Families & Households: Changing Family

Question 1

Changing patterns of divorce

Answer 1

-No. of divorced quadrupled from 1961 to 1972, continuing upward & peaking in 1993 at 165,000.
-This fell to 118,000 by 2012, which is 6X higher than 1961.
-40% of marriage end in divorce.
-65% of applications come from women, common reason being husband’s unreasonable behaviour.

Question 2

Explanations for the increase in divorce

Answer 2

1. Changes in the law
2. Declining stigma & changing attitudes
3. Secularisation
4. Rising expectations of marriage
5. Women’s increased financial independence
6. Feminist explanations
7. Modernity

Question 3

Divorce: 1. Changes in the law

Answer 3

3 changes:
-equalising grounds (legal reasons) for divorce between sexes.
-widening grounds for divorce.
-making divorce cheaper.
-1923, after grounds equalised, a rising number of divorce applicants were women.
Other solutions:
-Desertion (one leaves but legally married).
-Legal separation (court separates financial n legal affairs of couple but they remain married).
-‘Empty shell’ marriage (couple remain married in name only and share a house).
-Due to divorce being easier, these solutions are less popular.

Question 4

Divorce: 2. Declining stigma & changing attitudes

Answer 4

-Chruches used to condemn divorce and some refused to remarry divorcees.
-Mitchell & Goody note that there’s been a rapid decline in stigma attached to divorce.
-More common and normalised rather than seen as shameful.

Question 5

Divorce: 3. Secularisation

Answer 5

-Decline in the influence of religion. E.g. church rates continue to decline.
-Traditional opposition of church to divorce carried less weight in decisions.
-Many churches have softened views on divorce because they may be losing credibility with members.

Question 6

Divorce: Rising expectations of marriage (Fletcher 1966)

Answer 6

-Argues the higher expectations make couples less willing to tolerate unhappy marriages.
-Links to ideology of romantic love and a perfect partner/search for soulmates.
-In the past, there was less choice of whom to marry (economic reasons) so they were less dissatisfied by the absence of intimacy.
-Marriage now seeks personal fulfilment.

Question 7

Eval of Rising expectations of marriage

Answer 7

-Functionalists argue tho the divorce rates increased, remarriage after divorce has increased so people don’t reject marriage as an institution, just dissatisfied with their partner.
-Feminists argue this it too rosy and the oppression of women is the main cause of marital conflict and divorce.
-Fails to explain why women seek divorce more.

Question 8

Divorce: Women’s increased financial independence

Answer 8

Less financially dependant on their husbands and more likely to end a bad marriage.
-Proportion of women working goes from 53% (1971) to 67% (2013).
-Anti discrimination laws & girls’ education & welfare benefits.

Question 9

Eval of Women’s increased financial independence (Allan & Crow)

Answer 9

Argue ‘marriage is less embedded within the economic system’.
-Fewer family firms & family is no longer a unit of production so spouses aren’t dependant on each other economically.
-Women have own separate source of income & don’t rely on husband so they won’t accept conflict or absence of love.

Question 10

Divorce: Feminist explanations

Answer 10

-Argue married woman bear a dual burden creating more conflict.
-Argue in private sphere of family and relationships, marriage remains patriarchal with men benefitting from their wives’ triple shift.
-Hoschild argued that at work women feel valued and at home, men’s lack of contribution means unstable marriage.
-According to ESRC 2007, mothers with a dual burden are likelier to divorce than non-working mothers in marriages with traditional division of Labour.

Question 11

Eval of Feminist explanations

Answer 11

-Cooke & Gash found no evidence working women are more likely to divorce & argue this is because working is the norm for married women.
-RFs such as Bernard observes that women feel dissatisfaction with patriarchal marriage & the rising divorce rate & applications from women as evidence for women becoming more conscious of patriarchal oppression & more confident in rejection it.

Question 12

Divorce: Modernity & Individualisation (Beck & Giddens 1992)

Answer 12

-Argue traditional norms (remaining with partner for life) loose hold over individuals.
-Individuals pursued own self interests.
-Relationshios are more fragile since if the partner doesn’t deliver personal fulfillment, they won’t remain with them.
-Instead they seek a pure relationship existing so satisfy each other.
-High divorce rate normalises self fulfilment.
-Modernity encouraged people to adopt a neoliberal, consumerist identity based on idea of freedom to follow self interest which breaks spouses apart.

Question 13

Divorce: The meaning of high divorce rates - New Right

Answer 13

-Undesirable since it undermines marriage & nuclear family which is vital to social stability.
-High divorce rate creates growing underclass of welfare dependent females line parents who are a burden on the states leaving boys without a role model.

