Changing Patterns And Family Diversity

Question 1

What are some divorce statistics?

Answer 1

40% of marriages now end in divorce, 6x higher that 50 years ago

Question 2

What are 5 reasons for increases in divorce?

Answer 2

Legal changes, Less stigma, Secularisation, Higher expectations of marriage and women’s financial independence

Question 3

How has legal changes lead to an increase in divorce?

Answer 3

As in the 19th century century divorce was almost impossible but in the 20th century legal changes made marriage easier such as the 1969 policy that allowed divorce for irretrievable breakdown that gave couples a legitimate way to divorce based on marital breakdown, this had also made divorces more affordable although this does not explain why more chose to exercise divorce indicating that social changes where more influential

Question 4

How has less stigma lead to an increase in divorce?

Answer 4

Negative labels have been removed from divorce due to the increase and normalisation of it reducing the stigma and increasing the amount of people who are willing to divorce

Question 5

How has secularisation lead to an increase in divorce?

Answer 5

As society becomes less religious and religion has less influence in people’s lives the churches condemnation of divorce has became less important meaning churches now adapt to divorces to remain respected

Question 6

How is higher expectations of marriage increasing divorce rates?

Answer 6

From and ear,y age children watch tv and read stories about idealised ultra romantic marriages and when they get married it is not what they expected so they divorce contrasting with the past where marriages were commonly loveless and just for convenience

Question 7

What do functionalists argue about divorce rates?

Answer 7

They argue that marriage is still an important part in society and that the high rate of re-marriage without divorce proves that to be true, feminists argue that functionalists ignore the fact that it is women who seek divorce by a large margin showing that women are still dissatisfied with patriarchal marriage

Question 8

How does Women’s financial independence increase divorce rates?

Answer 8

More women are now in paid work than ever before and one parent welfare benefits are readily available to them so this means they are less economically dependent on their husbands meaning if they are unhappily married there is more incentive to get a divorce than ever before.

Question 9

How do feminists explain the increase the divorce?

Answer 9

They argue that it is because of women becoming wage earners that there is a conflict as both men and women are working but women are still expected to perform a triple shift, feminists argue that it is women being aware of this fact that divorce rates are going up and why 70% of divorce petitions come from women

Question 10

How has modernity affected divorce?

Answer 10

It is argued that as modernity increasingly means people are becoming more individualistic and this means that people are increasingly wanting to persuade their best interests and marriage can limit this resulting in more divorces

Question 11

What are 7 reasons for a decrease in marriages?

Answer 11

Changing attitudes (less pressure to get married), Alternatives such as cohabitation are less stigmatised, Women’s economic independence, impact of feminism (mean that some women see marriage as too patriarchal) and rising and commonplace of divorce can put people off

Question 12

What are some other trends in marriage?

Answer 12

More remarriage, later marriages and fewer changes in weddings

Question 13

What are some characteristics of cohabitation in the U.K?

Answer 13

1.5 million people in England and Wales now cohabit because of less stigma of sex or having kids outside of marriage and women’s financial independence (don’t need marriage to support them). Trial marriages are now common to see if they would work out, and many couples just see cohabitation as a cheaper, less patriarchal and an easy alternative to marriage

Question 14

What are some characteristics of gay marriage in the U.K?

Answer 14

There is now greater acceptance, are equal to heterosexual marriages and although this is showing more family diversity it could be argued that gay marriage is exactly the same as marriage and that actually it is not that diverse

Question 15

What are some of the characteristics of parenting in the U.K!

Answer 15

Over half of children are now born outside of marriage which is 5x more than in 1971 mainly down to an increase in cohabitation, Women are having children at a later age and more are being childless so they can have a better career

Question 16

What are some of the characteristics of lone parent and reconstituted families in the U.K?

Answer 16

They make up around 25% of families in the U.K and that has tripled since 1970, because of decline in stigma of children outside of marriage, reconstituted families are also increasing due to cohabitation, divorce and re marriage simultaneously, they account for 8% of all families in the U.K now, they are more at risk at poverty due to having more kids

Question 17

What does the new right argue about lone parent families?

Answer 17

That lone parent families are too easy and common an option due to a culture of dependency and over generous benefits, David Cameron even saying that they are contributing to ‘broken Britain’, critics argue that this is wrong as the benefits aren’t generous and many single parent families (90% of them matrifocal) live in poverty because of a lack of fundamental childcare meaning they can’t work and the y receive no maintenance money from the other parent

Question 18

What are some of the ethnic differences in one parent family patterns?

