changing family patterns

KEY SOCIOLOGIST: - Alan and Crow argues

" marriage is less embedded within the economic system " now - fewer family farms no longer a unit of production so spouses are not so dependant on each other economically

KEY SOCIOLOGIST: - Weston (1992) - chosen families

'quasi-marriages' are becoming recognised by society as alternative form of relationship

Parents & Children - Childbearing

- 47% of children are now born outside of marriage but in most cases the parents are cohabiting Women are having children later - Women are now having fewer children, 1.94 in 2010 compared to 2.95 in 1964 - More women are remaining childless - Reasons for the increase in births outside marriage include a decline in stigma and increase in cohabitation. - Only 28% of 25-34 year olds now think that marriage should come before parenthood. The later age women are having children, smaller family sizes etc reflect that many women wish to establish a career before having a family

asian families

- Bangladeshi (4.4), Pakistani (4.3) and Indian households (3) larger ethnic groups per household compared to Caribbean (2.4) compared to white British - Asian households tend to be larger and many are extended families due to Asian culture and to provide an important source of support during the migration of 1950s and 1960s e.g. 3 generations - Ballard (1982) found - Most households today are often nuclear with relatives living nearby

Modernity and Individualism

- Beck and Giddens argue that in a modern society, traditional norms such as staying with the same partner for life, lost hold over individuals. Relationships are more fragile because the individuals are unwilling to remain with one partner.

black families

- Black people have a higher proportion of lone parent households - in 2012 51% were lone-parent families. The high rate of female-headed lone-parent black families is often seen as evidence of family disorganisation that can be traced back to slavery - Under slavery when couples were sold separately children stayed with the mother and this pattern often persists today - Male unemployment can also result in marital breakdown due to being unable to provide for the family - Mirza (1997) argues that instead, it places a high value on female independence

reasons for changes in marriage

- Changing attitudes to marriage - Secularisation - Declining stigma attached to alternatives - Changes in the position of women - Fear of divorce

relationship between cohabitation and marriage

- Chester for most people cohabitation is process of getting married - 75% people who cohabit expect to marry each other according to Coast (2006)

cohabitation

- Cohabitating couples with children are a fast-growing family type, consisting of 1.9 million children in 2013 - 1 in 8 adults are now cohabitating - 1/5 of all those cohabitating are serial cohabitants - 69,000 same-sex cohabitating couples - Increased cohabitation rates result in the decline in the stigma attached to sex outside marriage - young are more likely to accept cohabitation and increased career opportunities for women mean cohabitation is easier as well as secularisation meaning people don't see marriage as a necessity

Declining stigma attached to alternatives

- Cohabitation, remaining single and having children outside of marriage are now regarded as acceptable so pregnancy doesn't lead to 'shot gun' wedding - 1989, 70% believed capsule want children should get married - 42% thought

partnerships - marriage

- Fewer people are marrying with rates at their lowest since the 1920s - There are more re-marriages as in 2012 1/3 of all marriages were re-marriages for one or both partners leading to a pattern of serial monogamy - People are marrying later with the average age of marriage for a woman being 30, an increase of 7 years between 1971 and 2012 - Couples are less likely to marry in church

Lone parent families

- Lone parent families make up 22% of families with children - 90% are headed by lone mothers - Until the 1990s divorced women were the biggest group of lone mothers but single women are now the biggest group - A child living with a lone parent is twice as likely to be in poverty - The number of lone-parent families has risen due to an increase in divorce and an increase in the number of women having children outside of marriage. - This is linked to the decline in the stigma attached to births outside of marriage. - Most are female-headed as the belief that women have the nurturing role and courts usually give women custody of their children - Many lone mothers are single by choice too as Renvoize (1985) found that professional women were able to support their child without the father's involvement

obligations to relatives

- Many people still feel a sense of obligation to help with their wider extended kin but Finch & Mason (1993) found that more is expected of females than males such as caring for elderly relatives - cheal (2002) argues when it comes to help household intensifies - mosen (2011) found depends on history of relationship and particular obligations women feel towards relatives to give help

a trial marriage?

