Family Patterns

Marriage
1. Reasons for changing patterns
  1. Changing attitudes to marriage- individuals can choose the type of relationship they want (quality)
    1. Evaluation- greater freedom of choice=greater risk of instability
  2. Secularisation- the decline of influence of religion, means people can choose not to marry
    1. Evaluation- majority of first-time marriages take place within a religious context (still has influence)
  3. Declining stigma attached to alternative to marriage- cohabitation, remaining single are now accepted e.g. 70% people believed that couples need marriage to have children (1989), 42% (2012)
    1. Evaluation- most couple who cohabit do tend to get married, average age of marriage has increased
  4. Fear of Divorce- fewer people are likely to rush into marriage, or not marry to at all
    1. Evaluation- 1/3 of marriages are remarriages, leading to serial monogamy
  5. Changing position of women- Wilkinson states a "gender quake" has happened, young females no longer prioritise marriage/children, instead education/careers
    1. Evaluation- put off getting married until career is established, average age of married has increased
Cohabitation
1. Unmarried couple in a sexual relationship living together
2. Fastest growing family type- 3.3 million in 2016 (increase of 25.8% 2008-2018)
3. Allan & Crow- difficulty researching cohabiting couples as moving in together is often gradual
4. Chandler- long-term alternative to marriage- no longer feel pressure to get married before starting a family
5. The New Right are concerned about the rise as they claim they're less stable than marriages (less happy/fulfilled, more abusive/stressed
6. Chester- cohabiting is part of the process of getting married (temporary)
  1. Coast- 75% of cohabiting couples expect to get married
Same-Sex Relationships
1. Stonewall- gay rights, estimates that 5-7% of the population are gay
2. Civil Partnership Act 2004- same-sex couples could obtain legal recognition
  1. Tax allowance
  2. Employment benefits
  3. Protection of domestic abuse
  4. recognition from immigration & nationality purposes
  5. Inheritance, pensions and property
  6. Apply for parental responsibility
3. Adoption & Children Act 2002- same rights to adopt
4. Weston- quasi-marriage (basically married), deciding to cohabit as stable partners
5. Einasdottir- people fear marriage may limit the flexibility, rather than adopting heterosexual norms, they want to be different
Divorce
1. Divorce Reform Act (1969)- easier to obtain, irretrievable breakdown meaning no fault is needed to get a divorce
2. Increasing divorce rate
  1. Changes in law- equalising/widening the grounds, making divorce cheaper
  2. Declining Stigma- Mitchell & Goody: rapid decline in the stigma attached to divorce- more socially accepted and normalised
  3. Higher expectations of marriage- if the people grow apart, there's no justification to stay, confluent love
  4. Women's increased financial independence- prioritising careers and education, rather than marriage, no longer need to rely on husband for money
  5. Rise of feminism- argue that marriage benefits men more, creates conflict, growing dissatisfaction in patriarchal marriage
  6. Individualisation- the traditional norms lose their hold over individuals, change from independent to fitting into a mold
3. Perspectives
  1. The New Right- undermines marriages & traditions of nuclear family
  2. Feminists- women breaking free from the patriarchal family, Bernard- growing dissatisfaction
  3. Postmodernist- Giddens: liberating but disruptive as it reflects on their identity
  4. Functionlists- Fletcher: threat to marriage as a social institution, result of higher expectations
  5. Interactionlists- what divorce means to the individual
  6. Personal Life Perspective- cause problems and lack of contact between children & parent, Smart: divorce is normalised & people can adapt
  7. Marxists- marriage bourgeois concept, so people are escaping from this
Family Structure
1. Single Households- increase in divorce, decline in the number marrying, choosing to live alone
2. Living Apart Together- Duncan & Philips: 1 in 10 do this, choosing to live apart
3. Childbearing- 4/10 are born outside of marriage, women are having children later/ fewer/childless
4. Reasons for changes
  1. Decline in stigma- less than 1/3 of 23-54 years old people thinks that marriage should become before parenthood
  2. Decline in births- lower fertility rate as women are having children later
  3. Rise in the position of women- many women are establishing a career before having children if they do at all
5. Single parent families- 14.9% of all families
6. Step families- 10% of all families, children from past relationships, divorce, lone parents form partnerships
7. Ethnic Difference in Family- immigration, traditions have changed family patterns e.g. South Asian families are largely extended
8. Modernism and Nuclear families
  1. Local extended family- members live together
  2. Dispersed extended family- live far away but maintained through technology
  3. Attenuated Extended Family- single people might move away from their kin

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Family Patterns

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