Divorce

Question 1

Changing in the patterns of divorce

Answer 1

Since 1960s there has been a great increase in the number of divorces in the UK AND has continue doubling
-40% of all marriages will end in divorce
-65% of divorces come from women
-There were 118,000 in 2012
-There can be less divorces bc more people want to cohabit

Question 2

Reasons to why the number of divorces are increasing(Changes in law)

Answer 2

-Divorce was hard to get, now it’s easy
-Equality of the sexes in divorce in 1923-this was followed by a large number of divorce petitions from women
-Its cheaper now because of legal aid for divorce in 1949

Question 3

Other ways to solve an unhappy marriage

Answer 3

-Desertion: One partner leaves but are still married
-Legal separation: the courts separate them but are still married
-Empty shell marriage: They live together but don’t love each other and stay married
-But people don’t do these much, divorce is easier
-these solutions are less popular

Question 4

Explanations for the decrease in divorce- Declining stigma and changing attitudes

Answer 4

-Before the church condemned divorced and didn’t want anything to do with it
-Divorce is more acceptable so people are likely to do it, it is normalized as stigma has declined
-Rather than being seen as shameful, today it is more likely to be regarded simply as a misfortune.

Question 5

Stigma

Answer 5

Refers to the negative label, social disapproval or shame attached to a person action or relationship

Question 5

Stigma-Mitchell and Goody

Answer 5

For example, churches tended to condemn divorce and often refused to conduct marriage services involving divorcees.
Mitchell and Goody (1997) note that an important change since the 1960s has been the rapid decline in the stigma attached to divorce.

Question 6

Secularation

Answer 6

refers to the decline in the influence of religion in society.
-Many sociologists argue that religious institutions and ideas are losing their influence and society is becoming more secular.
For example, church attendance rates continue to decline.

Question 7

As a result of secularisation

Answer 7

traditional opposition of churches to divorce now had less influence in society and therefore they were not as influenced by religious teachings and now made their own decisions about personal matters such as whether or not to file for divorce.
-many churches have also begun to soften their views on divorces and divorcees because they fear losing credibility with large sections of the public and with their own members.

Question 8

Rising expectations of marriage-Fletcher (functionalist)

Answer 8

argue the high expectations people place on marriage today are a major cause of rising divorce rates.
bc they make couples less willing to tolerate an unhappy marriage.
-This is linked to the ideology of romantic love - the belief that marriage should be based only on love and that the right person for everyone exists
-if love dies, there is no justification for remaining married and reason to divorce=to search for your actual soulmate.
-In the past, individuals had little choice who they married, and at a time when the family was also a unit of production
-Marriages were contracted for economic reasons or out of duty to one’s family.
-Individuals had low expectations about marriage as a romantic union=bc they entered marriage with lower expectations, they were less likely to be dissatisfied by the absence of romance and intimacy.
Today marriage is increasingly viewed not as a binding contract, but as a relationship in which individuals seek personal fulfilment
This encourages couples to divorce if they do not find it.

Question 9

Evaluation-Rising expectations of marriage-Fletcher

Answer 9

takes an optimistic view.
Feminist critics argue that the oppression of women within the family is the main cause of divorce but functionalists ignore this.
Functionalists offer an explanation of rising rates, they fail to explain why it is mainly women rather than men who seek divorce.

Question 10

Women’s increased financial independence

Answer 10

-Women’s increased willingness to seek divorce is improvements in their economic position-have them less financially dependent on their husband and therefore freer to end an unsatisfactory marriage as they dont tolerate conflict or the absence of love
-Girls’ greater success in education now helps them achieve better-paid jobs than previous generation.
-Women today are much more likely to be in paid work-The proportion of women working rose from 53% in 1971 to 67% in 2013.
-Although women generally still earn less than men-Equal pay and anti-discrimination laws have helped to narrow the pay gap.
-The availability of welfare benefits means that women no longer have to remain financially dependent on their husbands.

Question 11

Women’s increased financial independence-Allah and Crow put forward a similar view.

Answer 11

They argue that “marriage is less embedded within the economic system” now.There are fewer family firms and the family is no longer unit a production, so spouses are not so dependent on each other economically.