- Many see cohabitation as a trial marriage so, therefore, a temporary phase particularly in cases where people are awaiting divorces - Some couples do see cohabitation as permanent alternative to marriage as they see it as being a more equal relationship than the patriarchal marriage and this is shown with the fact that women who cohabit do less housework than those married

Lone parenthood, the welfare state and poverty

- Murray (1984) and the New Right sees the growth of lone-parent families as resulting from an over-generous welfare system providing benefits for unmarried mothers and their children - He argues that this has created a 'perverse incentive' and a dependency culture in which people assume that the state will provide for them so his solution is to abolish benefits - critics argue that most lone-parent families are likely to be in poverty due to inadequate benefits and the cost of childcare preventing employment - lack of affordable childcare prevents lone parents from working: 60% of them are unemployed - this twice as high among mothers with partners - inadequate welfare benefits - most lone parents are women who generally earn less than men - failure of fathers to pay maintenance especially if they form a second family they have to support

Fear of divorce

- People are put off marrying due to the increased likelihood of marriage ending in divorce

step families

- Stepfamilies account for 10% of all families and are similar to first families but often face problems like divided loyalties - Stepfamilies are formed when lone parents form new partnerships - In 85% at least one child is from the woman's previous relationship because women often take custody of their children - Stepfamilies are at greater risk of poverty because there are more children to support and the men might have further children to support

Same sex relationships

- Stonewall (2012) - campaign for lesbian, gay and bisexual rejects estimate about 5-7% of adults population today have same-sex relationships - social acceptance increased in recent years - male homosexual acts were decriminalised in 1967 consenting adults over 21 - age of consent equalised with heterosexuals - opinion polls show more tolerance of homosexuality - social policy treats all couples equally - since 2002 cohabiting couples have had same right to adopt as married couples - 2004 - the civil partnership act - gave same-sex couples similar legal rights to married couples in respects of pensions, inheritance, tenancies and property - since 2014 same-sex couples have been able to marry

Secularisation

- The churches are in favour of marriage but as they lose their influence people feel freer to choose not to marry. - according to 2001 census - only 3% of young people non-religious were married, against up to 17% of those with a religion

The extended family today

- Whilst the extended family may have declined, it has not entirely disappeared - Instead, Willmott (1988) argues that it continues to exist as a dispersed extended family where relatives are geographically separated but maintain contact through visits and phone calls

Changes in the position of women

- Women now have better educational prospects so are less economically dependent on men so choose not to marry - feminist view that marriage is oppressive patriarchal institution may also dissuade some women from marrying

changes in the position of women

- Women's increased willingness to seek divorce is due to their improved economic position.

meaning of high divorce rates - personal life

- accepts divorce can cause problems like financial difficulties (for women e.g) and the lack of daily contact between children and non-resident parents

Feminist Explanations of Divorce

- argue married women today bear a dual burden to do paid work and domestic work leads to conflict = divorce - big improvements in women's position in the public sphere of employment, education and politics etc. - argue private sphere of family and personal relationships, change now been limited and slow - argue marriage remains patriarchal with men benefitting from their wives 'triple shift' of paid work, domestic and emotional work

KEY SOCIOLOGIST: - Bejin (1985)

- argues cohabitation is often a permanent alternative to marriage - represents an attempt to create a more equal relationship than patriarchal marriage

KEY SOCIOLOGIST: - Fletcher (1966)

- argues the higher expectations people place on marriage today is major cause of rising divorce rates

reasons for the increase in divorce

- changes in the law - declining stigma and changing attitudes - secularisation - rising expectations - changes in the position of women - modernity and individualism

rising expectations of marriage

- couples are less willing to tolerate unhappy marriage, linking to romantic love + empty shell marriage = linked to the ideology of romantic love - an idea has become dominant over last couple centuries - belief marriage based on love for each individual - if love dies no longer any justification for remaining married and even reason to divorce so as to be able to renew the search for ones true soulmate - individuals often little choice in who they married, as family = unit of production, marriage often contracted largely for economic reasons or out of the duty of one's family - circumstances individuals unlikely have the high expectations about marriage as a romantic union of two fails that many couples have today - entering marriage with low expectations + less likely to be dissatisfied by absence of romantic aid and intimacy

other solutions for unhappy marriages would include:

- desertion ( one partner leaves but remain married) - legal separation (court separates financial and legal affairs of couple but remain married) + 'empty shell' marriage - couple come to live under the same roof but remain married in name only

women increased financial independence

- economic position makes then less financially dependant on their husband and therefore free to end an unsatisfactory damage - women today much more likely to be in paid work - working women rose from 53% - 1971 to 63% - 2013 - generally still earn less than men, equal pay and anti-discrimination law have helped to narrow the pay gap - girls greater success in education help achieve better paid jobs - availability of welfare benefits women no longer rely on their husbands for finance - women likely to be able to support themselves if divorce

reasons for patterns in step families

- form when lone parents form new partnerships - due to divorce and separation and responsible for creating new step family - more children in step family from women tan men where marriage and cohabitation break up children likely to remain w/ mother

