Divorce

What is divorce a major cause of?

Changing family patterns and greater family diversity. For example, most re-marriages involve a divorcee, and divorce creates both lone-parent households and one-person households.

Since the 1960s, what has there been a great increase in?

The number of divorces in the United Kingdom. The number of divorces doubles between 1961 and 1969, and doubled again by 1972. The upward trend continued, peaking in 1933 at 165,000.

Since 1933, have the numbers of divorce fallen or risen?

The numbers have fallen somewhat, but still stood at 118,000 in 2012. This rate means that about 40% of all marriages will end in divorce.

What is one reason for the fall in the number of divorces since the 1990s?

Fewer people are marrying in the first place and choosing to cohabit instead.

Where do about 65% of petitions (applications) for divorce come from?

Women, this is in sharp contrast to the past. In 1946, this was only 37%

Who do couples whose marriages are at greatest risk include?

Those who marry young, have a child before they marry or cohabit before marriage, and those where one or both partners have been married before.

What are some of the explanations that sociologists have identified as reasons for the increase in divorce?

• Changes in law.

• Declining stigma and changing attitudes.

• Secularisation.

• Rising expectations of marriage.

• Women’s increased financial independence.

• Feminist explanations.

• Modernity and individualisation.

In 19th century Britain, was it easy to get a divorce?

No, it was very difficult to obtain, especially fro women. Gradually, changes in the law have made it easier.

What are the three kinds of changes there have been in the law?

• Equalising the grounds for divorce between the sexes.

• Widening the grounds for divorce

• Making divorce cheaper.

What happened when the grounds for divorce were equalised in 1923?

It was followed by a sharp rise in the number of divorce petitions from women. Similarly, the widening of the grounds to ‘irretrievable breakdown‘ made divorce easier to obtain and produced a doubling of the divorce rate.

What did the introduction of legal aid for divorce cases do?

It lowered the cost of divorcing.

Although divorce is the legal termination of a marriage, what can couples do?

Find other solutions to the problem of an unhappy marriage, including desertion, legal separation and ‘empty shell‘ marriages.

What is desertion?

Where one partner leaves the other but the couple remain legally married.

What is legal separation?

Where a court separates the financial and legal affairs of the couple but where they remain married and are not free to re-marry.

What is an ‘empty shell‘ marriage?

Where the couple continue to live under the same roof but remain married in name only.

Since divorce has become easier, what have such solutions become?

Less popular.

Although changes in the law have given people the freedom to divorce more easily, what does this not explain.

Why more people should choose to take advantage of this freedom.

What does stigma refer to?

The negative label, social disapproval or shame attached to a person. In the past, divorce and divorcees have been stigmatised.

What are examples of past stigmas surrounding divorce?

Churches tended to condemn divorce and often refused to conduct marriage serives involving divorcees.

What do Mitchel and Goody note?

That an important change since the 196-w has been the rapid decline in the stigma attached to divorce.

As stigma declines and divorce becomes more socially acceptable, what do couples become more willing to resort to?

Divorce as a means of solving their marital problems.

What does the fact that divorce is now more common begin to do?

‘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.

What does secularisation refer to?

The decline in the influence of religion in society. Many sociologists argue that religious institutions and ideas are losing their influence and society is becoming more secular. For example, church attendance rates continue to decline.

What has happened as a result of secularisation?

The traditional opposition of the churches to divorce carries less weight in society and people are less likely to be influenced by religous teaching when making secisions about perosnal matters such as whether or not to file for divorce.

At the same time as secularisation, what have many churches begun to do?

Soften their views on divorce and divorcees, perhaps because they fear losing credibility with large sections of the public and with their own members.

What do functionalist sociologists such as Fletcher argue?

That the higher expectations people lace on marriage today are a major cause of rising divorce rates. Higher expectations make couples less willing to tolerate an unhappy marriage.

What is the rising expectations of marriage linked to?

The ideology of romantic love - an idea that has become dominant over the last couple of centuries. This is the belief that marriage should be based solely on love, and that for each individual there is a Mr or Miss Right out there. It follows that if love dies, there is no longer any justification for staying married and every reason to divorce so as to be able to renew the search for one’s true soulmate.

By contrast, in the past, what did individuals have little choice over?

Who they married, and at a time where marriages were often contracted largely for economic reasons or out of duty to one’s family.

Under circumstances where marriages are for practical and not personal reasons, what were individuals unlikely to have?

The high expectations about marriage as a romantic union of two souls that many couples have today. Entering marriage with lower expectations, they were therefore less likely to be dissatisfied by the absence of romance and intimacy.

Today, what is marriage increasingly viewed as?

Not as a binding contract, but as a relationship in which individuals seek personal fulfilment, and this encourages couples to divorce if they do not find it, as Crow notes.

Despite today’s high divorce rates, what kind of view do functionalists such as Fletcher take?

An optimistic view. They point to the continuing popularity of marriage. Most adults marry, and the high rate of re-marriage after divorce shows that although divorcees may have become dissatisfied with a particular partner, they have not rejected marriage as an institution.

