Divorce

Question 1

Outline the increase in divorces in the past

Answer 1

• Since the 1960s, there has been an increase in divorces in the UK.
• The number of divorces doubled between 1961 abd 1969, and doubled again by 1972. The upward trend continued, peaking in 1993 at 165,000

Question 2

Outline the decrease in divorces in the past

Answer 2

Since then the numbers have fallen, with 80,057 divorces in England and Wales in 2022

Question 3

What is a reason for the fall in divorces?

Answer 3

Since the 1990s, fewer people are marrying in the first place and are choosing to cohabit instead

Question 4

Describe who are the applicants for divorce

Answer 4

• About 65% of applications for divorce now come from women. This is in sharp contrast to the situation in the past
• e.g. in 1946, only 37% of petitions came from women. The commonest reason for a women to be granted a divorce is the unreasonable behaviour

Question 5

What are the couples that are more likely to get a divorce?

Answer 5

Couples whose marriages are at greatest risk include those who marry young, have a child before they marry or cohabit before marriage, and those where one or both partners have been married before

Question 6

Outline all the explanations for the increase in divorce

Answer 6

• Changes in the law
• Declining stigma and changing attitudes
• Secularisation
• Rising expectation of marriage
• Women’s increases financial independence
• Feminist explanation
• Modernity and individualisation

Question 7

What are the 3 types of changes in law affecting divorce?

Answer 7

Laws have made divorce easier, such as:
- Equalising the ground: Allowing women to give the same legal reasons as men for divorces
- Widening the grounds: Allowing more reason for people to use to secure a divorce
- Making divorce cheaper

Question 8

Describe the effects of these types of changes in law on divorce

Answer 8

• When the grounds were equalised in 1923, there was a sharp rise of divorce petitions for women.
• The widening of the grounds in 1971 to ‘irretrievable breakdown’ made divorce easier to obtain and produced a doubling of the divorce rate.
• The introduction of legal aid for divorce cases in 1949 lowered the cost of divorcing. Divorce rates have risen with each change in the law

Question 9

What are other solutions instead of divorce?

Answer 9

• Desertion: one partner leaves, but the couple remain legally married
• Legal separation: court separates the financial and legal affairs of the couple but 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
  But as divorce is easier, these solution have become less popular

Question 10

Give evaluation for the changes in law explanation for divorce

Answer 10

Although it has given people the freedom to divorce more easily, this doesn’t in itself explain why more people should choose to take advantage of this freedom

Question 11

Describe the role of stigma and attitudes in divorce

Answer 11

• Stigma refers to the negative label, social disapproval or shame attached to a person, action or relationship.
• e.g. churches tended to condemn divorce and often refused to conduct marriage services involving divorcees

Question 12

How does declining stigma and changing attitudes affected divorce?

Answer 12

• Mitchell and Goody note an important change since the 1960s has been the rapid decline in the stigma attached to divorce
• As stigma declines and divorce becomes more socially acceptable, couples become more willing to resort to it
• And the fact that divorce is more common begins to ‘normalise’ it and reduced stigma attached to it. Rather than being seen as shameful, it’s now just seen as a misfortune

Question 13

Describe secularisation

Answer 13

• Refers to the decline in the influence of religion in society.
• Many sociologists argue religious institutions and ideas are losing their influence and society is becoming more secular.
• e.g. church attendance rates continues to decline

Question 14

How has secularisation affected divorce?

Answer 14

• Due to secularisation, the traditional opposition of the churches to divorce carries less weight in society and people are less likely to be influenced by religious teachings when decisions on personal matters like whether to file for a divorce
• At the same time, churches have begun to soften their views on divorce, as they fear losing credibility with large sections of the public and with their own members

Question 15

Outline how rising expectations of marriage affect divorce

Answer 15

• Functionalists like Fletcher argue the higher expectations people place on marriage today are a major cause of rising divorce rates
• Higher expectations make couples less willing to tolerate an unhappy marriage

Question 16

Describe rising expectations of marriage

Answer 16

• Higher expectations is linked to the ideology of romantic love, an idea that has become dominant over the last couple of centuries. This is the belief that marriage should be based on love, and that for everyone there is someone right for them out there
• If love dies, there’s no longer any justification for remaining married and every reason for divorce enables the renewed search for one’s soulmate

Question 17

Describe expectations of marriage in the past

Answer 17

• Individuals often had little choice in who they married, and at a time when the family was a unit of productions, marriages were contracted for economic reasons or out of duty to one’s family
• Under these circumstances, people were unlikely to have high expectations of marriage as a romantic union of 2 souls that many couples have today. Lower expectations means they were less likely to be dissatisfied by the absence of romance and intimacy

Question 18

How is marriage viewed today?

