P2 Families and Households - Divorce

Question 1

What forms can marital breakdowns be in?

Answer 1

1. Divorce
   - Legal ending of marriage
   - Divorce reform act 1969
   - 1984 (divorce after one year)
2. Separation
   - Couples agree to live apart after the breakdown of marriage (this was more likely the case in the past when divorcee was difficult to obtain)
3. Empty Shell Marriages
   - Husband and wife stay together in name only, no love or romance.
   - This may persist due to children but are likely to end in separation or divorce

Question 2

What are the recent divorce law trends?

Answer 2

1. 2004 Civil Partnership Act
   - Legal dissolution of a civil partnership on same grounds as marriage
2. 2007
   - Equality assumed in all divorces 50/50 split of all assets including salaries and pensions
3. 2014
   - Same sex marriages became law, same ground for divorce

Question 3

Why has divorce rates increased?

Answer 3

1. Divorce Laws become easier
2. Functionalists believe higher divorce rates indicate value of marriage and higher standards
3. Feminists (womens expectations)
4. Improved education and career opportunities (women no longer need to be financially dependent on their husbands)
5. Less stigma and shame (socially accepted/normalised)
6. Close knit families also in decline (less pressure by families to stay together
7. Modernity and Individualisation (traditional norms and values have lost their hold)

Question 4

What is the meaning of high divorce rates according to the new right?

Answer 4

It’s undesirable as it undermines marriage, social stability, increases social problems and welfare dependency

Question 5

What is the meaning of high divorce rates according to feminists?

Answer 5

It’s desirable as it’s free from oppression

Question 6

What is the meaning of high divorce rates according to postmodernists?

Answer 6

Individual freedom to choose, increase family diversity

Question 7

What is the meaning of high divorce rates according to functionalists?

Answer 7

Not a threat to marriage, it’s a result of higher expectations, remarriages indicates commitment

Question 8

What is the meaning of high divorce rates according to the interactionalists?

Answer 8

Morgan argues that the meaning of divorce can’t be generalised

Question 9

What is the meaning of high divorce rates according to personal life?

Answer 9

Divorce can cause problems, finances, contact but its become a normalised transition

Question 10

What are variations in divorce between social groups?

Answer 10

1. The highest rate of divorce is between young men and women in their late 20s - teenage marriages are twice as likely to end in divorce
2. Unskilled working classes have a higher rate of divorce
3. Childless couples
4. Partners from different social and religious backgrounds
5. Living apart together couples

Question 11

What is Beck and Beck Gernsheim’s approach to divorce?

Answer 11

They argue that the rise in divorce is due to rapidly changing world where traditional values do not still apply.Now our world is characterised by:
1. Individuation
- Less pressure to conform, more freedom to pursue own goals
2. Choice
- Greater lifestyle and living choices due to cultural and economic changes
3. Conflict
- Natural clash between men and women due to individualisation and the selfishness required by relationships and family life

Question 12

What do Beck and Beck Gernsheim believe about marriage in society?

Answer 12

• Still positive on marriage in society (people are still looking for love top help cope with the ever changing world)
• Divorce and remarriages are evidence for this
• Divorce trends may actually be a sign of changing beliefs in society (monogamy is being replaced by serial monogamy)

Question 13

What do the new right believe about divorce?

Answer 13

• Divorce statistics are representative of serious crisis within the institution of the family
• Divorce is too easily available (people are not committed to marriage any more)
• Direct link between divorce (and one parent families) and anti social behaviour among young children

Question 14

What do the new right sociologists Rogers and Pryor believe?

Answer 14

Children from separated families are most likely to:
- Have behavioural problems
- Underachieve at school
- Become sexually active from a young age
- Pregnant at an earlier age
- Smoke drink and take drugs

Question 15

What did Flouri and Buchanan discover?
1. Study of 17,000 children from families who had experience separation or divorce
2. If the fathers still involved:
- More successful in education and pursued further and higher education
- Less likely to become homeless
- Less likely to get in to trouble with the police
- More stable adult relationships

Question 16

What is the evaluation?

Answer 16

All of this being said, the statistics state:
- 6 out of 10 marriages succeed
- 75% of children living with both parents who are legally married

This suggests that society still places high values on the sanctity of marriage