Question 12

Feminists explanations

Answer 12

argue that married women today bear a dual burden- paid work+domestic labour.
has created a new source of conflict between husbands and wives-leads to higher divorce rate than in the past.
-Big improvements in women’s position in employment, education,politics etc
-argue marriage remains patriarchal, with men benefitting from their wives’ “triple shift” (paid work, domestic work and emotion work)

Question 13

Hochschild (1997) argues that for many women, the homes are less preferable then work

Answer 13

-At work, women feel valued.
At home, men not doing any housework is a source of frustration and makes marriage less stable.
-both partners now go out to work=leaves less time and energy for the emotion work
these factors may contribute to a higher divorce rate.

Question 14

Rushton

Answer 14

Mothers who have a dual burden are more likely to divorce than non-working mothers in marriages with a traditional division of labour
But where the husband of a working wife is actively in housework, the divorce rate is the same as for couples with a traditional division of labour.

Question 15

Cooke and Gash

Answer 15

found no evidence that working women are more likely to divorce.They argue that this is because working has now become the accepted norm for married women.

Question 16

Radical feminists such as Bernard (1976)

Answer 16

observe that many women feel dissatisfied with a patriarchal marriage.
She sees the rising divorce rate and the fact that most petitions come from women, as evidence of their growing acceptance of feminist ideas, women are becoming conscious of patriarchal oppression and more confident rejecting it.

Question 17

Modernity and individualism
-Beck and Giddens (1992) argue that in modern society

Answer 17

traditional norms such as the duty to remain with the same partner for life, lose their hold over individuals.Each individuals become free to pursue their own self interest.This view has become known as the INDIVIDUALISATION THESIS
-Relationships are more fragile,bc individuals become less willing to remain with a partner if the relationship fails to delivery personal fulfilment.
Instead they seek what Giddens call the “pure relationship”
One that exists only to satisfy each partner’s needs and not out of a sense of duty, tradition or for the sake of the children.
This results in higher divorce rates.
-The rising divorce rate “normalises” divorce and strengthens the belief that marriage exists to provide personal fulfilment.
-Modern society encourages individualism in other ways.
eg-women as well as men are now expected to work and are encouraged to pursue their own individual career ambitions.
This can cause conflicts of interest between spouses and contribute to marital breakdown.
This pursuit of self-interest is likely to pull spouse apart.

Question 18

The meaning of high divorce rate
-The new right dislike divorce

Answer 18

undesirable because it undermines marriage and the traditional nuclear family, which they regard as vital to social stability.
-In their view, a high divorce rate creates a growing underclass of welfare dependent female lone parents who are a burden on the state,it leaves boys without the adult male role model they need.They believe it also results in poorer health and educational outcomes for children.

Question 19

The meaning of high divorce rate
-Feminists see a high divorce rate as desirable

Answer 19

shows that women are breaking free from the oppression of the patriarchal nuclear family.

Question 20

The meaning of high divorce rate
-Postmodernists and the individualisation thesis see divorce as freedom to chose by individuals

Answer 20

to end a relationship when it no longer meets their needs.
They see it as a major cause of greater family diversity.

Question 21

The meaning of high divorce rate
-Functionalists argue that a high divorce rate is not necessarily a threat to marriage as a social institution.

Answer 21

It is simply the result of people’s higher expectations of marriage today.
The high rate of re-marriage shows people’s continuing commitment to the idea of marriage.

Question 22

The meaning of high divorce rate
-Interactionists aim to understand what divorce means to the individual.
Morgan (1996) argues that we cannot generalise about the meaning of divorce

Answer 22

every individual’s interpretation of it is different.

Question 23

The meaning of high divorce rate
-The personal life perspective accepts that divorce can cause problems

Answer 23

such as financial difficulties (especially for women) and lack of daily contact between children and non-resident parents.

Question 24

The meaning of high divorce rate
-Smart (2011) argue that divorce has become “normalised” and that family life can adapt to it without disintegrating.

