Topic 5 - Changing Family Patterns - Divorce Revision

5 non theoretcial reasons for rise in divorce/decline in marriage

^^Changes in the law^^ - There ^^have been 3 changes in the law that have allowed divroce rates to increase and have made divorce more accessible to women^^:

   1. ^^Equalizing the grounds for divorce between male and femles^^
   2. ^^Widening grounds for divorce^^
   3. ^^Changes in the law that have made divorce much cheaper^^.

^^Decline in stigma and changing attitudes around marriage^^ - ^^Stigma refers to the negative labels attached to a person, action or relationships^^. ^^In the past, divorce and divorcees have been stigmatized.^^ E.g. ^^churches condemned divorce and still are strongly against divorce^^. ^^Goody argued that since the 1960’s, stigma around divorce has rapidly declined^^. Divorce has now been normalized
^^Secularisation^^ - this is ^^the decline of the influence of religion in society.^^ The ^^churches traditional opposition to divorce holds less weight in society than it once did^^ and so ^^people are less likely to be influenced by religious teachings when making decisions on marriage^^.
^^Rising expectations of marriage^^ - ^^Hether argued that people are less lilely to tolerate an unhappy marriage.^^ ^^Today, marriage is soley based on love, if the love dies, then the marriage is no longer justified.^^ ^^People, especially women^^, ^^have a choice and marriage is no longer for economic reasons^^. Marriage is no longer a binding contract.
^^Womens increased financial independence^^ - ^^Women are better educated, women are better paid and anti-discrimination laws have meant that women aren’t as financially dependent on their husbands,^^ meaning that ^^women have no financial incentive to stay in an unhappy marriage^^.

Different perspectives views on the effect of a high divorce rate in society.

%%Functionalism - Functionalism argues that a high divorce rate is not necessarily a threat to marriage as a social institution. Functionalism argues that a high divorce rate is simply the result of peoples increased expectations of marriage. The high rate of remarriages shows peoples continued commitment towards the idea of marriage - Functionalsim believe that divorce as positive%%
==The New Right== - ==The New Right sees high divorce rates in society as undesirable because it undermines marriage== ==and the traditional nulcear family==, ==which the New Right regards as vital to social stability.== ==In the New Right view, a high divorce rate creates a growing underclass of welfare-dependent female lone parents who are a burden on the state== and it ==leaves boys without a male adult role model== that they need. ==The New Right also believe beleive it also results in poorer health and educational outcomes for children==. - ==The New Right argues that divorce as negative==.
%%Feminism%% - %%Feminism sees a high divorce rate as positive and argues that because women have many burdens within the household and in marriage, divorce maybe better for women to free women from patriarchy%%. - %%Feminism argues that divorce as positve%%
==Personal Life Perspective== - ==The personal life perspective accepts that divorce can cause problems such as financial difficulties== and ==lack of daily contact between children and non-resident parents.== However, ==Carol Smart says that divorce has become normalised and that family life can continue without disintegrating== and that ==we should see divorce as a ’transition in life.’ - The Personal Life Perspective sees a high divorce rate as negative==.
%%Interactionalism%% - The %%interactionalist perspective aims to understand what divorce means to the individual%%. %%David Morgan (1996) argues that we cannot generalise about the meaning of divorce as everyones interpretation is different%%. - %%Interactionalism sees divorce as positive%%.
%%Postmodernism%% - %%Postmodernism sees 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%%. %%Postmodernists see divorce as a major cause of greater family diversity%%. - %%Postmodernism sees divorce as positive.%%

Reasons for changing patterns in marriage

^^Changing attitudes to marriage^^ - ^^people face less pressure to marry in todays society^^. It is ^^believed that a couples quality of relationship is more important than their legal rights.^^
^^Secularisation^^ - ^^Churches are strongly in favour of marriage, however, over the years, the churches influence has declined^^ and ^^as a result people feel more free to choose whether to marry or not.^^
^^Declining stigma attached to alternatives to marriage^^ - ^^Cohabitation, remaining single, having children outside of marriage are more widely accepted in society today^^.
^^Changes in the position of women^^ - ^^women have better education and career prospects and women are now more economically independent^^ and ^^so delay marriage until later on in their lives or don’t get married at all^^.
^^Fear of divorce^^ - ^^because of the increase in divorce rates, more people are scared that they are more likely to divorce and so don’t marry^^. As a result, ^^they may choose to cohabit instead^^.
Why have ^^re-marriages increased in recent years?^^

1. ^^Because of an increase in divorce, people are getting married again later in life^^.

Why are ^^couples marrying at a later age?^^

1. ^^Young people delay marriage because they are busy with their careers^^, ^^when they are old^^ however, ^^people have more time and so don’t want to spend it alone^^.

^^2 Reasons why couples today are less likely to get married in church^^

   1. ^^Secularisation^^
   2. Many ^^churches refuse to marry those that have previously married and divorced^^.

Cohabitation

^^Cohabitation is having an intimate relationship wth a partner but not being married. Must be living together.^^
4 ^^patterns of cohabitiation^^ are:

  1. ^^Cohabiting couples with children are increasing.^^
  2. There are ^^2.9 million cohabiting heterosexuas^^. This is ^^double what it was in 1996^^
  3. There are ^^69,000 same sex cohabiting couples^^.
  4. ^^1/5th of all who are cohabiting are ’serial cohabitiers^^’ who ^^have had one or more previous cohabitations^^.

