family topic 4 Flashcards
What is marriage?
Is legal union of two people through a religious or civil ceremony
- both heterosexual and homosexual couples are able to get married
- homosexual were allowed to get married through marriage same sex couple act 2014
Define
- monogamy
-serial monogamy
-polygamy
-polygyny
-polyandry
-bigamy
1) being married to 1 person at a time
2) getting married - divorce- remarried
3) having two or more husbands or Wifes
4) man having 2 or more wives
5) women have 2 or more husbands
6) being married to more than 1 person in uk
What are the trends in marriages? (6)
1) Marriage rates are declining
2) 1970 =400k marriages in England and Wales
3) 2005=224 710 marriage in England and Wales
4) Half of these marriages are actually re marriages
5) Most marriage are through a civil ceremony rather than religious
6) People are getting married at later age
what are trends in civil partnership (4)
1) Increasing
2) 7000 per year since 2005 when they were first introduced
3) The average age of first civil partnership is quite high
4) On average men =age 40, women =38 enter civil partnership
What are the trends in cohabitation? (4)
- increasing
1) 4m cohabiting couples in Britain
2) 11% of children in Britain are brought up by cohabitating parents
3) 60% of cohabitation turn into marriages
4) Cohabitation is a prelude to marriage. Referred as practice marriage
Why is cohabitation increasing? (3)
1) changes in social attitudes= weeks argues sex outside marriage and cohabitation is now acceptable and attidues are changing there is now less pressure on indivuals to marry and quality of relationship is more important than legal status.
- chester= its part of getting married - a prelude not alternative to marriage - “practice marriage” to see if they would work out.
- concious attempt to create a more equal relationship, shelton and John argue cohabitating women do less work than married women.
Why there a decrease in first marriage? (3)
- weddings are expensive so people choose not to get married.
- fear of divorce= people dont want to go through that so they dont get married in the first place.
3.changes to social attitudes - pregnancy before marriage would lead to shotgun wedding as there is no stigma today around having children outside marriage. so pregnant women choose not to get married.
Why is there an increase in remarriage?
- Mass media promotes the idea of romantic love, so people continue to look for the “right person” if there first marriage didn’t work out
- increase in secularisation = people dont feel the need to get marry in place of worship so divorced people can remarry and use any venue
- changes to social attitude= serial monogamy is acceptable.
Why is there marriage at later age? (3)
- weddings are expensive = meaning people have to save up for number of years before marriage by the time the reach it they will be much older.
- influence of feminism = Wilkinson argues influence of femensim increased opportunities for women in education has led to women prosponing marriage and focusing on their career so may marry at later age.
- changes to social attitudes = there is no more stigma being attached to being unmarried esp for women - term such as “spinster” and “old maid” are not longer being used to describe unmarried women.
Why is there increase in singlehood living alone?
- increase in divorce = leaves people living alone
- Duncan and Philip - lat = living apart together people live alone but are in relationships
3.increased life expectancy in women = women tend to live longer than man, so they are left to be widowed and living alone.
divorce
what is empty shell marriage?
what is seperation?
divorce?
empty shell marriage = the couple not longer love each other
but the remain married and living together
seperation = the couple agree to live apart and lead seperate lives but remain legally married
divorce = legal ending of marriage
what is trend in divorce and 3 reasons why?
divorce is increasing.
1. divorce rates have doubled since 1969 and 1972 as result of legal changes.
- it continued to rise until 2000. since then it had fall this is due to fall in marriage rates as there is now fewer married couple so fewer people can get divorced.
- today 42% of marriages end in divorce.
3 reason
1. changes in law = since 19th century divorce has become easier, cheaper and quick to obtain. until 1969 , a spouse had to prove in court either cruelty, desertation or adultery in order to get divorce granted. since 1969, divorce law reform act made it easier to get a divorce. legal aid act 1949 has made divorce more affordable as it gives financial help to couples who cant afford the fees thus making divorce cheaper.
- rising expectation of marriage - media promotes the idea of marriage as “romantic love”. if the couple fall out of love or if there romantic expectations are not met, they more likely to divorce and search for the “right person”
- the growth of the privatised nuclear family - the nuclear family is becomming increasingly isolated and privatised from the extended kin. this means it not easy for spouses to seek advice from relatives if marriage is in crisis.
others you could talk about
- increase in life expectancy
- changes in social attitdues.
why are these SOCIAL GROUPS more likely to be divorce
1. teen marriage couples
2. working class couples
3. childless couples
4. couples from different ethinic or social background
- teen marriage may end in divorce because marriage may test maturity of the couple. they may be unable to cope with repsonsbility and because they are so young they may have finacial problems ( waffle)
- w.c = more likley to face finacial problesm which can lead to arguments and eventually martial breakdown.
- childless couple = may feel less obliged to stay together in comparison to couples with children who may stay together for childrens sake.
- couples from differnt from ethnic or social background= may have opposing expecation of conjugal roles they may face opposition from families and wider society.
what are 3 sociological perspecive that speak about divorce.
- feminist theory
- marriage is a social institution based on inequalities with regard to housework and childcare.
- divorce allows women who are trapped in violent or empty shell marriage to leave and start again.
- cohabitation allows women to “test” if the man is right for her before they enter marriage. - postmodernist theory
- argue divorce is socially acceptable and common because today families are more about changing rather than fixed set of duties and obligations.
marriage is a relationship based on agreed wishes and needs of couple.
cohabitation is just another family form in which a couple may choose to live. - new right - in favour of marriage and against cohabitation and divorce
- argues divorce should not be easy to access and couples should try to work on their relationship. gov should make divorce
