changing family patters: divorce

Question 1

Explanations for the increase in divorce: changes in the law

Answer 1

-Equalising the grounds for divorce between the sexes
-Widening the grounds for divorce
-Making divorce cheaper.
Other solutions to the problem of marriage:
-Desertion- where one partner leaves the other but the couple remain legally married.
-Legal separation- where a court separates the financial and legal affairs of the couple but where they remain married and aren’t free to re-marry.
-Empty-shell marriage- where the couple continue to live under the same roof but remain married in name only.

Question 2

Declining stigma and changing attitudes

Answer 2

Mitchell + Goody (1997):
-An important change since the 1960s is the rapid decline in stigma attached to divorce.
-As stigma declines and divorce becomes more socially acceptable, couples become more willing to resort to divorce as a means of solving their marital problems.

Question 3

Secularisation

Answer 3

-The traditional opposition of the churches to divorce carries less weight in society and people are less liekly to be influenced by religious teachings when making decisions about personal matters.
-Churches have softened their views on divorce and divorcees

Question 4

Rising expectations of marriages

Answer 4

Fletcher (1966)- functionalists
-Higher expectations= major cause of rising divorce rates.
-Point to the continuing popularity of marriage, that although adults divorce, they often re-marry emphasising the importance of marriage as an institution.
Feminists- argue that the oppression of women within the family is the main cause of marital conflict + divorce

Question 5

Women’s increased financial independence

Answer 5

-Women today are much more likely to be in paid work. Proportion of women working rose from 53% in 1971 to 67% in 2013.
-Women generally still earn less than men, equal pay + anti-discrimination laws have helped to narrow the pay gap.
-Girls’ = greater success in education–> achieves better-paid jobs than previous generations.
-Welfare benefits means that women no longer have to remain financially dependent on husbands.

Question 6

Feminist explanations

Answer 6

-Women take on the dual burden
-Marriage remains patriarchal, men benefiting off the triple shift.
Hoshchild (1997)- argues that at work women feel valued, but at home men’s resistance to housework results in frustration= marriage unstable.
Radical feminist:
-Bernard (1976)- may women feel a growing dissatifsaction with a partriarchal marriage, rising divorce rates as evidence of their growing acceptance of feminist ideas.