Question 14

Divorce: The meaning of high divorce rates - Feminists & Postmodernists

Answer 14

-Feminists see it as desirable because women are breaking free from oppression.
-Postmodernists see if as sowing individuals have freedom to end a relationship when it no longer meets needs. Greater family diversity.

Question 15

Divorce: The meaning of high divorce rates - Functionalists & Interactionists

Answer 15

-Functionalists argue high divorce rate isn’t a threat to marriage but simply result of higher expectations and the high rate of remarriages shows people’s continuing commitment to the idea of marriage.
-Interactionists sim to understand what divorce means to an individual. Morgan argues we cannot generalise about meaning of divorce due to diff interpretations.

Question 16

Divorce: The meaning of high divorce rates - PLP

Answer 16

-Accepts divorce can cause problems such as financial difficulties & lack of daily contact between children and non-resident parents.
-However, Smart argued divorce has become normalised & families can adapt to it without disintegrating & it’s seen as a transition in life’s course.

Question 17

Marriage: Important changes

Answer 17

-Fewer people marrying & marriage rates at lowest sine 1920s. In 2012, there were 175,000 firdt marriages for both partners, less than half the number for 1970.
-More remarriages leading to ‘serial monogamy’.
-Later marriages: average age rose by 7 years between 1971 & 2012 at 32 for men & 30 for women.
-1981, 60% of marriages were religious ceremonies & in 2012, this fell to 30%.

Question 18

Reasons for changing patterns of marriage

Answer 18

-Changing attitudes: less pressure to marry & more choice in the relationship they want, less norm for everyone getting married.
-Secularisation: according to 2001 census, only 3% of young people with no religion married against 17% who were religious.
-Declining stigma to alternatives: cohabitation, kids before marriage, less shotgun weddings. (1989, 70% believed couples who want kids shd be married, decreased to 42% in 2012).
-Women’s position: less economic dependency with greater freedom to marry.
-Fear of divorce: some may be put off.

Question 19

Reasons for other changes in patterns of marriage

Answer 19

-Remarriages have increased because of rise in number of divorces. 2 have brown together so rising number of divorcees means more available to remarry.
-Age on marrying young postpone marriage to spend more time in education & get a career, and more cohabit.
-Church weddings: couples are less likely to marry in church because of secularisation & churches refusing to marry divorcees.

Question 20

Cohabitation: Patterns

Answer 20

Involves unmarried couple in a sexual relationship living together.
-2.9million cohabiting heterosexual couples in Britain (1 in 8, double the number in 1996).
-Estimated 69,000 same sex cohabiting.
-1/5th of those are ‘serial cohabitants’.

Question 21

Reasons for the increase in cohabitation

Answer 21

-Increased rates are a result of the decline in stigma attached to sec outside marriage.
-> 1989, 45% said premarital sex is not wrong but 65% in 2012.
-Young likelier to accept cohabitation.
-Increased financial independence & more likely to opt for cohabitation.
-Secularisation & young more likely to cohabit.

Question 22

The relationship between Cohabitation & Marriage

Answer 22

-For some couples, cohabitation is a step on the way to getting married but for some, it’s a permanent alternative to marriage.
-Coast (2006) days 75% of cohabiting couples say that they expect to marry each other.

Question 23

The relationship between Cohabitation & Marriage: a trial marriage?

Answer 23

-Many see cohabiting as a trial marriage & a temporary phase.
-Some see it as a permanent alternative & Bejin (1985) argues cohabitation among some young people represents a conscious attempt to create a more personally negotiated & equal relationship rather than conventional marriage.
-Shelton & John found cohabiting women do less housework than their married counterparts.

Question 24

Same-sex relationships (Stonewall 2012)

Answer 24

-Campaign for median, gay & bisexual rights estimates that about 5-7% of adult population today have same-sec relationships.
-Not sure if this has increased due to negative stigma in the past.
-Male homosexual acts decriminalised in 1967 for consenting adults over 21 & opinion polls show more tolerance of homosexuality.
-2004, Civil Partnership Act gave same sex couples similar legal rights to married couples in respect of pensions, inheritance, tenancies & property etc.
-2014, they can marry.

Question 25

Same-sex relationships: Chosen families (Weeks 1999)

Answer 25

-Argues increased social acceptance explains a trend towards same-sex cohabitation & stable relationships resembling those found among heterosexuals.
-Sees gays as creating families “friendship as kingship” & described them as chosen families saying the offer the same security & stability.