^^Reasons for an increase in cohabitation^^

  1. ^^Secularisation^^
  2. ^^Young people are more likely to accept cohabitation^^
  3. ^^More career and educatiion opportunities for women^^ means that ^^less women need the financial security of marriage.^^
  4. There is ^^less stigma around cohabitation and sex outside of marriage.^^

Same sex couples

^^Homosexual couples rights that are the same as heterosexual^^

  1. ^^Male homosexual acts were decriminalized^^ for ^^those over the age of 21 in 1967^^
  2. The ^^age of consent was equalised with heterosexuals^^
  3. ^^2004 - civil partnership act^^ - ^^gave same sex couples similar legal rights to married couples in respect of pensions, inheritance^^ etc.

‘^^Weeks^^’ - ^^chosen family^^
* ^^‘Weeks’ had argued that the chosen family was creating family based on the idea of ‘friendship as kinship’,^^ where ^^friendships become a type of kinship network^^.
How have homosexual relationships changed from the 1970’s according to Weston?

1. Weston argues that in the 1970’s, homosexual relationships were still largely rejected. Homosexual relationships in the 1970’s also rejected monogamy and promoted having multiple partners. In present day, there has been a shift back to monogamy as homosexual couples no cohabit.

What has been the impact of legal acceptance of same sex couples on same sex couples

1. Same sex couples have to negotiate their commitment and responsibilities more than married couples.

Why might some gay people see legal recognition of same sex relationships as limiting?

1. Because it may limit the flexibility and negotiability of their relationships.

One-person households

Three patterns of one-person households today?

  1. Rise in the number of people living alone. 30% of households are 1 person households.
  2. 40% of all one person households are 65+ in age.
  3. By 2033, over 30% of the adult population will be single

2 Reasons for the increased number of one-person households.

  1. Increase in separation and divorce - After the divorce, the children are likely to stay with the mother - the father is likely to leave the family home.
  2. Decline in the number of people that are marrying.

Living apart together (LAT’s)

2 Reasons why a couple may choose to live apart

  1. People may want their own independence
  2. Those who have already divorced may not want to cohabit too soon after the divorce.

Other changes

Children are now being born outside of marriage - A reason why more children are being born outside of marriage is because there has been a decrease in marriage rates and this could be a result of fear of divorce, as due to the increasing numbers of divorce, less people are getting married and so choose to cohabit and not marry meaning children are being born outside of marriage.
Women are having fewer childrena and are having children later in life - A reason for why women are having children children later in life is because there has been a change in womens positions as now women have more job opportunities, are more educated and so now as a result, women are less financially dependent on men and so are likely to focus on their careers instead of getting married and so will get married later in life. This would then mean that women are also having children later in life. Because women are having children later in life, they are likely to have less children because they are older and so can’t have as many children.
Lone parent families are increasing and most of which are head by mothers - A reason for an increase in lone parent families that are being headed by mothers is an increase in the divorce rate and this is due to thinsg such as chnages in the law that have made it easier for women to divorce their husbands and also because there is a declining stigma around divorce. They are mostly headed by mother because courts are more likely to give the mother custody of teh children. The father is likely to leave the family home during the divorce.
Step and/or reconstituted families are on the rise - a reason for an increase in step and reconstituted families is an increase in divorce rates, and also becuae more people are living longer and so people getting married again later in life.

Ethnic differences in families

Black families
  * Higher proportion of lone parent families. In 2012, 50% of families with a lone parent were black.
  * How do black families compare to British families?
    * White families with dependent children are headed by a married couple most of the time. Only 23% are headed by a lone parent in white families. For black families, only 41% are lead by a married couple and 51% are lone parent families.
  * What are the reasons for this?
    * Under slavery, when couples were separated, childrne stayed with the mother. It is argued that this established a pattern of family that persists today.
  * Mirza argued that black women place higher value on independence.
Asian families
  * 1 in 9 asian familes are head by a lone parent. They also have larger households with 3 generatiions living uner 1 roof.
  * How do Asian families compare to British families?
    * 88& of Asian families that have dependent children are lead by a married couple. onLY 11% of Asian families will have one parent.
  * What are the reasons for this?
    * Asian families place larger value on the extended family and so will have more people. Also, when migrating, extended family provides assistance.

The extended family

What did Charles say about the extended family?

1. Charles argued that the classic 3 generation family all live under one roof is extinct, except for the significant exception from Bangladeshi families.

What did Willmott say about the extended family?

1. Willmot argued that the extended family continues to exist as a ‘dispersed extended family’ where relatives are geographically separated but maintain frequent contact through visits and phone calls.

What did Chamberlain say about the extended family?

1. Despite being geographically dispersed, extended family continues to support eachother and Chamberlain describes them as ‘multiple nuclear families’ with frequent contact.

What did Bell day avout the extended family?

1. Both working class and middle class families had emotional bonds with kin and relied on them for support.

Beanpole families

A beanpole family is a multi-generaltional extended family. This means that there are many different generations within the family but only a few siblings within each generation.
How did the beanpole family come about?

   1. Increased life expectancy meaning that there are more surviving grandparents and great-grandparents
   2. Smaller families sizes as people are having fewer children.

Whaty is meant by obligations and the principle of reciprocity?

   1. Obligations - obligations are when people feel a sense of obligation to help their extended kin.
   2. Principle of reciprocity - teh principle of reciprocity is when people believe that help received should be returned to avoid any feelinsh of indebtedness.

How is the extended family today?

1. The extended family continues to play an important role for many today, providing support.