Zusammenfassung der Ressource
AQA Sociology-
The changing
family patterns:
Divorce
- Changing family patterns
- Since 1960s the divorce rate has increased. It reached
its peak in 1993 at 165,000.But recently the numbers
have decreased a little. This means 40% of all
marriages will end in divorce.
- A reason for high rates of divorce includes less people are
marrying in the first place, they choose to cohabit instead.
65% of all petitions for divorce come from women
(unreasonable behaviour from husband).
- Explanations for increased
divorce
- Changes in the law:
- Equalising the grounds for divorce for sexes, widening
the ground for divorce and making divorce cheaper
means that people are more likely to divorce. It’s also
easier for women to divorce now. Each time these laws
came about divorce rates rose higher and higher.
- There are other options to end an unhappy marriage
than divorce. This includes desertion (where one partner
leaves the other but they are still legally married), legal
separation (the court separates the financial and legal
affairs however the couple remain married and cannot
re-marry), empty shell marriage (couple remain married
in name and live under the same roof).
- Declining stigma and changing
attitudes
- Mitchell and Goody point out that stigma refers to the
negative label placed on a person action or relationship
and in the past divorce was stigmatised and churches
usually refused to involve in divorce issues, know that
that has decreased divorce has increased. Divorce is
now seen as a misfortune not shameful, so now couples
are more likely to go to divorce to solve their problem.
- Secularisation
- This refers to the declining influence of religion in
society. E.g. church attendance rates are declining.
Religion and the church are usually against
divorce and secularisation means that now
couples are not influenced as much by religion
when deciding to petition for divorce. Churches
want to keep their value in society thus most
churches have softened to the idea of divorce.
- Rising expectation of
marriage
- Fletcher (functionalist) says that due to higher expectations of
marriage couples are less tolerant to unhappy marriages and
divorce. This is linked to the ideology of romantic love (marriage
is only based on love). Over the last couple of centuries the idea
that there is a soulmate for every person out there has been
created and if couples feel unhappy in a marriage (no love) then
they will divorce and start the search for their soulmate again.
- In the past individuals have had little choice over who their partner
would be because marriages were usually because of economic
reasons, this meant that individuals did not have high expectations
from the marriage therefore they were less likely to be disappointed.
- Allan and Crow said that marriage is seen as a personal fulfilment for
one and if it is not found then couples will divorce. However, Fletcher
(functionalist) state that marriage is still popular- there are still high
rates of remarriages which shows that marriage is still seen as an
institution.
- Feminists state that functionalists can’t explain why females are divorcing more and
they ignore the fact that inequality within the family is a major cause of divorce.
- Women’s’ increased
financial independence
- Women are now less financially dependent on their husbands
thus now they are more likely to divorce if they don’t like the
relationship. 67% of paid work is done by women. Even though
women are generally less paid, laws about equal pay and
anti-discrimination has improved the pay gap. Girls do very well
in education thus they have more options of paid work. Now for
low income families there are benefits and welfare which
means they don’t need to remain dependant on their husbands.
- Allan and Crow agree with the idea and state that now
partners have their own paid work thus they are not
dependant on each other, so they are now more likely to
seek divorce if they are unhappy.
- Feminist explanations
- They argue that married women now have a dual burden (house work and
paid work). They claim this creates conflict between the couple and they
are more likely to divorce. Rushton claims that mothers with dual burden
are more likely to divorce than mother with traditional roles. Cooke and
gash go against this view they claim working mother is a norm now.
- Even though there have been huge improvements in education and
employment for women, women still face inequality in personal life
and relationships, family have hardly changed and remain
patriarchal. Hochschild agrees with this view, women are valued at
work however at home they are frustrated by their husband not
working and since they both work there is no time to deal with the
emotional work and thus both these factors contribute to divorce.
- Bernard (radical feminist) claims that women are becoming
feminists now and seeing the patriarchy in families and this is
supported by the fact that women petition for divorce the most.
- The meaning of high divorce rate