibson

suggests that divorce is associated with single parenthood and the negative consequences are

1. economic strain as move away from dual income

2.lack of socialisation

3. emotional trauma

4.loss of childhood due to less family activities

trends in cohabitation

• 80% of first time marriages have been proceeded by cohabiting

• the number of cohabitating couple families saw an increase of 22.9% over the same period to 3.6 miliion

changes in attitude to cohabitation

in 1989, 44% of people agree that premarital sex isnt wrong at all compared to 65% in 2012

generational differences and female independence in relation to cohabitation

• younger people are more likely to see cohabitation appealing compared to elder generations

• women are more successful than men in education, which gives them more choices and laws and policies mean that women can choose when to marry and to who

• pure relationships- moving away from romantic love to confluent love- conditional love based on trust, intimacy and negotiation- pure relationship must meet emotional and sexual needs

secularisation in relation to cohabitation

• no longer seen as a sin to live outside wedlock in sexual relationships

• reducing risk- beck risk society- less control from traditional structures like the family and therefore more reflective on life choices, marriage is a risk with increased fear of divorce

advantages of cohabitation

• ao3

• 80% of marriages were preceded by cohabitation

Beaujouan and Ni Bhrolcjain’s

• 2/3 of people aged 25-44 have cohabitated at some point in their lives

• 80% of marriages are now preceded by cohabitation

• found that by the tenth anniversary over half were married, under 4 were divorced and 10 still lived together

• cohabitation means that weaker relationships are ‘screened out ‘

Bejin

• young people cohabit to create equal and more negotiated relationships

shelton and john

• women do less housework if they cohabitate than if they were married

Barlow and DUncan

• couples cohabit to save money for practical reasons

chester

• argues that for most people, cohabitation is a part of the process of getting married and therefore cohabitation is not an alternative but just an early stage before marriage

A03: there is an increase in one person household as by 2033 30% of the adult population will be single and 40% are over 65

coast

75% of cohabiting couples say that they expect to marry each other

Levin

LAT- living apart together

• long term, committed, intimate relationships where individuals define themselves as a couple but do not share a common home- live in separate households from their partners

duncan and philips

LATs are accepted by the public as an alternative to marriage and cohabitation

Haskey

• 2 million couples in LATs in 2002/3

Levin- reasons for the growth of LATs

1) way to deal with broken relationships

2) growing individualisation and people living longer

3) changes in the labour market as its difficult to find/retain jobs in the same area

4) modern tech makes long distance relationships more accessible

5) increased responsibility and cate

6) reducing risk as people dont want to risk the fall out from another failed relationship s

morgan cohabitation

• cohabiting couples are less happy

• NR criticism

murphy cohabitation

• children perform worse, lower results and leave school

Benson

• couples tend to be more secure and stable in marriage compared to cohabitation

• his analysis of 15k babies found that in the first 3 years of a babies life the rate of family breakdown in cohabiting families was 20% compared to 6% in married couples

morgan

argues that we cannot generalise the meaning of divorce as it means different things to different people

lone parent families stats

• percentage of lone parent families has doubled since 1971

• 90% of lone parent familes are headed by women

• 16% of births are to parents who are neither married or cohabiting

• child in lone parent family is twice as likely to bein poverty

Lone parent family 2019

• lone parent families accounted for 14.7% of families in the UK

• Black have a higher proportion of lone parent households in 2012 compared to 1in 9 asian families

haskey

'single by choice'

mostly m/c women as they are actively choosing to raise children alone as they elect to have their children in their late 30s and 40s due to focusing on their careers first

increased in never married mothers

• accounts for 40% of lone parents as some are having children before marrying

divorce and higher expectations

• fletcher- ideology of romantic love leads to higher expectations and makes couple less tolerant of unhappy marriages

• crow: love is now the cornerstone of marriages

Renvoize

Found that professional women were able to support their child without the father's involvement

smart

argued that divorce has become so normalised that the family life therefore adapt to it

murray

lone parent parenthood the underclass and are more likely to be part of dependency culture. they contribute to poor socialistion and therefore take part in perverse incentives

mooney

found that parental conflict is more important than parental seperation as an influence on negative outcomes for children

ford and miller

perverse incentives argument is flawed because many experience poverty, debt and material hardship despite being paid state benefits.

Ford and Miller suggest the NR analyses imply that the experience of poverty of single mothers is a result of choosing this lifestyle.

