Singlehood and the Life course Flashcards
Singlehood in the UK
2013 - 13% of UK live alone
Now biggest household type - twice as more as there traditional nuclear families
58% are men, but for the over 65s, 68% are women
Explanation for increase of single hood
More women gaining financial independence
Increased numbers going to university or building up careers, putting off marrying
Increase in divorce
LATs
Living Apart Together
Number has increased - mostly under 35s
Duncan (2013) - mainly through choice. Surveyed 572 people and found that they are predominantly young, 1/4 of people ‘single’ actually had partner elsewhere
30% where from choice, 19% through constraints and 12% were through ‘suitable’ (most suitable in circumstances)
The Life Course
The way in which life evolves and changes as people experience personal events and rites of passage
Life course - postmodernist
Family is a state of ‘flux and change’, influenced by many factors that constantly change
E.g. divorce, children grow up and move out, deaths, increase in wealth
These influence decisions that are made
Led to conclusion that family is not concrete, so is no perfect family
‘Personal communities’
Pahl and Spencer (2001)
Term family is no longer applicable, people no longer feel obliged to form relationships with relatives
People are now more likely to form relationships in ‘personal communities’ of friends and certian relatives
Weeks et al (2001) - ‘family’ is being used in same-sex relationships to mean something broader and more fluid than a heterosexual, nuclear family. Often including networks of friends and family for support
‘Personal life’
Smart (2007) - use of word ‘personal life’ rather than ‘family’, to remove connotations towards the ‘ideal’ or ‘normal’
Promotes fluidity and flexibility, and reaches beyond biological kin to include post -divorce relationships, same-sex relationships and LATs
Late modernism and the family
Now more choice for relationships and family arrangements.
Do not believe people are as free as post modernists believe - still patterns and shared experiences of families that mean that families are not random, for example people are less likely to get married as a result of increasing gender equality
Giddens - typical relationship today in the pure relationship. One that only survives when both partners are happy with it, not because of tradition and commitment, making cohabitation and serial monogamy more likely
Giddens - choice and equality
Believes that marriages and relationships have been changed by greater choice and a more equal relationship between men and women. Now characterised by:
1. Marriage and family have changed and can be defined by the individuals themselves rather than acting out roles defined for them
2. ‘Pure relationship’ - relationships will only succeed as long as they are meeting the needs of both couples, rather than for duty or tradition
3. Relationships are now part of journey of self-discovery and establishing who we are
However, more choice can lead to less stable relationships
