Changing Patterns of Family Life: Marriage and Cohabitation

Marriage and cohabitation:

• In 2017 there were 242,842 marriages in the UK- with 88% of those having lived together before getting married according to the ONS

• The average age at marriage of opposite-sex couples was 38.0 years for men and 35.7 years for women in 2017

• In 2017, there were 6.932 marriages of same-sex couples of which 56% were between female couples; a further 1,072 couples converted their existing civil partnership into a marriage

Reasons for a decline in marriage:

• The changing role of women in society

• Changing social attitudes

• Rising divorce and insecurity of relationships

• Changes to social institutions

The changing role of women:

• Career aspirations of women have meant that there has been a rise in the average age at which people first marry

• Greater control over reproductive rights and increased medical technology means women can delay having children

• The financial and social independence of women means they are more likely to look for the right partner to satisfy their needs rather than a financial arrangement

Changing social attitudes:

• Alternatives to marriage- such as cohabitation or living apart together (LATs) relationships as a response to changing attitudes to relationships

• Giddens’ ideas of confluent love and Bauman’s liquid love suggest people will opt for serial monogamy over long-term relationships

• Greater reflexivity and self-improvement have led to more individualism, rather than romantic love

Rising divorce and insecurity of relationships:

• People delay marriage until they are certain that their partner is the right person due to fear of divorce

• Increased instability in relationships (and society) has led people to attempt to control the risks that they face in relationships

• However, divorce is declining and the number of remarriages is increasing

Changes to social institutions:

• Family provides fewer functions than in previous generations- individuals can find self-fulfilment through support networks

• The process of secularisation has led more people to see marriage as an outdated institution and less stigma attached to alternatives to marriage

• Only 23% of weddings in 2017 took place in a place of religious worship which demonstrates the secular nature of relationships

Increase in cohabitation:

• Alongside LATs and lone-person households, many couples choose to live together before they get married

• Sociologists have suggested that this acts as a form of trial marriage- for couples to see if they can live together harmoniously

• Often temporary- 88% of couples who married in 2017 were previously cohabiting