Crockett and Tripp

found that children in divorced homes were more likely to underachieve in education and that common theme is that children would have preferred to remain with original parents

anderson

• family diversity has always existed it was just not a focus of sociological study until after geographical mobility and the industrial revolution

Branman

more beanpole families due to female independence and life expctance and decline in birth rates

this had led to the emergence of sandwich generation

leach

Cereal packet family

the nuclear family is the dominatn family type presented by media

Cereal packet family stats

• households containing multiple families represent 1% of households but are the fasted growing over the last two decades with it increased by 2 thirds

thorne

difference feminist perspective argue that ceral packet families are not applicable to all genders and ethnicity

chester

Argues talking about family diversity is misleading and that families remain largely traditional. Uses the term neo-conventional family to acknowledge that men are no longer the sole breadwinner. as both parents go out to work

rapoports

believe that we have moved away from the traditional NF

families in britain have adopted a pluralistic society where cultures and lifestyles are more important and diverse

five types of diversity

raporports

1. organisational diversity- refers to differences in the way family roles are organised

2. life stage diversity- family sturucture differs according to the stage reached in the life cycle

3. generational diversity- older and younger generations have different attitudes and experiences

4. social class diversity- differences in family struture are partly the result of income differences between households of different social classes

5.cultural diversity- different culture, religious and ethnic groups have different family structures

bhatti

ideas of family honour (izzat) can be a restriction on behaviour of girls in Asian families. suggests that Asain families maintain traditional nuclear families with strong connections of kinship networks and a strong sense of mutual obligation

madood

found a number of generational differences over the issue of identity, suggesting that second generation ethnic minorities from both African Caribbean and Asian backgrounds felt much more British than their parents, while still seeing their ethnic origin as a key part of their ethnicity.

chamberlain

found that brothers and sister and other family members play a more important role in afro carribean families than in white british families

Weeks, Heaphy and Donovan (1999)

chosen familes

idea of choosing and creating own family outside of kin and relationsip

• especially prevalent in LGBTQ families

• on this basis they atgue that an important social change is taking place in which who we see to be part of our family is more imprtant than ties of blood or marriage

Roseneil

decline in heteronormativity

• links chosen families to the breakdown of the heteronorm and highlights the possibility that there are althernative networks to the traditional family

Haraven

• argues that the sociological study of the family should focus on the life course of the individual rather than the family

• says that life course affects the structure an dynamics of family life

Pahl and Spencer

Family is becoming obsolete because of growth of "non family" households

Carol Smart (personal life perspective)

conducted study on 54 same sex couple and study showed individualisation and the family as a good example of fragmentation as personal life is linked to emotions,memories and feelings anout bodies and sexuality

Jacqui Gabb

used qualitative methods o study internal life of fmailes and internal life of families and emotional life looking at 24 different types of families

found that individuals could be attached to a wide range of people including family and friends

quality vs functional pupose

Judith Stacey

Came up with the "divorce-extended family". This could occur after a divorce in which women may decide to maintain strong connections with their former in-laws due to the strong bonds that may have been forged during their marriage.

argues that women have more freedom than ever before to shape their family arrangement to meet their needs and free themselves from patriachal opression

morgan

• support stacey in saying that its pointless i=to make generalisations about the family like functionalists do and that fmailies can be whatever you want them to be

Giddens (late modernity)

Individidualisation thesis

• argues that traditional social structures such as class and gender and famiy has lost much of their influence over us

• theory of individualistion as they argue we hace more freedom to leave unhappy relationships

Beck: negotiated family

Now live in risk society where tradition has less influence & people have more choice = we're more aware of risks = making choices involve calculating risks & rewards of different options open to us.

NF don't conform to traditional family norm but vary according to wishes & expectations of members who decide what's best for selves but negotiation.

zombie family

• in risk society people turn to the family for support and security but the family cant provide security as its unstable

may

people often draw support from members from outside the family unit

the traditional function of the family are often performed by others especially with the increase in family diversity

people often construct their own network of individuals

Weeks (Chosen families)

people who are not necessairly related by blood or marriage but who feel a sense of belonging and who choose to define themselves as a family

Smart (connectedness thesis)

argues we are social beings whose choices are always made within a web of connectedness. the individualisation thesis exaggerates how much choice people hace about family relationships today

5 key concepts of connectedness

memory

biography

embeddedness

relationality

imaginary

may power structures

argues there has been a march of progress in terms of work, divorce,education etc but women are still expected to be heterosexual

Einasdottir

Argues while lesbianism is now tolerated, heteronormativity means that many lesbians feel forced to remain 'in the closet' and this limits their choices about their relationships and lifestyles.

Nordqvist and Smart

Donor-conceived children