partnerships - divorce

trends in divorce

• increase in divorce from the 1970s to the 1990s

• after the 1969 Divorce Reform Act, which allowed "irretrievable breakdown" as a reason.

• 📉 Recent Decline in Divorce Rates

  • Fewer people are marrying.

  • More people are cohabiting instead of marrying – so less divorce.

  ⬆ More re-marriages

  • Rise in serial monogamy (marrying multiple times, but one at a time).

  ⬆ Divorce among older couples

  • Known as the "grey divorce" trend.

legal changes affecting divorce

• 1969 Divorce Reform Act – made divorce easier and more accessible.- Before this act , a “matrimonial offence” had to be proven , a “guilty party” had to be found

• But some people had not committed adultery, been guilty of cruelty or desertion

• 1969 Act defined the grounds for divorce as “the irretrievable breakdown of the marriage” e.g. unreasonable behaviour 

• 1984 Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act – allowed divorce after 1 year (not 3) - at least on adult had to be accused of being guilty to adultery etc

• 2020s "No-fault divorce" – introduced to reduce conflict in divorce.

reasons for rise in divorce

• Changes in the law - easier, cheaper, and quicker to get divorced

• changing social attitudes - Coker and Tripp - less stigma, divorce is more socially acceptable, divorce has been normalised in society

• secularisation - decline in religious influence - people are less likely to stay married for religious reasons or get married in a church

• women’s increased independence - more women working (independence) , the Equal Pay Act 1970, sex Discrimination Act 1975 also helped.

• feminist views - women are less likely to accept patriarchal marriage, dual burden, and triple shift - Duncombe and Marsden

• Rising expectations - Fletcher - People expect more from emotional and romantic fulfilment, when not met, people leave the relationship

• Modernity and individualization - Beck - people are now part of a risk society and make individual choices based on self-interest rather than tradition, Giddens - people only stay if they are fulfilling, when is no longer brings satisfaction - people end it.

functionalist view of divorce

• Divorce is not a threat to marriage as an institution.

• High divorce = high expectations of marriage.

• People still remarry, showing they value marriage

new right view

• Divorce undermines the traditional nuclear family.

• Leads to lone-parent families, poor socialisation, and social problems.

🔥 Feminists:

• Divorce is a sign that women are rejecting oppression.

• More power and freedom for women.

💬 Postmodernists:

• Divorce = individual choice and personal freedom.

• Reflects diversity of family types (e.g. lone parents, reconstituted families).

🟥 Marxists:

• Divorce can be linked to capitalist pressures and economic struggles within the family (e.g. stress, unemployment).

evaluation points

• Divorce statistics only tell us about legal separation, not emotional separation or unhappy marriages.

• Doesn’t show the reasons behind divorce.

• Still gendered – women often initiate divorce but face more difficulties afterwards.