Answer 24

Rather than seeing divorce as a major social problem, we should see it as just “one transition amongst others in the life course”

Question 25

Partnerships
-Marriages-number of changes in the pattern of marriage

Answer 25

-Fewer people are marrying,marriage rates are at their lowest since the 1920s.
In 2012, there were 175,000 first marriages for both partners less than half the number for 1970.
-There are also more re-marriages (marriages where one or both partners have been married before)
-In 2012, one third of all marriages were re-marriages for one or both partners.
For many people, this is leading to “serial monogamy”
A pattern of marriage then divorce then re-marriage.
-People are marrying later
The average age of first marriage rose by seven years between 1971 and 2012, when it stood at 32 years for men and 30 for women.
-Couples are less likely to marry in church.
In 1981, 60% of weddings were conducted with religious ceremonies but by 2012 this had fallen to 30%.

Question 26

Reasons changing patterns of marriage
-There is a changing attitude to marriage

Answer 26

There is less pressure to marry and more freedom for individuals to choose the type of relationship they want.
There is a now widespread belief that the quality of a couple’s relationship is more important than its legal status.
The norm that everyone ought to get married has greatly weakened.

Question 26

Reasons changing patterns of marriage
-First marriages

Answer 26

Changing attitudes to marriage
Secularisation
Declining stigma attached to alternatives to marriage
Changes in the position of women
Fear of divorce

Question 27

Reasons changing patterns of marriage
-Fear of divorce

Answer 27

With the rising divorce hate, some may be put of marrying because they see the increased likelihood of marriage ending in divorce.

Question 28

Reasons changing patterns of marriage
-Remarriages

Answer 28

The main reason for the increase in re-marriages is the rise in the number of divorces.The two have grown together so that the rising number of divorcees provides a supply of people available to re-marry.

Question 29

Reasons changing patterns of marriage
-Age on marrying

Answer 29

The age at which couples marry is rising because young people are postponing marriage in order to spend longer in full time education, and perhaps to establish themselves in a career first.Another reason is that more couples are now cohabiting for a period before they marry.

Question 30

Reasons changing patterns of marriage
-Church weddings

Answer 30

Couples nowadays are less likely to marry in church for two main reasons which are Secularisation and Many churches refuse to marry divorcees and divorcees may in any case have less desire to marry in the church.

Question 31

Reasons changing patterns of marriage
-Cohabitation involves an unmarried couple in a sexual relationship living together.

Answer 31

While the number of marriages has been falling, the number of couples cohabiting continues to increase.

Question 32

Cohabitation increase stats:

Answer 32

-2.9 million cohabiting heterosexual couples in Britain, about one in eight adults are now cohabiting double the number in 1996.
-There are an estimated 69,000 same-sex cohabiting.

Question 33

Relationship between cohabitation and marriage
-Robert Chester argues that for most people, cohabitation is part of the process of getting married.

Answer 33

Cohabitation is increasing as marriage decreases
For some couples, cohabitation is just a step on the way to getting married, whereas for others it is a permanent alternative to marriage.
For example, according to Coast 75% of cohabiting couples say that they expect to marry each other.

Question 34

Cohabitation as a trial marriage

Answer 34

-Many see cohabitation as a trial marriage and intend to marry if it goes well.Most cohabiting couples decide to marry if they have children.In some cases, cohabitation is a temporary phase before marriage because one or both partners are awaiting a divorce.

Question 35

Bejin argues that cohabitation for young people represents an attempt to create different relationships

Answer 35

to create a more personally negotiated and equal relationship than conventional patriarchal marriage.
-Clearly cohabitation does not mean the same thing to every couple.
-Covers a diverse range of partnerships and the relationships between marriage and cohabitation is a complex

Question 36

Who found that women who cohabit do less housework than their married counterparts.

Answer 36

Shelton and John

Question 37

Same-sex relationship
-Stonewall (2012), the campaign for lesbian, gay and bisexual rights, estimated that about 5 to 7% of the adult population today have same-sex relationships.

Answer 37

It is impossible to judge whether this represents an increase because in the past, stigma and illegality meant that such relationships were more likely to be hidden.

Question 38

Same-sex relationship
-evidence of increased social acceptance of same-sex relationships in recent years.

