AQA Sociology- The changing family patterns: Divorce

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Mind Map on AQA Sociology- The changing family patterns: Divorce, created by Dani Cabot on 29/03/2017.
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AQA Sociology- The changing family patterns: Divorce
  1. Changing family patterns
    1. 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.
      1. 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).
    2. Explanations for increased divorce
      1. Changes in the law:
        1. 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.
          1. 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).
        2. Declining stigma and changing attitudes
          1. 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.
          2. Secularisation
            1. 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.
            2. Rising expectation of marriage
              1. 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.
                1. 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.
                  1. 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.
                    1. 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.
              2. Women’s’ increased financial independence
                1. 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.
                  1. 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.
                2. Feminist explanations
                  1. 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.
                    1. 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.
                      1. 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.
                3. The meaning of high divorce rate
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