Changing Patterns of Family Life: Divorce
Changing patterns of divorce:
2018- 90,000 divorces in the UK of opposite-sex couples and 428 same-sex divorces
In 1971- 74,000 divorces in the year the Divorce Reform Act came into place
In 1993 the number of divorces peaked at 165,00 following a rapid rise from 1971 onwards and continued to fall throughout the 1990s and the early part of this century
Reasons for the increase in divorce:
Changing attitudes to relationships
Reduced stigma and secularisation
Increased life expectancy
Changing gender roles
Growing individualism in society
Changing attitudes to relationships:
Giddens- confluent love has replaced romantic love and people are more willing to leave partners in search of greater fulfilment
Beck- family is negotiated in late modern society and if conditions placed upon a relationship are broken divorce ensues
Higher expectations of marriage- while divorces have declined in recent years, so have marriages- people demand more satisfaction from relationships
Reduced stigma and secularisation:
The process of secularisation has led to people no longer being guided by the morality of the church and therefore making their own judgements on relationships
As the number of divorces has increased, attitudes to divorce as a failed marriage are vanishing
Less social disapproval of divorces (particularly of female divorces) with the rise of feminism
Increased life expectancy:
People are living longer and this is impacting both the age when they marry and their likelihood of divorce
ONS reported increased divorce rates for over 65s in 2018- with an increase in males by 23% and females by 38% in previous years
With longer to live, people are more likely to leave unhappy marriages and seek out new partners- as seen by the increase in remarriage
Changing gender roles:
The rise of feminism and greater career aspirations have been cited as reasons for the increase in divorce
Two-thirds of divorces are requested by females which reflects a growing dissatisfaction with married life for women
Male’s lagged adaption to changing gender roles, combined with growing individualism and the crisis of masculinity can be seen as contributing to divorce rates also
Growing individualism in society:
The Individualisation Thesis suggests that people are increasingly looking to satisfy their own needs rather than sacrifice their needs for the good of the family
Concepts such as confluent love (Giddens) and liquid love (Bauman) are based on individuals having choices and looking to satisfy their own needs
Relationships have become a transaction, one that ends when the relationship has fulfilled its purpose
Consequences of divorce for family members:
Conflict within the family- impact on children of parental conflict over access, finance and new relationships
Formation of new families- reconstituted families- could bring increased conflict over parenting of children
Greater number of remarriage, more lone-parent families and more lone-parent households within society
Financial issues for partners- loss of second income, additional costs of living apart