Answer 18

Black people are way more likely to have lone Parents (49% of Parents compared to 23% of Parents in U.K or Asian 11%) some argue this could be a legacy of slavery as a result of high employment away from family and black women valuing freedom more, some arguing that it is because in Lots of African cultures farther is not a contrsuct and the mother is expected to fully look after the young
Asian pupils also often have larger households due to a traditional cultural ideal of living in an extended family and preferably a nuclear one which is also linked to better education

Question 19

What do functionalist argue about extended families?

Answer 19

That in modern society the nuclear family replaces the extended family as different agencies of society can replicate family contact and migration is common, Willmott (1988) also found though that a new family structure the dispersed extended family where a nuclear family doesn’t live with but keeps close contact with the extended family

Question 20

What is a beanpole family?

Answer 20

Is a family structure that extends vertically through three generations but not horizontally through aunties and cousins etc. This is caused by increasing life expectancy for grandparents and smaller family sizes

Question 21

What do functionalists and the new right argue about family diversity?

Answer 21

Both argue that the conventional nuclear family is still the best family structure in society and is natural because of gender differences such as functionalists instrumental and expressive roles theory, they blame alternative family structures for societies problems such as lone parents creating dependency and lazy culture

Question 22

What do feminists say about the new right and functionalist views on family diversity?

Answer 22

They argue that nuclear families are not natural as the gender differences found there are social constructs, they see this opposition to variety as patriarchy oppression

Question 23

What does Chester argue?

Answer 23

In new conventional family he argues that although there is some diversity the nuclear family is dominant the only change being that in nuclear families both people are working like a symmetrical family, he argues that many people aspire to a nuclear family showing that it is still popular in society today.

Question 24

What do the The Rapoports argue?

Answer 24

That Chester is wrong, and that diversity is important in family life today, unlike the New Right the Rapoports argue that diversity is good for society as it allows individuals to adapt into a relationship they feel most happy, efficient and comfortable in, they argue that family diversity is actually the cause in a decline in almost all crime in the U.K

Question 25

What do postmodernists argue about family diversity?

Answer 25

That in the past relationships where defined by traditional gender roles that prevented people from greater individualism, however they argue today the patriarchal aspects of family have been destroyed by greater individualism, they argue that today families which they call ‘pure families’ better fit the needs of all members because of a lack of gender roles

Question 26

What do functionalists argue about social policy and the family?

Answer 26

Functionalists argue that new policies benefit everyone in a family, they improve the lives gradually such as the development of the welfare state which means families are better careers for, they argue policies are consensus and hence work for everyone

Question 27

What do the New right argue about social policy and the family?

Answer 27

The new right frequently argue that there is too much family intervention in politics, they create policies that advocate nuclear families and opposes family variety arguing that it damages kids, Feminists conflict with new right views arguing that the new right try’s to reinforce and justify patricarchy that oppresses women

Question 28

What do the new right argue are problems in family policy?

Answer 28

They argue that benefits are too generous and create a culture of dependency and Murray (1984) argues that some policies actively encourage irresponsible behaviour such as the rewarding of single mothers through benefits meaning more fathers are able to run away

Question 29

What do the new right argue is the solution through policy making?

Answer 29

They favour cutting welfare benefits so people have more incentive to provide for their families and they believe that ‘federal excess’ is to influential in family life so they should cut it back and allow families to be non dependent on the state unlike functionalists

Question 30

What are some of the Conservative government of 79-97s policies?

Answer 30

+They banned the promotion of homosexuality by local authorities
+ They introduced the child support agency to ensure that absent parents pay maintenance to their kids
+ They are spilt between modernisers who respect family diversity and traditionalists who favour a new right view and reject diversity which has meant the party has been split over gay marriage etc.

Question 31

What are some labour policies 97-10?

Answer 31

+ Unlike the conservatives they rejected the view that their should be on usually male earner in a family and one career, they made it clear that they later supported family diversity but favoured the new-conventional nuclear family
+ They argued that state intervention was a positive thing for kids and could improve their lives so introduced the new deal, surestart and a number of child benefits, they also cut the married tax allowance
+ Most importantly they introduced civil partnerships for same sex couples a policy that was initially opposed by the conservatives

Question 32

What do feminists argue about social policy and the family?

Answer 32

As they are a conflict perspective they are negative, they argue that social policies particularly but not limited to the Conservative party often shape families and women’s lives in a way that benefits men and the patriarchy, Land (1978) argues that as policies take into consideration that families are patriarchal and accept it as the norm they act as a self fulfilling prophecy reproducing patriarchy in society such as maternity leave being longer than paternity leave, However crisis argue that some family policies actively protect women such as laws against rape and domestic violence