Changing family patterns Flashcards
What are two changing patterns of divorce?
- since the 1960s there has been an increase in divorce
- about 65% of petitions for divorce come from women
What are the 7 explanations for the increase in divorce?
- changes in the law
- decline in stigma and changing attitudes
- secularisation
- rising expectations of marriage
- women increased financial independence
- feminist explanations
- modernity & individualisation
What have been the three kinds of changes to the law?
- equalising the grounds for divorce between sexes 1923 > led to a sharp rise in divorce petitions from women
- widening the grounds for divorce 1971> made divorce easier to obtain
- making divorce cheaper 1949 >introduction of legal aid for divorce cases
How has declining stigma affected divorce rates?
- divorce has become more socially acceptable > couples become more willing to resort to divorce as a means of solving martial problems
- becomes normalised
How has secularisation affected divorce rates?
- less influence of religion on society
- church attendances rates declining
- traditional opposition to divorce carries less weight in society
How has the rising expectations of marriage affected divorce rates?
- Functionalist Fletcher > higher expectations make couples less willing to tolerate an unhappy marriage
- ideology of romantic love > each individual has their Mr or Miss Right
- marriage not seen as binding contract but a relationship in which individuals seek personal fulfilment
How do feminist critique Fletchers view on divorce?
- argue that his view is too rosy > ignore the oppression of women as the main cause of marital conflict & divorce
- assumes all individuals freely leave unsatisfactory marriages > women may feel pressured to stay due to societal or economic constraints
How has women’s increase financial independence?
- improvements in women’s economic position has made them less financially dependent on their husbands
> women today more likely to be in paid work
> equal pay and anti-discrimination laws have helped narrow the pay gap
> girls better success in education helps them achieve better paid job
How has feminism affected divorce rates?
- in the private sphere of the family > marriage still remains patriarchal with men benefiting from their wives ‘tiple shift’
- created a new source of conflict between husbands and wives
How has modernity and individualisation affected divorce rates?
- Beck & Giddens argue that in modern society, traditional norms loses their hold over individuals
- each individual has become free to pursue their own self interest > individualisation thesis
- people remain unwilling to remain a relationship that fails to deliver personal fulfilment > seek a pure relationship based on satisfying each others need
- likely to pull spouses apart
What are the different sociological perspectives views on the high rates of divorce?
- New right > see it as undesirable as it creates underclass of welfare dependent female lone parents who are a burden on the state
- Feminists > see it as desirable because it shows women are breaking free from the oppression of the patriarchal NF
- Postmodernists > it shows that individuals have freedom to choose to end a relationship if they need > leads to family diversity
- functionalists> not a threat to marriage as a social institution, remarriage shows peoples continuing commitment
- PLP > family life can adapt to divorce without disintegrating
What are two changing patterns of divorce?
- fewer people are marrying
- more remarriages > leading to a serial monogamy
What are the 5 reasons for a fall in the number of marriages?
- secularisation
- declining stigma attached to alternatives to marriage e.g. cohabitation
- changes in women position
- fear of divorce
What is cohabitation?
- an unmarried couple who have a sexual relationship living together
What are two changing patterns of cohabitation?
- 3.5 million cohabiting heterosexual couples in Britain
- about a fifth of all those cohabiting are serial cohabitants
What are the reasons for increase in cohabitation?
- decline in stigma of sex outside of marriage
- changing position of women > less need of financial security of marriage
- secularisation
What do most cohabiting couples see cohabitation as?
- a trial marriage
- cohabitation = temporary phase before marriage
Other than a trial marriage what do other cohabitating couples see cohabitation as?
- some see as a permanent alternative to marriage
Beijn > represents a more conscious attempt from younger couples to create a more personally negotiated and equal relationship than conventional patriarchal marriage
What is a changing pattern of same sex relationships?
- 5-7% of the adult population today have same-sex relationships
What may explain the trend towards same-sex cohabitation & relationships that resemble same sex relationships?
- increased social acceptance
- Weeks sees lesbian and gay men as creating family based on the idea of ‘friendship as kinship’ > describes these as chosen families as they offer same security as heterosexual families
What are the changing trends of one-person household?
- big rise in number of people living alone
- half of all one person household are over 65
What are the reasons for trends of one-person households?
- increasing in separation and divorce > father likely to leave family home & children live with mother
- decline in numbers marring > people remaining single
What did Duncan and Philips find about those not living with a partner?
- found for the BSA survey that about 1 in 10 adults are ‘living apart together’ > in a significant relationship but not married or cohabitating
What are the changing trends of childbearing?
- nearly half of all children are born outside of marriage
- women are having children later
- women are having fewer children
What are the reasons for changes in child bearing patterns?
- decline in stigma and increase in cohabitation
- women have more options other than motherhood & want to establish themselves e.g. education
What are the changing trends of lone parent families?
- LPF make up 24% of all families with children
- about 90% of these families are headed by lone mothers
What are the reasons for changing trends in lone parent families?
- increase in divorce and separation
- increases in number of never married women having children
- decline in stigma to attached to births outside of marriage
What are the critiques of the New right view on LPF?
- welfare benefits are far from generous because:
> lack of affordable childcare prevents lone parents from working
> inadequate welfare benefits
> most lone parents are women who generally earn less than men
> failure of fathers to pay child support
What are the changing trends of stepfamilies?
- stepfamilies (aka reconstituted) account for over 10% of all families with children
- stepfamilies are at greater risk of poverty
- stepfamilies may face issues of divided loyalties & issues such a contact with non-resident parent can cause tensions
What are the reasons for the changing trends of stepfamilies?
- divorce and separation leads to increase in stepfamilies
- children more likely to remain with mother so more children in stepfamilies are from women’s previous relationship
- greater risk of poverty because there are more children & father may have to support children from previous relationship as well
- tensions face may be due to lack of clear social norms about how individuals should behaving in SP
How has immigration changed family patterns?
- Migrants brought with them the family patterns of their countries origin
What are the family patterns of British South Asian families accoridng to Berthoud?
- had high rates of marriage and low rates of cohabitation & divorce
- arranged marriages common among Sikh & Muslims
- higher rate of three generational households
- high value places on ‘izzat’ especially related to daughters
What are the family patterns of White British families?
- lower marriage & fertility rates, later marriage, small family sizes
What are the family patterns of Black British Caribbean families?
- lower marriage rates than other two groups and low fertility rates
- higher rates of lone parenthood
- high rates of intermarriage
Although the extended family may have declined, why has it not disappeared?
- Willmott argues it continues exists as a ‘dispersed extended family’ where relatives are geographically separated but maintain frequent contact through visits and phone calls