Question 26

Same-sex relationships: Chosen families (Weston 1992)

Answer 26

-Described cohabitation as ‘quasi-marriage’ & notes rhta many gay couples are now deciding to cohabit as stable partners.
-Contrasts this with the gay lifestyle on the 70s which rejected monogamy and family life favouring casual relationships.

Question 27

Same-sex relationships: Chosen families (Allan & Crow)

Answer 27

-Argue same sex partners have had to negotiate their commitment and responsibilities more than married couples making their relationships more flexible but less stable than heterosexual relationships.

Question 28

One-person households: Patterns

Answer 28

-Rise in number of people living alone, 2013, almost 3 in 10 households contained only 1 person.
-40% of all one-person households are over 65. Pensioner one-person households have doubled since 1961, while those of nine pensioners tripled.
-Men under 65 most likely to live alone.
-By 2033, over 30% of the adult population will be single.

Question 29

Reasons for the changes

Answer 29

-Increased separation & divorce led to more one person households, children more likely to live w mum leaving the dad alone.
-Decline in marriage means more people age single (risen by half since 1971). Many of these live alone & many opt for ‘creative single hood’.
-Also could be because too few partners available in their age group (mainly older widows).

Question 30

‘Living apart together’

Answer 30

-Duncan & Phillips in the British Social Attitudes survey (2013) found that about 1 in 10 adults are LATs where they are in a significant relationship, but not married or cohabiting.
-These people are classified as single & it’s suggested this may reflect a trend towards less formalised relationships.
-They found that choice & constraint play a part in whether couples live together.
-Majority of people believe a couple don’t need to live together t have a strong relationship while 20% see LATs as their ‘ideal relationship’.

Question 31

Parents & children: Childbearing - Patterns

Answer 31

-47% of all children are now born outside marriage (over twice as many as in 1986), but in most cases parents are cohabiting.
-Women now having kids later (between 1971-2012) their average age at the birth of their first child rose by 4 years to 28.1 years.
-Women having fewer children than in the 20th century though the no. invested in early 21st century.
-More women are childless.

Question 32

Childbearing: Reasons for the changes

Answer 32

-Reaons for increase in births outside marriage is because of decline in stigma and increase in cohabitation.
E.g. 28% of 25-34 year olds now think marriage should come before parenthood.
-The later age at which women are having kids, smaller family sizes & more women remaining childless reflect the fact women have more options now than just motherhood, such as careers.

Question 33

Parents and children: Lone parent families

Answer 33

Make up 22% of all families with children. 1 in 4 live in a lone-parent family.
-Over 90% of these families are headed by lone mothers.
-Until the early 90s, divorced women were the biggest group of lone mothers.
-A child living w a lone parent is twice as likely to be in poverty as a child living with 2 parents.

Question 34

Lone-parent families: Reasons for the patterns

Answer 34

-Increase in divorce & no. if never married women having children.
-Linked to decline in stigma about births outside marriage.
-Death of a parent was a common cause previously.
-Lone-parent families tend to be female headed because:
- more expressive/nurturing.
- courts usually give them custody.
- men may be less willing to give up work.

Question 35

Lone-parent families: Reasons for the patterns - Single by choice

Answer 35

Refers to how mothers to not wish to cohabit or marry or limit father’s involvement with the child.

-Renvoize found that professional women able to support their child without the father’s involvement.
-Cashmore found some W/C mothers with less earning power chose to live on welfare benefits, often because they’d experienced abuse.

Question 36

Lone parenthood, the welfare state & poverty (Murray)

Answer 36

-Sees growth of lone parent families as a result of welfare stats providing benefits for unmarried mothers & their kids.
-He argues this created a perverse incentive rewarding irresponsible behaviour such as having a child without being able to provide for them.
-This creates dependency culture.
-He wants to abolish welfare benefits that encourages births outside marriage.

Question 37

New Right Critics

Answer 37

Argue welfare is not that generous & line parent families are likely to be in poverty:
-lack of affordable childcare prevents lone parent families from working (60% are unemployed).
-inadequate benefits.
-most lone parents are women who generally earn less than men.
-failure of fathers to pay maintenance especially if they have a second family.

Question 38

Parents & Children: Stepfamilies - Patterns

Answer 38

-Account for over 10% of all families with dependant children in Britain.
-In 85% of stepfamilies, at least 1 child is from the woman’s previous relationship while in 11% from the man’s. In 4%, both kids.
-Ferri & Smith found stepfamilies are similar to first families in terms of childcare, but they are at a higher risk of poverty.
-Allan & Crow say they may face problems of divided loyalties such as contact with the non-resident parent.

