Changing family patterns

Question 1

What was the ‘normal’ family type?

Answer 1

Nuclear family

Around 50 years ago

Now variety of different types of family

Question 2

What are the three key areas of change?

Answer 2

• Changes to marriage
• Changes to partnerships
• Changes to children and families

Question 3

Expand on the features of the changes to marriage briefly

Answer 3

Fewer people getting married
People are marrying later in life
Divorce rate has gone up

Question 4

Expand on the features of the changes to partnerships briefly

Answer 4

More couples are ‘cohabitating’
More same sex couples - now legally recognised
More people living alone

Question 5

Expand on the features of the changes to children and families briefly

Answer 5

Women are having fewer to no children
More births outside marriages
More step families (result of divorce and remarriage)
More lone parent families

Question 6

Why is secularisation a reason for changes in marriage?

Answer 6

Fewer religious marriages in church: accounted for 24% of marriages in 2016

Secularisation: loss of religion

More remarriages: 4 out 10
Waiting longer for marriage
Average age (males): 27 in 1972 and 38 in 2017
Average age (females): 25 in 1972 and 36 in 2017

Question 7

What are the 6 key reasons for change

Answer 7

• Changing attitudes: less societal pressure
• Secularisation
• Social norms (cohabiting)
• Rising divorce: marriages last around 11yrs, almost 50% marriages fail (discouraging)
• Cost: average cost of weddings in UK 17,000 (now 20,000)
• Marrying later

Question 8

What are the reasons for divorce according to feminists?

Answer 8

• Male domination in traditional families (conflict and dissatisfaction)
• Discontent from being valued at work but undervalued at home
• Expected to work and do housework

Question 9

What do the new rights say?

Answer 9

Marriage/nuclear family under attack and in decline by women divorcing
- marriage becoming less popular (rates declining in Britain)

Question 9

Who argues society isnt witnessing a mass rejection of marriage?

Answer 9

Chester
- instead delaying marriage, probably after a period of cohabitation for economic reasons
- 2005: 7 in 10 families still headed by a married couple

Question 10

What postmodernists argue about the rising divorce rate?

Answer 10

Beck and Beck-Gernsheim

Question 11

What do Beck and Beck-gernsheim argue?

Answer 11

• Rising divorce rate: product of a rapidly changing world in which traditional rules for love, romance and relationships don’t apply
• Postmodern world characterised by individualisation, choice and conflict

Question 12

What did the postmodernists mean by individualisation?

Answer 12

people under less pressure to conform to traditional goals set by extended families, religions or cultures. more individualistic, selfish etc

Question 12

What did postmodernists mean by choice?

Answer 12

cultural and economic changes mean people have greater range of choices available in terms of lifestyle and living arrangements (baudrillard: pick and mix)

Question 13

What did postmodernists mean by conflict?

Answer 13

potential clash between what people want as individuals and what they expect from others in a relationship like a marriage

Question 14

Who spoke about higher divorce rate as evidence that marriage is increasingly valued?

Answer 14

Fletcher

Question 15

What was Fletcher’s argument as well as higher divorce rates?

Answer 15

Couples no longer prepared to out up with empty shell marriages
- Want partners who can offer, friendship, emotional fulfill and sexual compatibility

Question 16

What’s a stat that supports Fletcher’s point?

Answer 16

1960s: most divorce petitions initiated by men
1990s: 75% of divorce petitions taken out by women

Question 17

Who did a survey of married couples?

Answer 17

Thornes and Collards

Question 18

What did Thornes and Collard find?

Answer 18

Discovered that women expect more from marriage than men and tend to be less satisfied with their marriages

Question 19

What has influenced women’s attitudes?

Answer 19

Improvement in women’s employment opportunities
- Women no longer have to stay unhappily married due to financial dependence
- Influence shouldn’t be exaggerated
- Women’s economic independence restricted because of being in part time and low paid work

Question 20

What are stats to support the influence on women’s attitudes?

Answer 20

• 1994: 58% of workforce was female
• Women’s average earnings still only 75% of men’s

Question 21

Who speaks about dual burden?

Answer 21

Hart

Question 22

What does Hart say in addition to dual burden?

Answer 22

• work and responsible for bulk of housework and childcare
• faulted by men to redistribute power at home may lead to divorce

Question 23

Who talks about the general liberation of attifues in society, specifically secularisation?

Answer 23

Wilson

Question 24

What does Wilson say in addition?

Answer 24

Divorce no longer carries stigma
- change in social attifues is due to secularisation
- Members of the Royal Family have experienced divorce

Question 25

What’s another reason for decline in divorce in relation to marriage and state?

Answer 25

marriage receives little support from the state
- Little public money spent keeping marriages together despite emotional and economic costs of divorce

Question 26

What about cohabitation?

Answer 26

Def: living together in a romantic or non romantic relationship without being married
- Living together is no longer ‘stigmatised’ and socially unacceptable
- Many women now have careers, no longer need the security of marriage
- Secularization: trad religions grown on cohabitation but their influence declined

Question 27

What are stats to support the cohabitation points?

Answer 27

• about 1/4 of all unmarried adults cohabitate: roughly 2 million couples
• by 2000, 62% of people in Britain regarded sex before marriage as not wrong
• 88% of 18-24 year olds think it’s ok

Question 28

What’s important to consider about cohabitation?

Answer 28

Many people see cohabitation as a step towards marriage
- decision to have children often propels cohabiting couples into marriage
- for some couples: it’s a permanent arrangement based more on equality and sharing than traditional marriage

Question 29

What’s a study to support cohabitation as a step towards marriage?

Answer 29

Research by Coast in 2006 shown that 75% of all cohabiting couples intended to marry eventually and saw cohabitation as a ‘trial marriage’

Question 30

What about same sex couples?

Answer 30

Social attitudes towards them changed: much more acceptable
- Law has changed to make same sex relationships easier
- Lead to many stable same sex relationships, effectively marriages
- another kind of new family: relationships where both partners make a firm commitment over a long periods of time

Question 31

What laws lead to easier same sex couples?

Answer 31

• 1967: homosexuality was ‘de criminalised’
• Civil partnerships act (2004) gave them the same rights as married couples in terms of: property, inheritance etc

Question 32

What about one person households?

Answer 32

Number of people living alone has risen: 10% of people (6.8 million)
- Tripled since 1961
- Half are pensioners

Question 33

Why have single households tripled since 1961?

Answer 33

• Rise in divorce lead to more people living alone (children normally live with mother than father)
• Fall in people marrying: more remain single (lifestyle choice)
• Partner dies (more older people living alone - normally women)
• Some living alone are in relationships just not cohabiting (LAT - living apart together)
  > May be various reasons: wanting to keep their own home etc.