Marriage And Divorce Flashcards
What are the reasons for the decline of marriage and growing cohabitation?
- The changing role of women
- The reduced functions of the family
- Changing social attitudes and reduced social stigma
- Growing secularisation
- The rising divorce rate
- Reducing risks
How does the changing role of women lead to a decline in marriage?
Women’s growing economic independence has given them more freedom to choose their relationships. This is a very important explanation for the decline of marriage. Women now are more successful than men in education, and this is gradually being reflected in the labour market, as women seek to persuade their own careers. Women’s expectations of life and marriage have risen during the course of the last century, and they are less willing to take on the demands associated with the housewife - mother role. Evidence suggests that women in cohabiting relationships carry out less housework than those in married relationships. Women who do choose to marry often postpone this until they are older, when their careers are more established. Women’s growing financial independence means they have less need for the security of marriage and support by men. Marriage has therefore become less of a financial necessity for women, and cohabitation provides an alternative relationship for personal fulfilment without the legal, financial and housework commitments involved in marriage.
How does the reduced functions of the family lead to a decline in marriage?
Some functionalist writers argue that, in contemporary society, a number of family functions have either been transferred to or shared with other social institutions. Parsons: structural differentiation. Marriage has become less of a practical necessity.
How does changing social attitudes and reduced social stigma lead to a decline in marriage?
Young people are more likely to cohabit more than older people. This may in part reflect the evidence that older people, compared to younger people, are more likely to think that ‘living together outside marriage is always wrong’; thus reveals more easygoing attitudes to cohabitation among the young, showing the reduced social stigma attached to it. This may partly be a result of growing secularisation.
How does growing secularisation lead to a decline in marriage?
The influence of religiously based morality regarding the importance of marriage, and the condemnation of cohabitation, have declined. Marriage and cohabitation are now more about individual and practical choices than sacred, spiritual unions. Evidence for this lies in the fact that less than a third of marriages today involves a religious ceremony (though this is partly because many are second marriages arising from divorce, and many churches won’t marry divorced people).
How does the rise in divorce rates lead to a decline in marriage?
The rise in divorce rates may well deter couples from what they see as the risk involved in marriages not lasting. On the other hand, the high number of second marriages for one or both partners is itself due to the increased number of first marriages ending in divorce, as people give marriage another go.
How does reducing risk lead to a decline in marriage?
Beck suggests we are living in what he calls ‘risk society’. Individuals are less controlled by traditional structures and institutions like the family, and there is less loyalty and commitment demanded by the social norms of marriage and family life. For example, a whole range of socially acceptable alternatives to the traditional nuclear family are now available. In this situation, individuals face increased risks, as they are constantly forced to reflect on their lives, weigh up choices, and make decisions, such as whether to get married or cohabit, or live alone, or what sort of family or other relationship they wish to live in, rather than relying on what was once seen as traditional and socially acceptable. In this situation, more people may simply be choosing to avoid the risk involved in long-term legal commitments like marriage.
What are Economic factors (linked to Marxism) that have led to a decrease in marriage/increase in divorce?
Increasing property prices in recent years may be one of the the factors why couples choose to get married later in life. The average deposit on a first time home is now over £30,000 with the average cost of a wedding being around £18,000. So, for most couples it is literally a choice between getting married in their 30s. The second option is obviously the more financially rational. People may not even get married due to costs behind it.
Additionally, our consumerist, capitalist culture has encouraged people to act as ‘shoppers’ - comparing alternatives constantly trying to get a better deal. Also, the divorce business is a multi-million business so people are encouraged of divorce so they can make more money. Divorce is sometimes due to people not being ‘satisfied’ with their ‘purchase’ and want to find someone new. Small arguments are treated as a means to divorce. People are less committed to resolve problems and to each other in general because of the options. Why spend a lifetime on one flavour when there are a million more out there. People fake arguments just to find an excuse to get out of marriage.
What does the New Right say has led to a decline in marriage?
Moral decline. People are less morally obligated to marry before sex or marry early due to religious reasons. In 1989, only 44% of people agreed that premarital sec is not wrong at all, but 65% took this view by 2012. By 2014, only 13% found premarital sex unacceptable. The New Right blame the decline of marriage on moral decline - part of the broader breakdown of social institutions and due to too much acceptance of diversity. This results in the inability of people to commit to each other, and they see thus as bad for society and the socialisation of the next generation, Since 2002, cohabiting couples have had the same right to adopt as married couples. Church weddings are declining. Having sex before marriage is now considered normal. The Divorce Act of 1969 made people less morally obligated to be tied to one person. Marriage no longer seemed like you had to be with someone forever. People don’t think of marriage as a commitment, just as a milestone people can jump off of.
What do postmodernists say has led to the decline of marriage?
More individual freedom/changing values/decline of tradition. Only 22% of all marriages in 2017 were religious ceremonies. Nearly 9 in 10 of opposite sex couples cohabited before getting married in 2017. People now live in a society which is so diverse that people can do anything they want. There is no longer a conventional path that everyone has to follow. People are more likely to cohabitate before marriage. The number of cohabiting couples in England and Wales is projected to almost double to 3.8 million by 2031 (which will be over one in four couples on this projection. Cohabitation is the fastest growing family type in the UK. People are much less religious now and there is no stigma around not belonging to a faith. Same sex couples.
Two reasons why the divorce is increasing and marriage is declining:
One explanation for an increase is because if economic factors. Increasing inequality in the UK means that lower social classes are paid less while the housing price continues to rise which means that both partners need to work putting strain on the marriage. If two people are constantly having to work and don’t have much control over their shifts, there is constant angst and people become more susceptible to anger, so little things can become reasons for divorce. This is why divorce is increasing but also why divorce is more common among the working class. Other economic factors include the idea that we are consumers, shopping around for the best deal which is why when we are unsatisfied with our “purchase” we can just get a “better deal/item”. There is so much choice in a capitalist market that to some people divorce is no longer a commitment but a temporary fix until we find a better product.
Another reason for an increase is feminist views. 70% of women are in paid work as opposed to the 50% in 1950. In the past women couldn’t afford to divorce as the man had the job and the house. Now, women are financially independent and don’t have to rely on the man so women can divorce with little to no consequences. Women who had been previously unhappy with their marriage don’t have to stay. Also, because if developments and the legality of forms of contraception, women don’t have to stay married to financially support a baby if they don’t have one.
How are black families different to traditional family patterns?
Higher proportion of lone-parent households. High rates of female-headed, lone parent black families sometimes evidence of family disorganisation that can be traced back to slavery or high rates of unemployment among black males. Less able to provide. Independent women.
How are Asian families different to traditional family patterns?
Asian families tend to be larger than other ethnic groups. Most in fact are nuclear. Larger households are part of the result of the younger age profile of British Asians. Value of extended family in Asian culture.
What does the extended family look like today?
Nickie Charles’ (2005) study of Swansea found, the classic three - generation family all living together under one roof is now “all but extinct”. Peter Willmott (1988) argues, it continues to exist as a ‘disperse extended family’, where relatives are geographically separated but maintain frequent contact through visits and phone calls.
What is the beanpole family?
Multi-generational family that is long and thin with few aunts, uncles and grandparents. This is a result of extended life expectancy and fewer children being born.