KEY SOCIOLOGIST: - Cashmore (1985)

- found some working class mothers with less earning power chose to live on welfare benefit without a partner, often as they had experienced abuse - feminist ideas and greater opportunities for women may also have encouraged an increase in the number of never married lone mothers

ethnic differences in family patterns

- immigration into britain since 1950's helped create greater ethnic diversity - analysis of 2011 shows census that 86% of UK population were white - of 14% ethnic minority, asian and asian british (17.5%), black and black british (3.3%) and mixed (2.2%)

reasons for the changes in chosen families

- increase in separation and divorce created more one-person households especially among men under 6s - because following divorce any children are more likely to live with mothers than fathers who would leave the family more - decline the number marrying, but trends in those marrying later meaning more people staying single for longer - opting for 'creative singlehood' - many of these choose to remain single and live alone, some are alone because they are too few partners available in their age group

modern and individualisation

- individuals become free to pursue their own self interest - view known as individualisation thesis - relationships become more fragile as individuals become unwilling to remain with a partner if the relationship fails to deliver personal fulfillment. - some sociologist argue modernity encourages people to adopt neo-liberal consumerist identity based in idea if freedom to follow ones own self interest - pursuit of self interest likely to pull spouses apart

what types of couples are at higher risk of divorce?

- many young people - have a child before they marry or cohabit before marriage - one or both partners have been previously married before

KEY SOCIOLOGIST: - Alan and Crow (2001)

- marriage increasingly viewed as a relationship individuals seek personal fulfillment + encourages couples to divorce if they do not find it. A&C say: - " love, personal commitment and instunic satisfaction are seen as cornerstones of marriage, the absence of these feelings is itself justification for ending the relationships "

changing patterns in divorce

- no of divorces 157,000 = 2001 - 6x higher than 1961 meaning 40% of marriages will end in divorce - about 7 out of 10 positions come from women

in past 40-50 years major changes seen in family and household patterns such as?

- no of traditional nuclear families (married couples w/ dependant children) decreased - divorce rates increased - fewer first marriages but more re-marriages - people marry later in life - couples cohabiting more - same-sex relationships can be legally recognised through civil partnerships and marriages - woman fewer children and having them later - more births outside marriage - more lone parent families - more people live alone - more stepfamilies and couples without children

Changing attitudes to marriage

- now less pressure to marry with a widespread belief that the quality of a couple's relationship is more important than its legal status

'living apart together'

- often assumed not living with a partner do not have one whether from choice or not - may reject trend less formalised relationships and 'family choice' - Duncans and Phillips found that both choice and constraint play in part in whether couples live together for ex.) some said they could not afford to but minority chose to actively live apart - as they wanted to keep their own home as previous troubled relationship or it was 'too early' to cohabit - public attitudes towards LAT's are favourable - majority believe a couple do not need to live together to have strong relationship while 20% LAT's their 'ideal relationship' (more than the number who prefer cohabitation) - D&P conclude LAT is no longer seen as abnormal probs not amount to reject of more traditional relationships

KEY SOCIOLOGIST: Giddens - 'pure relationship'

- one that exist solely to satisfy each partners needs and not out of a sense of duty, tradition or for the sake of the children - results in high divorce rates - rise in divorce rates 'normalise' further strengthens the belief that marriage exist solely to provide personal fulfilment - modern society encourages individualism in other ways - women and men now expected to work + encouraged to go chase career ambitions - causes conflict of interest between spouses and contribute to mental breakdown

what are the other changes in patterns of marriage?