Answer 38

male homosexual acts were decriminalised in 1967 for consenting adults over 21.
More recently the age of consent has been equalised with heterosexual.
-more tolerance of homosexuality.
-Social policy treats all couples more equally eg since 2002 cohabiting couples have had the same right to adopt as married couples.
In 2004, the civil partnership acts gave same-sex couples similar legal rights to married couples in respect of pensions, inheritance, tenancies and property.
Since 2014, same-sex couples have been able to marry.

Question 39

Chosen families
-Weeks (1999) argues that increased social acceptance explains a trend towards same-sex cohabitation and stable relationships that resemble those found among heterosexuals.

Answer 39

Weeks sees gays as creating families based on the idea of “friendship as kinship”, where friendships become a type of kinship network.
He describes these as “chosen families” and argues that they offer the same security and stability as heterosexual families.

Question 40

One person household

Answer 40

-There has been a rise in the number of people living alone.
In 2013, almost 3/10 households contained only one person - nearly three times the figure for 1961.
-40% of all one-person households are over 65.
Pensioner one-person households have doubled since 1961, while those of non-pensioners tripled.
Men under 65 were the group most likely to live alone.

Question 41

Reasons for the change

Answer 41

-The increase in separation and divorce has created more one-person households, especially among men under 65.
This is because children are more likely to live with their mother, their father is more likely to leave the family home.
-The decline in the numbers marrying, and the trend towards marrying later means more people are remaining single.
The proportion of adults who are single has risen by half since 1971.
Many of these are living alone, it is possible that a growing number are opting for “creative singlehood” - the deliberate choice to live alone.

Question 42

Childbearing
-Reasons for the changes

Answer 42

-Reasons for the increase in births outside marriage include a decline in stigma and increase in cohabitation.
-The later age at which women are having children, smaller family sizes and the fact that more women are remaining childless= all reflect the fact that women now having more options than just motherhood.

Question 42

Lone-parent families

Answer 42

Lone parent families now make up 22% of all families with children.
-Over 90% of these families are headed by lone mothers.
-Until the early 1990s, divorced women were the biggest group of lone mothers. -From the early 1990s, single women became the biggest group of lone mothers.
-A child living with a lone parent is twice as likely to be in poverty as a child living with two parents.

Question 43

Reasons for these patterns of lone parents

Answer 43

has risen due to the increase in divorce and separation
increase in the number of never-married women having children.

Question 44

Lone-parent families tend to be female headed for several reasons.

Answer 44

-The widespread belief that women are by nature suited to an “expressive” or nurturing role.
-The fact that divorce courts usually give custody of children to mothers.
-The fact that men may be less willingly than women to give up work to care for children.

Question 45

Many lone parent families are female-headed because the mothers are single by choice.

Answer 45

They may not wish to cohabit or marry, or they may wish to limit the father’s involvement with the child.
Renvoize (1985) found that professional women were able to support their child without the father’s involvement.

Question 46

Cashmore found, some working-class mothers with less earning power chose to live on welfare benefits without a partner

Answer 46

often because they had experienced abuse.
Feminist ideas, and greater opportunities for women, may also have encouraged an increase in the number of never-married lone mothers.

Question 47

Lone parenthood the walfare state and poverty
-The New Right Murray sees the growth of lone-parent families

Answer 47

as result from an over-generous welfare state providing benefits to unmarried mothers and their children.
-argues that this has created a “perverse incentive”- it rewards irresponsible behaviour such as having children without being able to provide for them.
-The welfare state creates a “dependency culture” in which people assume that the state will support them and their children.
-solution is to abolish welfare benefits.This would reduce the dependency culture that encourages birth outside marriage.

Question 48

However, critics of New Right views argue that welfare state are from generous and lone parent families are much more likely to be in poverty.

Answer 48

Reasons include:
-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 maintenance, especially if they have formed a second family that they have to support.

Question 48

Ethnic differences in family patterns
-Recent Trends in Immigration

Answer 48

• Immigration to Britain over the last 60 years has helped to create an ethnically diverse society. The 2001 Census shows that 92.1% (54 million people) in The UK were White.
• Of the 7.9% of people from Ethnic Minority groups, 3.6% were Bangladeshi/Pakistani, 1.2% were Mixed Ethnicity. 0.8% were Black African, and 0.4% were Chinese. This has contributed to changing family patterns in The UK.

