Cohabitation And Marriage

Question 1

What are five main trends we can see in marriage

Answer 1

1. annual no. of marriages declined after 1972
2. decine in marrigae rates
3. 32& involved a religious or church based ceremony in 2004 (51% 1991) taking place in a civil context instead
4. same-sex civil partnerships was up 2% in 2010 compared with 2009
5. There are ethnic variations in marriage

Question 2

Explain further annual no. of marriages declined after 1972 as a trend in marriage

Answer 2

1972 highest no. of couples since WW2 married (480,000) - annual no. of marriages declined all time low in 2009 at only 232,443 couples (underestimated because of travel abroad)

Question 3

Explain further a decline in marriage rates as a trend in marriage

Answer 3

in 1994 marriage rate was 11.4 but declined to 10.3 by 2004
female rate - 30.6 to 24.6 in 2004
male rate - 36.3 to 25 in 2004

Question 4

define marriage rates

Answer 4

the number of people marrying per 1000 of the population ages 16 and over

Question 5

explain further that there are ethnic variations in marriage as a trend in marriage

Answer 5

Berthoud(2000) 3/4 of Pakistani + Bangladeshi women are married by 25 compared with one 1/2 of white women

British-African Caribbeans are the group least likely to get married

Question 6

Who looked at if marriage is in decline

Answer 6

New right commentators expressed concerns about the decline in marriage
Patricia Morgan argues marriage involves unique attachments and obligations that regulate peoples behaviour e.g. married men are more likely to be employed and earn more as they work harder

Question 7

What supports Patricia Morgan

Answer 7

Office for National Statistics concludes that marriage is good for the health of couples + married people live lover than divorced

Question 8

Who disagreed with Office for National Statistics

Answer 8

Murphy (2007) suggests that it could be bad relationships rather than divorce that makes people unhappy and hence ill

Question 9

Other than a decline in marriage as a threat to the health of the nuclear family what eld do they see as a threat

Answer 9

increase in cohabitation
increase in divorce
increase in single-person households
decline in brith and fertility rates

Question 10

Why is marriage on decline suggested by new right sociologists

Answer 10

1. Decline in religious belief + practices leading to changing attitudes e.g. weakening of commitment
2. Social/government policy has not done enough towards cohabitation
3. Individualism - undermined women commitment to marriage + family life
4. Smith(2000) - marriage creates unrealistic expectations about monogamy + faithfulness in a world characterised by sexual freedom

Question 11

What is secularisation

Answer 11

Decline in religious belief + practices

Question 12

New right fears what marriage statistics reveal are probably exaggerated - give 4 reasons why

Answer 12

1. People are delaying marriage
2. Most people still believe in marriage as a desirable life goal
3. People still believe having children is best done in the context of marriage
4. More than 40% of all marriages are remarriages showing they are still committed to the institution of marriage despite their negative experience
5. Married couples are still the min type of partnership for men + women in 2005 7/10 families were headed by a married couple

Question 13

Explain further people are delaying marriage as a reason why marriage statistics may be exaggerated

Answer 13

The majority of single people will marry at some point but later in life (maybe after cohabitation)
Average age for first time bride in 2010 = 33.6 and groom = 36.2. 1970 - bride = 21.7 groom = 27.2

Question 14

Who goes against delaying marriage is not just the case

Answer 14

Wilson snd Smallwood (2007) suggests that rates of marriage in England and Wales have fallen for the cohorts of women born in each year between 1974 and 1986

Question 15

Explain women attitudes towards marriage

Answer 15

Delaying - develop careers + financial freedom + enjoy independence
Genderquake - marriage is not their main goal
Education + feminisation of the economy - women weighing up costs of marriage against benefit of a career and economic independence so delaying

Bernard - marriage benefits men more - married women suffer worse physical and mental health - making some sick

Question 16

What support is there for attitudes towards women

Answer 16

births to women aged 35 and 44 has increased

Question 17

What are the trends in cohabitation

Answer 17

Rise in the no. of cohabiting couples
Risen from 11%M + 13%F to 24%+25%
2.1M 2001 to 2.9M 2010 but does not include same-sex
1/3 teenagers in 2007 are destined to cohabit rather than marry compared to 1/10 grandparents
By 2014 married couples could account for less than half of British families

Question 18

Explain the counter argument for these trends

Answer 18

New right commentators claim cohabitation is less stable than marriage suggesting its going out of fashion
Institute for the Study of Civil society (2000) - cohabiting couples less likely to be happy + more likely to be abusive,unfaithful,stredded + depressed

New right sociologist - Morgan - cohabiting is a sign of symbolic decline in morality because it represents an increase in the number of sexual partners + partner change

Question 19

‘Is cohabitation a threat to family life’ (7)

Answer 19

1. Kiernan - cannot generalise
2. increase may simply reflect changes in social and religious values
3. changes in women position and attitudes
4. not an alternative to marriage
5. practical response
6. temporary stage

Question 20

Explain Kiernan - cannot generalise as an argument for ‘Is cohabitation a threat to family life’

Answer 20

it is difficult to generalise cohabiting couples because they may include people about to marry, who oppose marriage and those just testing their relationship

Question 21

Explain increase may simply reflect changes in social and religious values as an argument for ‘Is cohabitation a threat to family life’

Answer 21

religious beliefs have declined (secularisation) and society has grown more liberal and so less prejudicial + discriminatory in attitudes and actions and so moral disapproval of cohabitation is no longer as powerful

Question 22

Explain changes in women position and attitudes as an argument for ‘Is cohabitation a threat to family life’

Answer 22

women have more educational and employment opportunities and so are more likely to delay marriage and cohabitation may be the practical alternative while attempting to establish a career and good standard of living

Question 23

Explain not an alternative to marriage as an argument for ‘Is cohabitation a threat to family life’

Answer 23

surveys indicate few people see cohabitation as an alternative to marriage and it is a test of compatibility and a dress rehearsal of marriage

Smart + Stevens - interviews 20 mothers+fathers finding that cohabitation was a test of commitment and their commitment was the same as married couples but believed it was easier to leave than marriage

Question 24

Explain practical response as an argument for ‘Is cohabitation a threat to family life’

Answer 24

cohabitation may be a practical response to circumstances in that people live together whilst waiting for a divorce

also a practical cause is the cost which people may live together whilst saving up

Question 25

Explain temporary phase as an argument for ‘Is cohabitation a threat to family life’

Answer 25

this lasts around 5-6 years and 60% of cohabitation couples eventually marry and usually sometime after their first child is born