Divorce and marriage

Patterns of marriage:

  • Marriage rates considerably decreased in the UK since the 60s

  • Less than 18 people per 1000 get married each year (less than 2%)

  • There has also been an increase in re-marriages due to the increased life expectancy as well as divorce rates

  • Serial monogamy = This pattern of individuals moving from one relationship to another

  • One explanation - Secularisation - less condemnation of ‘fornication’ (pre-marital sex) therefore shotgun weddings became very rare + calling children born to an unmarried couple ‘illegitimate’ also became very rare.

  • Anthony Giddens - in late modernity - considered a matter of choice rather than conformity or duty - confluent love - only lasts as it benefits the lover - therefore decrease in legally binding marriage - more serial monogamy

  • Ruspini - Feminist - women more cautious about having children and entering relationships due to improved reproductive rights + more focus on careers and education

  • Morgan - The New Right - The welfare state encourages women to remain single even with children due to the financial benefits that are provided.

Alternatives to marriage:

  • Robert Chester - Functionalist - points out the large number of cohabitation couples - is preparation for marriage NOT a rejection of marriage - they eventually do marry

  • Others argue that it IS an alternative to marriage as they often have a more equal division of domestic labour - more equal arrangements in terms of finances and housework

  • Another alternative is singles - about 1/3 of homes in the UK - partly due to the decline of marriage and the high numbers of divorces - but also because increasing numbers of young people choosing to live alone

  • Many couples take the option of living apart together - Roseneil found that about 10% of adults in the UK are choosing this arrangement

  • Another alternative is same-sex relationships - marriage rates among LGBTQ people remain lower than among the non-LGBTQ population, despite the legal improvements

  • Allan and Crow - they often negotiate arrangements rather than accepting traditional arrangements

  • Morgan - The New Right - undermines the concept of marriage and family as a child-focused project + many same-sex marriages are ‘open relationships’ (allowing sexual interaction outside of the marriage) which therefore legitimises infidelity, adultery and promiscuity.

Patterns of divorce:

  • The 1969 Divorce Reform Act allowed for divorce on the basis of an “irretrievable breakdown” in the marriage

  • ^^ this resulted in divorce rates in the UK almost doubling

  • about 40% of marriages in the UK now end in divorce

  • roughly two-thirds of divorce applications are filed by women

  • Legal separation is another option

  • Hart - threefold explanation for increased divorce rates -

  • 1) High value of marriage:

  • Fletcher - if a marriage doesn’t live up to these high expectations, then couples will often divorce perhaps with a view to one day remarrying

  • Gibson - in late modernity - there’s a free market culture of individualism and choice - the desire for togetherness is undermined by individual self-interest

  • 2) conflict between spouses (married couples are often separated from wider families and have the pressure of work):

  • Allan and Crow - the role of the wider extended family in work has declined and families are less embedded in the economic system - isolation of couples - incompatibilities that could’ve previously been tolerated have become intolerable

  • Hochschild - women become disillusioned with marriage due to male resistance to housework and pressures on wives to do paid work in conjunction with domestic work and emotion work

  • 3) The opportunities to escape marriage:

  • laws have made divorce easier - can be applied after one year, no-fault divorces are allowed

  • More lone parents due to benefits - less fear of poverty due to dependency on spouse

  • Lone-parent families now account for about a quarter of all families with children and approximately 90% are women

  • The New Right argue this increase in divorce rates, stepfamilies and lone parenthood is the fault of the Welfare State

  • the experience of marital breakdown and the absence of a father figure is bad for the children and the reliance on benefits encourages a culture of welfare dependency

  • Gibson - lack of stigma attached to divorce - The decline in the stigma is partly the result of secularisation and partly the decline of agreed shared values

  • Smart - personal life perspective - normalisation of divorce (not an increase) - families are constructing post-divorce family life collaboratively - negotiated shared childcare arrangements between the separated couple and the involvement of wider family members such as grandparents