Question 49

Ethnic differences in family patterns
-Black Families

Answer 49

• They have a higher proportion of lone-parent families. In 2002, just over 50% of families with dependent children headed by a Black person were lone-parent.
• The high rate of female-headed lone parent families may be traced back to the fact that Black males find it hard to gain employment so cannot help to support their family.
• Under slavery, couples were sold separately and the children would stay with their mother. This pattern of family life is still evident today in Black families.
• Mirza (1997): The higher rate of lone-parent families in The Black Community is not due to disorganisation, and instead is due to the high value Black women place on their independence.
• Reynolds (1997): The statistics are misleading as lone-parent families are instead LAT couples.

Question 50

Ethnic differences in family patterns
-Asian Families

Answer 50

• Bangladeshi, Pakistani, and Indian households tend to be larger than other ethnic groups (Bangladeshi = 4.5, Pakistani = 4.1, and Indian = 3.3 persons per household).
• Some households have 3 generations of the same family, but the majority are Nuclear Families.
• Larger Asian households may reflect the value that is placed on large households. Ballard (1982): Extended family ties provide an important source of support to Asian families that were migrating to The UK in the 1950s and 1960s.
• In the early period of migration, Extended Families often shared one household. After this, Asian families tended to become Nuclear though The Extended Family lived nearby and would often visit family in order to provider support.
• Muslims, Sikhs, and Hindus more than any other Ethnic Groups or Religions are likely to live in Extended Families.

Question 51

Stepfamilies
-Ferri and Smith found that stepfamilies are very similar to first families in all major respects

Answer 51

the involvement of stepparents in childcare and childrearing is a positive one.
However, they found that stepfamilies are at greater risk of poverty.

Question 52

Stepfamilies are formed when they may face particular problems such as

Answer 52

divided loyalties and issues such as contact with the non-resident parent can cause tensions.

Question 53

The extended family today

Answer 53

according to functionalists such as Parsons, the extended family is the dominant family type in pre-industrial society, but in modern industrial society it is replaced by the nuclear family.

Question 54

Reasons for the patterns

Answer 54

-Stepfamilies are formed when lone parents form new partnerships-the factors causing an increase in the number of lone parents, such as divorce and separation, are responsible for the creation of stepfamilies.
-More children in stepfamilies are from the woman’s previous relationship than the man’s because, when marriage and cohabitations break up
Children are more likely to remain with their mother.
-Some of the tensions faced by stepfamilies may be the result of a lack of clear social norms
about how individuals should behave in such families.

Question 55

The extended family today
-Charles study of Swansea found the classic three generation family all living together

Answer 55

now is “all but extinct”
The only significant exceptions she found were among the city’s Bangladeshi community.

Question 56

However while the extended family may have declined, it has not entirely disappeared.

Answer 56

Willmott (1988) argues, it continues to exist as a “dispersed extended family” where relatives are geographically separated but maintain frequent contact through visits and phone calls.

Question 57

Chamberlain’s study of Caribbean families in Britain found that, despite being geographically spread, they continue to provide support.

Answer 57

She describes them as “multiple nuclear families’ with close and frequent contact between siblings uncles, aunts and cousins, who often make a big contribution to childrearing.

Question 58

The extended family survives because it performs important functions for its members.

Answer 58

Bell’s earlier research in Swansea found that both working class and middle class families had emotional bonds with kin and relied on them for support.

Question 59

Working class and middle class families had emotional bonds with kin and relied on them:

Answer 59

Among the middle class there was more financial help from father to son.
Working-class families had more frequent contact and there was more domestic help from mothers to daughters.

Question 59

The beanpole family
-Bell’s findings suggested the “beanpole” structure

Answer 59

Beanpole families may partly be the result of two demographic changes:
-Increased life expectancy means more surviving grandparents and great grandparents
-Smaller family sizes mean people have fewer siblings and thus fewer horizontal ties.

Question 59

beanpole family
-brannen

Answer 59

extended veritically-through 3 or more gen,grand,parents and children
not extended horizontally-doesnt invove aunts uncles cousin etc