What do feminist critics argue about the functionalist view?

That it is too rosy a view. They argue that the oppression of women within the family is the main cause of marital conflict and divorce, but functionalists ignore this.

Although functionalists offer an explanation of rising divorce rates, what do they fail to do?

Explain why it is mainly women rather than men who seek divorce. We should also note that although most adults do marry, marriage rates have fallen significantly in the past 50 years.

What is one reason for women’s increased willingness to seek divorce?

The fact that improvements in their economic position have made them less financially dependent on their husband and therefore freer to end an unsatisfactory marriage.

What are examples of women’s increased financial independence?

• 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.

• Although women generally still earn less than men, equal pay and anti-discrimination laws have helped to narrow down the gender pay gap.

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

• The availability of welfare benefits means that women no longer have to remain financially dependent on their husbands.

What do such developments mean for women?

That women are more likely to be able to support themselves in the event of divorce.

What do Allan and Crow argue?

That ‘marriage is less embedded within the economic system’ now. There are fewer family firms and the family is no longer a unit of production, so spouses are not so dependent on each other economically.

In particular, what do women now have?

Their own separate source of income from paid work. Not having to rely on their husband financially, women therefore do not have to tolerate conflict or the absence of love, and in such circumstances, they are more willing to seek divorce.

What do feminists argue that married women today bear?

A dual burden: they are required to take on paid work in addition to performing domestic labour.

In the view of feminists, what does has the triple burden created?

A new source of conflict between husbands and wives. and this is leading to a higher divorce rate than in the past.

While there may have been big improvements in women’s position in the public sphere of employment, education, politics and so on, what do feminists argue?

That in the private sphere of family and personal relationships, change has been limited and slow. They argue that marriage remains patriarchy, with men benefiting from their wives’ ‘triple shift‘ of paid work, domestic work and emotion work.

What does Hochschild argue?

That for many women, the home compares unfavourably with work. At work, women feel valued. At home, men’s continuing resistance to housework is a source of frustration and makes marriage less stable. In addition, the fact that both partners now go out to work leaves less time and energy for the emotion work needed to address the problems that arise. Both these factors may contribute to a higher divorce rate.

What did Sigle-Rushton find?

That mothers who have a dual burden of paid work and domestic work are more likely to divorce than non-working mothers in marriages with a traditional division of labour. But where the husband of a working wife is actively involved in housework, the divorce rate is the same as for couples with a traditional division of labour.

What did Cooke and Gash find?

No evidence that working women are more likely to divorce. They argue that this is because working has now become the accepted norm for married women.

What do radical feminists such as Bernard observe?

That many women feel a growing dissatisfaction with the patriarchal marriage. She sees the rising divorce rate, and the fact that most petitions come from women as growing acceptance of feminist ideas: women are becoming conscious of patriarchal oppression and more confident about rejecting it.

What do sociologists such as Beck and Giddens argue?

That in modern society, traditional norms, such as the duty to remain with the same partner for life, lose their hold over individuals. As a result, each individual becomes free to pursue their own self-interest. This view has become known as the individualisation thesis.

According to sociologists like Beck and Giddens, what happens to relationships in modern society?

They 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 the children. This results in higher divorce rates whilst also normalises it and further strengthens the beliefs that marriage exists solely to provide personal fulfilment.

What else does modern society encourage?

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 conflicts of interest between spouses and contribute to marital breakdown.

What do some sociologists argue that modernity encourages people to do?

Adopt a neoliberal, consumerist identity based on the idea of freedom to allow one’s own self-interest. this pursuit of self-interest is likely to pull spouses apart.

What do sociologists disagree about the effects of?

Today’s high divorce rate on society and on individual family members.

What do the New Right see a high rate of divorce as?

Undesirable because it undermines marriage and the traditional nuclear family, which they regard as vital to social stability.

In the New Right view, what does a high divorce rate create?

A growing underclass of welfare-dependent female lone-parents who are a burden on the state and it leaves boys without the adult male role model they need. They believe it also results in poorer health and educational outcomes for children.

What do feminists see a high divorce rate as?

Desirable because it shows that women are breaking free from the oppression of the patriarchal nuclear family.

What do postmodernists and the individualisation thesis 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 it as a major cause of greater family diversity.

What do functionalists argue about a high divorce rate?

That it is not necessarily a threat to marriage as a social institution. It is simply the result of people’s higher expectations of marriage today. The high rate of re-marriage shows people’s continuing commitment to the idea of marriage.

What do interactionists aim to understand?

What divorce means to the individual. Morgan argues that we cannot generalise about the meaning of divorce, because every interpretation of it is different.

What does the personal life perspective accept about divorce?

That it can cause problems, such as financial difficulties (especially for women) and lack of daily contact between children and non-resident parents.

What do writers from the personal life perspective such as Smart argue about divorce?

That divorce has become ‘normalised‘ and that 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‘.