1.2 changing patterns of marriage, divorce, cohabitation, household and family structures

Question 1

How many marriages end in divorce?

Answer 1

50%

Question 2

In opposite sex marriages, how many divorces are petitioned by women?

Answer 2

62%

Question 3

What is the functionalist views on a increase in divorce rates?

Answer 3

higher divorce rates are due to higher expectations, particularly women, of relationships
- an increase in divorce rates = an increase in the no. of happy marriages amongst those who remain married

Question 4

How has secularisation impacted divorce rates?

Answer 4

less religious beliefs mean that people no longer see marriage in a sacred way

Question 5

What do Goode(1971) and Gibson(1994) argue about marriage?

Answer 5

marriage has become less sacred and more about personal fulfilment

Question 6

How has individualisation impacted divorce?

Answer 6

Beck and Beck Gernsheim(1995) = divorce is a product of growing individualisation as people now have individual choice
Giddens(1993) = suggests the idea of confluent love and divorce is more acceptable

Question 7

How has an increase in life expectancy affected divorce rates?

Answer 7

• a higher life expectancy means more years that couples have to stay together
• the avg life expectancy is 80/82

Question 8

What are some reasons for an increase in divorce rates?

Answer 8

• welfare support for lone parents
• less functions of the family
• privatisation of family life
• high expectations of marriage

Question 9

What is meant by an empty-shell marriage?

Answer 9

• the marital relationship has broken down, and the couple continue to live together

Question 10

How did the Divorce Reform Act 1969 change the terms of divorce?

Answer 10

• made ‘irretrievable breakdown’ the only grounds for divorce whereas in the past a ‘matrimonial offence’ such as adultery, had to have been committed

Question 11

What are some reasons that people may choose to cohabitate?

Answer 11

• a temporary/informal arrangement
• an alternative to marriage
• preparation for marriage

Question 12

What percentage of first time marriages are preceded by cohabitation?

Answer 12

80%

Question 13

What are some reasons for the decline in marriage and increase in cohabitation?

Answer 13

• chaning role of women (women in cohabiting relationships carry out less housework)
• reduced functions of the family (marriage has become less of a practical neccessity)
• changing social attitudes and reduced social stigma (partly a result of secularisation)
• rising divorce rate
• reducing risk (avoid the risk involved in long term legal committments)

Question 14

What do Beck and Beck Gernsheim argue about risk in relationships?

Answer 14

• increased insecurity in society has led to the definition of a relationship as being a form of emotional refuge

Question 15

What did Bauman argue about relationships in late modernity?

Answer 15

• relationships are fragile and based on consumerist transactions = liquid love
• the focus on the self leads to connections with others rather than relationships based on satisfying needs

Question 16

What are some reasons why people would chooses to be LATs?

Answer 16

• responsibility and care = have existing responsibilities e.g. children
• practical reasons = working/studying in different places
• risk = seeking to avoid the risk of re-creating the same conditions that led to a previous breakup of a former marriage or cohabitation

Question 17

What did Funk and Kobayashi argue was the reason for LATs?

Answer 17

• LATs were rooted in mutual satisfaction + conformed to what Giddens described as the ‘pure relationship’
• they are unburdened by the structural commitment, like shared resources and other practical, financial and legal entanglements that make ending marriages/cohabitation so difficult
• best parts of the relationships without dual burden/triple shift

Question 18

What are some reasons for the growth in lone parent families?

Answer 18

• more economic independence of women, marriage has become less of a necessity
• improved contraception, changing male attitudes, meaning there are less shotgun weddings and men feel less responsibility to marry women and support them should they become unintenionally pregnant
• reproductive technology e.g. IVF
• changing social attitudes

Question 19

How many lone parent families are there?

Answer 19

2.9 million lone parents, of which 9/10 are women

Question 20

Approximately how many divorces will remarry?

Answer 20

1/3

Question 21

What percentage of UK households are single person households?

Answer 21

29%

Question 22

What does Robert Chester mean by the neo-conventional family?

Answer 22

• the extent and importance of family diversity is exaggerated
• neo-conventional family is a nuclear family but with a division of labour between males and females, a dualearner family
• the nuclear family is still the family most people aspire to