Family Patterns- Divorce Flashcards
Overall trend in divorces and since when
since 1960s, there has been a great increase in the number of divorces in UK
Statistics
number of divorces doubled between 961 and 1969 and doubled again by 1972
continued to peak upwards in 1993 at 180k
Divorce numbers since 1993
somewhat fallen
but still stood at 157,000 in 2001
-about 6 x higher than 1961
-this rate means that about 40% of all marriages will end in divorce
Statistics for who files for divorces
7/10 petitions for divorce come from women
-this is in sharp contrast to the situation in the past
-e.g
1946 only 37% of petitions came from women, barely half today’s figure
Most common reason for a women to be granted divorce is …
Unreasonable behaviour of her husband
Some couples are more likely to divorce than others, those couples that:
-marry young
-have a child before marriage
-where one or both partners have been married before
New Rights views on divorce
-see high divorce rate as undesirable because it determines the traditional nuclear family
-divorce creates an under class of welfare-dependent lone mothers and leaves both without the adult role model they need
Feminists views on divorce
see a high divorce rate as desirable because it shows that women are breaking free from the oppression of the patriarchal nuclear family
Postmodernists views on divorce
see high divorce rate as giving individuals the freedom to choose to end a RS when it no longer meets their needs. They see it as a cause of greater FD
Functionalists views on divorce
argue that a high divorce rate doe snot necessarily prove that marriage as a social institution is under threat
-it is simply the result of people’s higher expectations of marriage today
-the high rate or re-marriage demonstrates people’s continuing commitment to the idea of marriage
Explanations is the increase in divorce
Changes in the law
Declining stigmas and changing attitudes
Secularisation
Rising expectations of marriage
Changes in the position of women
Changes in the law
-divorce was very difficult to obtain in the 19th century Britain, especially for women
-gradually changes in the law have made divorce easier
There have been 3 kinds of changes in the law:
- equalising the grounds (legal reasons) for divorce between the sexes
-widening grounds for divorce
-make divorce cheaper
Widening of the grounds in 1971 to ‘irretrievable breakdown’
made divorce easier to obtain and produced a doubling of the divirce rate almost oveernight.
Which legal contribution added to the rise in divorces rates ?
Introduction of legal aid for divorce cases in 1949 lowered cost of divorcing
Evaluation for changes in the law
Yet although changes in the law have given people the freedom to divorce more easily , this itself does not explain why more people divorce and take advantage of this freedom
-to explain the rise in divorce rates we must therefore look at other changes too
-these include changes in public attitudes towards divorce
Declining stigma and changing attitudes
+ which sociologists can you talk about?
Mitchell and Goody (1997)
note that 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 socially acceptable, couples become more willing to resort to divorce as a means of solving their marital problems
Declining stigma and changing attitudes
‘normalise’
the fact that divorce is now more common begins to ‘normalise’ it and reduces the stigma attached to it
-rather than being seen as shameful, today it is more likely to be regarded simply as a misfortune
Evaluation for declining stigma and changing attitudes
-despite these changing attitudes, family patterns tend to be fairly traditional
-most people still live in a family; most children are brought up by couples; most couples marry and many divorcees re-marry
Evaluation for declining stigma and changing attitudes
Sociologists view?
some sociologists have suggested that these changes have led to a ‘crisis of masculinity’ in which some men experience anxiety about their role
as such, the result of this could be an increase in DV in an attempt to reassert their traditional masculinity
Secularisation
decline in the influence of religion
What is the result of secularisation?
the traditional opposition of the Church to divorce carries less weight in society and people are less likely to be influenced by religious teachings when making decisions
Statistics for secularisation
2001 Census data
43% of young people with no religion were cohabiting
34% of Christians
17% Muslims
11% Hindus
10% Sikhs
Branching point of secularisation
many churches have also begun to soften their views on divorce and divorcees, perhaps because they fear losing credibility with large sections of the public and with their own members
Evaluation for secularisation
-some sociologists challenge whether secularisation is occurring and point to the number of first-time marriages taking place in a religious context
-and the changes made by the Church Of England to allow divorced people to remarry in Church
-this suggests that there is still a demand for religious wedding, even amongst those who have been divorced before
Rising expectations of marriage
which sociologist argues this ?
Functionalists sociologist
Ronald Fletcher (1966)
-argue that the higher expectations people place on marriage today are a major cause of rising divorce rates
-higher expectations make couples nowadays less willing to tolerate an unhappy marriage
Evaluation for rising expectations of marriage
despite the high divorce rates functionalists such as Fletcher take an optimistic view
-they point to the continuing popularity of marriage
-most adults marry and the high rate of remarriage after divorce shows that although divorces may have become disstatisdied with a particular person, they have not rejected marriage as an institution
Evaluation for rising expectations of marriage
Feminists
-argue 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 is mainly women rather than men who seek divorce
Changes in the positon of women
-women’s increased willingness to seek divorce is that improvements in their economic position have made them less financially dependent on their husband and therefore freer to end an unsatisfactory marriage
-availability of welfare benefits means that women no longer have to remain financially dependent on their husbands.These developments mean that women are more likely to be able to support themselves in the event of divorce
Changes in the position of women
Which sociologist could you to refrain to?
Sue Sharpe (1991)
-found that women’s priorities had changed from marriage and children being their top priority to now valuing their career equally
-so may escape marriages to succeed and thrive in their career
Evaluation for Changes in the position of women
-feminists argue that is not the reason because women have been wage earners
-women being wage-earners is the problem and source of conflict
-argue that marriage remains patriarchal with men benefiting from their wives’ ‘triple shift
