Are divorce rates increasing Flashcards
Yes because of changes in law
Since the 19th century divorce was easier, cheaper and quicker to obtain. Since the 1969 Divorce Law Reform Act divorce just became even easier to obtain as all you had to do was show that you and your partner no longer lived together anymore. Feminist would think that this a a good thing as it allows women to escape empty shell marriages and start a brand new life. Furthermore it allows women to escape from abusive partners. +C= New Right would argue that this is bad for society as it creates more LPF and this means that society would become unstable as LPFs cannot socialise their children adequately. This gives rise to perverse incentives as women will think that the government would give them housing and this would encourage young women to get pregnant at a young age and fathers to leave their children thinking that the government will look after them.
yes because of secularisation
Society itself is now more secular and this means teachings on marriage and divorce are less important to people. For example in Christianity it describes marriage as an everlasting covenant with God which no one shall break as its sacred. However if society is more secular it means that people no longer believe in marriage being scared and so are more likely to divorce their spouse. Also religion teaches that divorce is a sin but if people are no longer religious then they wouldn’t care about it and so divorce. +C= many e/m are still less likely to get divorced as they tend to be more religious. If e/m are not getting divorced it means that society hasn’t really become secular as they still believe in the importance of marriage
yes because of changes in the position of women
women are less financially dependent on their husbands and therefore more freer to end their marriage. This is due to laws such as Equal Pay Act and Sex-discrimination Act which allows women to earn more than what they would usually earn giving them the independence they needed. Also if women are now more independent they don’t have the dual burden they would normally have according to Ferri and Smith. This is because they can divorce the husband as the woman is financially stable and the government would give her welfare benefits so it’s easier for her to escape the dual burden. Allan and Crow argue that marriage is less embedded with the economic system. This means that the spouses are no longer dependent on each other economically so they are free to divorce if they want.+C=Mitchell and Goody found that although divorce can have positive effects for the individual there can be some negative effects. For example one of their interviewees said that she never recovered from the day her father left her.
Yes because of feminist movement
feminists argue that marriage is patriarchal and men benefit from their wives triple shifts.For example Hoschild argues that at work women feel more valued but at home they do not as men are resisting to do housework. They then build up their frustration and this makes marriage more unstable. This factor may contribute to a higher divorce rate. Furthermore Sigle-Rushton found that mothers who suffer from dual burden are more likely to divorce than non-working mothers in a traditional household. Bernard argues that women are becoming more aware of patriarchal oppression so they are more likely to divorce. +C= Cooke and Gash disagree with Sigle-Rushton as they found no evidence that working women are more likely to divorce. They say this because for working women it has become an accepted norm.
No sudden decrease
Divorce rates have been steadily falling since 2000 due to the decrease in marriage. If less people are getting married it means that less people are getting divorced. +c= However it will soon rise again now as marriage rates will increase now that they will include same sex
and opposite sex marriages due to Civil partnership so as marriage rates rise so will the divorce rates. Also due to the rising expectation of marriage divorces will keep increasing as people are more fixated on finding the right person.
Definition of divorce
legal ending of a marriage. Civil partnerships end in dissolution.