Question 39

Parents & Children: Stepfamilies - Patterns

Answer 39

-Account for over 10% of all families with dependant children in Britain.
-In 85% of stepfamilies, at least 1 child is from the woman’s previous relationship while in 11% from the man’s. In 4%, both kids.
-Ferri & Smith found stepfamilies are similar to first families in terms of childcare, but they are at a higher risk of poverty.
-Allan & Crow say they may face problems of divided loyalties such as contact with the non-resident parent.

Question 40

Stepfamilies: Reasons for the patterns

Answer 40

-Increase in lone parents means new partnerships & stepfamilies formed.
-More children from women’s side because children are more likely to remain with their mother.
-Stepparents are at greater risk of poverty because there are often more children & the stepfather may have to support kids from previous relationship.
-Tensions may be due to a lack of clear social norms about how individuals should behave in such families.

Question 41

Ethnic differences in family patterns

Answer 41

-Analysis of 2011 census shows that 86% of the UK population were white.
-14% ethnic minority.
-7.5% Asian & 3.3% Black & 2.2% mixed.

Question 42

Black families

Answer 42

-Have a higher proportion of lone parent households.
-2012, just over half of families with dependent children headed by a black person were lone parent families, compared to 1/9 Asian & under 1/4 of population as a whole.
-Under slavery, when couples sold separately, children statues with the. mother which is established in the pattern of family life today.
-Argued male unemployment & poverty have meant black men are less able to provide for family leading to more marital breakdown.
-Mirza argues this is reflective not of disorganisation but of the value black women place in independent & Reynolds argues stats are misleading and ‘lone’ parents are stable & supportive but non-cohabiting.

Question 43

Asian families

Answer 43

-Desi families tend to be larger at 4.4, competent to Black Caribbean’s & white at 2.4.
-Sometimes they contain 3 generations but most are nuclear.
-Large households ate partly as a result of the younger age profile and since a higher proportion are in childbearing age groups compared with the population as a whole.
-Larger asian families reflect value placed on extended family in asian cultures. Ballard found extended family related to important source of support among asian migrants in 50s-60s.
-Houses often shared by them in early migration & today they still visit & have great support.

Question 44

Ethnic differences in family patterns: The extended family today: Charles 2008

Answer 44

-Found in his study of Swansea, the classic 3 generation family living together under one roof is not “all but extinct”.
-Only exceptions she found was among the city’s Bengalis.

Question 45

The extended family today: Wilmott (1988) & Chamberlain (1999)

Answer 45

-Argues the extended family may not completely disappeared & continues to exist as a dispersed extended family, where relatives are geographically separated but maintain contact.
-Chamberlain’s study of Caribbean families found despite them being dispersed geographically, they continue to provide support & described them as multiple nuclear families with close & frequent contact between siblings, uncles, aunts & cousins who help with child rearing.

Question 46

The extended family today: Bell (1968)

Answer 46

-In his research in Swansea, he found that both W/C & M/C families had emotional bonds with kin and relied on them for support:
-> among M/C, there was more financial help from father to son.
-> among W/C, there was frequent contact (lived closer) and more domestic help from mothers to daughters.

Question 47

The extended family today: The ‘Beanpole’ family

Answer 47

Particular type of family that Brannen describes as ‘long and thin’:
- It is extended vertically through 3 or moe generations.
- Not extended horizontally (no aunts, uncles, cousins etc).

In case of brothers and sisters, decline in support and contact, this could be the result of 2 demographic changes:
- Increased life expectancy (more grandparents).
- Smaller families (fewer horizontal ties).

Question 48

The extended family today: Obligations to relatives (Finch & Mason)

Answer 48

-Found (1993) that over 90% of people had given or received financial help and about half had cared for a sick relative & felt obligated to hlep wider extended kin.
-Cheal notes where personal care for an elderly woman is needed, a daughter figure is preferred as a caregiver while a son is chosen as appropriate to provide money.

Question 49

Obligations to relatives: Reciprocity & balance

Answer 49

-Not all daughters okay an equal part & Mason found that it depends on the history of the relationship, the obligations they feel and any ‘legitimate excuses’ to not be involved.
-Finch & Mason found help received should be returned to avoid any feelings of indebtedness.

Evidence suggests extended family plays important role providing support when necessary.
This is diff to Parson’s classic extended family whose members lived & worked together & bound by strong mutual obligations.