Patterns in the Family Flashcards
Why have divorce rates increased?
Changes to the law
- Equalising the foundation of divorce between the sexes.
- Expanding the grounds for divorce.
- Making the process cheaper.
Grounds for Divorce equalised 1923 - sharp rise in female divorce petitions increased.
1949 Legal aid for divorces lowered the cost of divorce significantly,
What other ways can couples separate without having to do it legally?
Desertion
Legal separation - financial + legal affairs sorted by the court but they remain married.
Empty shell - couple lives together but are only married in name.
Why have divorce rates increased?
Stigma
Mitchell + Goody
Previously, divorce has been heavily stigmatised.
M + G - important changes since the 60s was the rapid decline in stigma.
Stigma declines? Divorce becomes acceptable, couples’ resort to it as a solution for marital issues.
No more shame.
Why have divorce rates increased?
Secularisation
Religious institutions and ideas are losing their significance in society - we are more secular. Church attendance figures are continually declining.
Religious institutions avoid being too strict/began relaxing their approach towards secularisation in order to prevent losing their credibility.
Why have divorce rates increased?
Rising expectations of marriage
Fletcher
Allan and Crowe
Functionalist Fletcher - couples no longer tolerate unhappy marriages.
Emphasis on love - if you are unhappy, there is someone out there for you.
Previously, marriages were economic propositions, now according to A + C, ‘love… seen as cornerstones of marriage’.
Functionalists believe that higher remarrying rates = people are not rejecting marriage so it is a positive thing.
Why have divorce rates increased?
Women’s financial independence
Allan and Crowe - ‘embedded’
Being in a job and earning an income = women can leave unsatisfactory relationships.
Welfare benefits, paid work, anti-discrimination laws, success in education.
Marriage is less embedded within the economic system.
Feminist perspective of divorce
Hochschild
Cooke + Gash
Jessie Bernard
Dual burden - conflict between spouses - higher divorce rates.
Triple shift benefits men and exploits women.
H - women feel valued in the workplace but feel under-appreciated in the home as men are unwilling to contribute domestically. Lack of time to address emotional issues creates marital issues.
C + G - no evidence that working women are more likely to divorce because working is the norm
J.B - women are dissatisfied with marriage because they are conscious of the patriarchy.
Divorce and:
Modernity
Individualisation (Beck + Giddens)
B + G - traditional norms are being lost e.g. same partners for life???
Individuals pursue their personal interests = pulls spouses in different directions.
Relationships in modern society become fragile because if personal fulfilment is not reached they leave to seek a ‘pure relationship’, where the entire relationship is centred on fulfilling the needs/desires of the partner.
Modern society is encouraging of individualism and pursuing self interest.
What about the increase in cohabitation?
1/8 of couples cohabiting, which is double that of the people cohabiting in 1996.
- Stigma attached to pre marital sex reduced.
- Younger generations accept it.
- Increased career opportunities for women so marriage is not required for financial security.
- Atheism, secularisation.
Homosexual marriages
What Is the Chosen Family?
Weeks
2004 - Civil Partnership Act gave same sex couples similar legal rights to married couples e.g. inheritance.
W - increased social acceptance is the reason why gay relationships act the same way as heterosexual ones. Friendship becomes kinship - chosen families.
What about One person households?
Men under 65 are more likely to live alone because divorce laws favour mother’s custody over children.
March 2020 - 1.5 million lone mothers
Older widows - near 40% of all one person households are over 65.
Not marrying at all rates are higher than ever before.
Fewer people want to get married! Why?
Changing attitudes = less pressure, quality > legal status.
Secularisation = Church’s influence declines.
Declining stigma = cohabiting/remaining single.
Women’s position = economic independence, patriarchal oppression, dissuades marriage.
Fear of divorce.
What do the New Right and Feminists think high divorce rates mean?
N.R - high divorce rates undermine the nuclear family, create a growing underclass of welfare dependent women, children do not have a father figure.
Feminists: high divorce rates - women break free from the patriarchy + oppression.
What do Postmodernists and Functionalists think high divorce rates mean?
P.M - individuals now have freedom over their lives and can end relationships that do not benefit them.
Functionalists - not a bad thing, people still remarry.
What do Interactionists (Morgan) and Personal life perspective sociologists (Smart) think high divorce rates mean?
Interactionists - M: we cannot generalise the meaning of divorce because everyone’s interpretation of divorce is different.
P.L.P: divorce can create issues e.g. financial issues and loyalty/conflict. Smart says that the family can adapt to divorce because it is normalised. We should view it as a transition
Lone Parent families - why are they female headed, why do they exist?
1/4 children live in lone parent families, over 90% are headed by women.
Why? Increases in divorce, breakdown of having kids but not marrying broken etc.
Female headed? Women take on the expressive role. divorce courts favour women custody, men are less willing to give up work for their children.
What does single by choice mean?
Renvoize
Cashmore
R - Professional women can support their child without having the involvement of the father.
C - working class women who claim benefits may choose to be independent because of prior abuse + unsuccessful relationships.
Parents and Children pattern.
Near 50% of children are born outside of marriage.
Women are having children later.
30.7 years in 2019
Women are remaining childless and having less children - 1/5 of 45-year old women in 2012 were childless
Why is this the pattern for parents and children?
Decline in stigma = more births outside of marriage, increase in cohabitation.
Women have opportunities other than motherhood etc.
Lone Parenthood, Welfare State, Poverty.
New Right Sociologist Charles Murray.
C.M - the generous welfare state provides a perverse incentive and provides benefits for unmarried mums and their children - this creates a dependency culture. This creates an underclass.
Why Charles Murray is wrong about welfare benefits:
- Childcare is so expensive - 60% of lone parents are unemployed to look after their children.
- Welfare benefits are inadequate.
- Women earn less than men - more likely to be a struggling lone parent.
- Fathers may fail to pay maintenance etc.
Step Families Patterns
Ferri and Smith
Allan and Crowe
They represent over 10% of all UK families.
F + S - involvement of stepparents in child care - bringing children from previous marriages means that step families are more likely to be in poverty.
A + C - contact with non biological parents may cause tension and awkwardness.
Why is this the pattern for Step Families?
Divorce and separation = reconstituted families.
Children are more likely to remain with their mothers.
Stepparents are more likely to suffer from poverty because they have to prove for more children.
Ethnic differences in families.
Black families.
Black Caribbean families, and African Families have a higher proportion of lone parent households.
2012 - over half of families headed by black people were lone parent.
Traces back to slavery - couples separated, children with their mothers.
Unemployment - desertion or marital breakdowns because men may struggle to provide financially.
