Families and households: Changing patterns within the family Flashcards
Decline in stigma and changing attitudes of divorce
In the past, divorce had many negative connotations and also had lots of social disapproval to society. An example of this would be that in the past, churches refused to conduct marriage services with divorcees. however now, divorce has become increasingly socially acceptable and more couples are more lenient to divorce now in order to solve their problems.
Goody et al (divorce)
Notes that there has been an important change in stigma relating to divorce
change in law
in the past, divorce was very hard to obtain especially for women. however, over time divorce became increasingly easier due to many changes in the law.
what were the three kinds of law that made divorce easier to obtain
equalising the grounds - legal reasons for divorce between the sexes
widening the grounds for divorce
making divorce cheaper
what was the result of the changes in law of divorce
in 1971 there was a doubling of divorce rates and the figures have since kept rising
secularisation
Due to the decline of influence of religion, people focus more on their own personal opinion on whether they want a divorce or not rather than their religions opinion of divorce.
Churches have also began to become softer with their perception of divorce and divorcees
rising expectation of marriage
Functionalist Fletcher, believes that higher expectations of marriage makes couples less willing to tolerate an unhappy marriage.
this is linked to the ideology of romantic love in which you get married solely based on love. and if that love dies then it is a valid reason to get a divorce.
what were expectation of marriage in the past
economic reasons - this lead to people having lower expectations of marriage as it wasn’t based on the romantic connection they had with the other person and therefore lead to people being less likely to being dissatisfied as love and intimacy was never there to begin with.
womens increased financial independence
The improvement of women’s roles and equality in the workforce has provided women a more economically stable place in which they don’t have to depend on their husbands for money.
percentage, laws, education, benefits
four examples of contributions to women being more financially independent
- the number of women working rose from 53% in 1971 to 67% in 2013
- equal pay act and discrimination laws narrow the pay gap between men and women
- girls being able to access education nowadays has lead to them going into better paid jobs
- welfare benefits allow women to be less financially dependent on their husbands
what are the reasons for the changes in childbearing?
decline in stigma: women now are more likely to cohabit nowadays, only 28% of women now believe that women should be married before having children.
Women also now have more options than just having a child, they can now choose to work and earn a living, thus leading them to having fewer children later on in their lives.
reasons for the patterns in lone parent families and why they are mainly female leaded?
childbearing
decline in stigma in relation to births outside of marriage. Lone parent households are mainly female leaded due to the fact that stereotypically, men are less likely to give up their work lives to look after a child than a woman would.
It is also shown that courts are more likely to give children to their mothers than their fathers as they are seen as nurturing and expressive and will give them the adequate socialisation.
Single by choice: women may not chose to cohabit simply becuase they dont want to.
Cashmore
childbearing
Cashmore found that some working class women chose to live on benefits to provide for their child due to the fact that they had experienced abuse.
can use for development