Answer 18

Marriage is increasingly viewed not as binding contract, but as a relationship in which individuals seek personal fulfilment, this encourages couples to divorce if they do not find it, argued by Allan and Crow

Question 19

What are the functionalist view on today’s high divorce rates?

Answer 19

• Functionalists like Fletcher take an optimistic view. They point to the continuing popularity of marriage.
• Most adults marry, and the high rate of re-marriage after divorce shows that divorcees may have become dissatisfied with a certain partner, they haven’t rejected marriage as an institution

Question 20

What is the critics of the functionalist view on today’s high divorce rates?

Answer 20

• Feminists argue this view is too rosy and that the oppression of women within the family is the main cause of marital conflict and divorce, but functionalists ignore this.
• Although functionalists offer an explanation of rising divorce rates, they fail to explain why it’s mainly women, not men who seek divorce.
• Although most adults marry, marriage rates have fallen significantly in the past 40 years

Question 21

Outline women’s increased financial independence as a reason for divorce

Answer 21

One reason for women’s increased willingness to seek divorce is the improvement in their economic position have made them less financially dependent on their husbands and therefore freer to end an unsatisfactory marriage

Question 22

Describe the developments that increased women’s financial independence

Answer 22

• Women are more likely to be in paid work. The proportion of women working rose from 53% in 1971 to 67% in 2013
• Equal pay and anti-discrimination laws have helped to narrow the pay gap
• Girls’ success in education helps them achieve better-paid jobs than previously
• Welfare benefits means that women no longer have to remain financially dependent on their husbands

Question 23

How does increased women’s financial independence affect the family?

Answer 23

• Allan and Crow argue ‘marriage is less embedded within the economic system’ now. There are fewer family firms and the family isn’t a unit of productions, so spouses aren’t dependent on each other economically
• As women have their own source of income, they don’t have to rely on their husbands and don’t have to tolerate conflict or the absence of love, in these situations they’re more willing to seek divorce

Question 24

Describe the feminist explanations for the increase of divorce

Answer 24

• Married women today bear a dual burden (paid work and domestic labour). This has created a new source of conflict between husbands and wives, leading to higher divorce
• While there’s been improvement in women’s position in the public spheres, feminists argue in the private sphere of the family, change has been limited. They argue that marriage remains patriarchal with men benefiting from their wives’ triple shit.

Question 25

What does Hochschild argue as a feminist explanation for the increase of divorce?

Answer 25

• Hochschild argues that for many women, the home compares unfavourably with work. At work, women are valued. At home, men’s continuing resistance to doing housework is a source of frustration and makes marriage less stable.
• In addition, the fact that both partners now go out to work leaves less time and energy for the emotion work needed to address the problems that arise. Both contribute to a higher divorce.

Question 26

What does Sigle-Rushton argue as a feminist explanation for the increase of divorce?

Answer 26

• Sigle-Rushton argues mothers who have a dual burden are more likely to divorce than non-working mothers in marriages with a traditional division of labour.
• But when the husband of a working wife is involved in house work, the divorce rate is the same as for couples with a traditional division of labour

Question 27

What is a critic for Sigle-Rushton’s argument?

Answer 27

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

Question 28

What do radical feminists argue about the increasing divorce rate?

Answer 28

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

Question 29

How does modernity lead to individualisation?

Answer 29

• Sociologists like Beck and Giddens argue that in modern society, traditional norms, like the duty to remain with the same partner, lose their hold over individuals
• So, each individual becomes free to pursue their own self-interest. This view is known as the ‘individualisation thesis’