- re marriages = due to increase in divorces - age on marrying = age which couples marry is using as young people spend longer in education to establish career first - couples cohabit for period before marriage - church weddings = couples nowadays less likely to marry in church due to secularisation and churches refuse to marry divorcees (make up population who marry) and they desire less to marry in union

Secularisation

- refers to the decline in influence of religion in society - many sociologists argue religious institutions + ideas losing influence as society becomes more secular - church attendance rates to decline - traditional opposition of churches to divorce carries less weight on society and people less likely to be influenced by religious teachings when making decisions about personal matters like divorce - churches now got softer view on divorce + divorcees due to fear of losing credibility with large sections of public and own members

functionalist view on high divorce rates

- takes an optimistic view - point to continuing popularity of marriage after divorce shows divorcees may become dissatisfied with partner they have rejected marriage as an institution - functionalists offer explanation for rising divorce rates but fail to explain why women rather than men seen divorce

beanpole family

- the extended family survives because it performs important functions for its members with Bell finding that both working-class and middle-class families had emotional bonds; among the middle class there was more financial help from father to son and in the working class there was more domestic help from mothers to daughters - This suggests the importance of the beanpole family which is extended vertically but not horizontally as with brothers and sisters there had been a decline in support and contact - beanpole family resulted due to demographic changes: like increased life expectancy means more surviving grandparents (and great), smaller family sizes mean people have fewer siblings like fewer horizontal ties

feminist view on functionalist theory of divorce

- too rosy view they critic - argue the oppression of women within the family is the main cause of mental conflict and divorce but functionalists ignore this

declining stigma and changing attitudes

In the past divorce has been stigmatised but attitudes have changed as its socially accepted and 'normalised' - Michael and Goofy argue important change since the 1960's has been a rapid decline in stigma attached to divorce

KEY SOCIOLOGIST: - Allan and Crow - chosen families

absence legal framework same sex couples have to negotiate commitment and responsibility more which may have made so they more flexible but can be less stable

meaning of high divorce rates - interactionalists

aim to understand what divorce means to individuals - Morgan (1996) argues we cannot generalise about the meaning of divorce because every individuals interaction of it is different

KEY SOCIOLOGIST: - Beck (1992) and Giddens (1992)

argue modern society traditional norms like duty remain the same partner for life, lose their hold over individuals

KEY SOCIOLOGIST: - Smart (2011)

argues divorce has become 'normalised' and family life can adapt to it without disintegrating - divorce as a major social problem we should see it as ' one transition amongst others in the life course'

KEY SOCIOLOGIST: - Hoschild (2007)

argues for many women home compared unfavourably to work as they feel valued at work - resistance to do housework = source of fustration as makes marriage less stable - partners go out leave less time and energy for emotional work needed to address problems that arise

KEY SOCIOLOGIST: - Mccarthy et al (2003)

conclude there is diversity among families and so we should speak of stepfamilies plus rather than the step family

LAT (living apart together)

couples who are in a intimate relationship or marriage but live at separate addresses

KEY SOCIOLOGIST: - Cooke and Gash (2010)

found no evidence working women are more likely to divorce as working has became accepted

KEY SOCIOLOGIST: - Ferri and Smith (1998)

found step families very similar to first families in major respects and involvement of step parents in childcare and child rearing is a +ve one. step families greater risk of poverty

KEY SOCIOLOGIST: - Shelton and John (1993)

found women who cohabit do less housework than their married counterparts

KEY SOCIOLOGIST: - Einsdotter (2011) - chosen families

gays welcome to be legally recognised but feel it will limit flexibility and negotiability wish to have different relationship

KEY SOCIOLOGIST: - Wendy Sigie-Rushton (ESRC, 2007)

mothers who have dual burden of paid work and domestic work are more likely to divorce then non working mothers in marriages with traditional division of labour

stigma

negative label, social disapproval or shame attached to a person, action or relationship

KEY SOCIOLOGIST: - Bernard (1976)

observe many women feel growing dissatisfaction with patriarchal marriage - she sees rise in divorce rates + most petitions come from women with growing acceptance of feminist ideas, women with growing acceptance of feminist ideas, women becoming conscious of patriarchal oppression and more confident about rejecting it

Interactionalist - Michael and Goody (high divorce rates)

provide good example of this one of their interviewees described the day her father left was best day of her life and another said they never recovered from father deserting the family

divorce

refers to the legal dissolution of a marriage by a court or other competent body - major cause of changing family patterns and greater family diversity

meaning of high divorce rates - functionalists

say divorce isn't a threat to marriage as it is simply the result of people higher expectations of marriage

meaning of high divorce rates - feminists

see divorce as desirable as it shows women are breaking free from the oppression of the patriarchal nuclear family

meaning of high divorce rates - postmodernists

see divorce as showing individuals have the freedom to choose to end a relationship when it no longer meets their needs resulting in greater family diversity

meaning of high divorce rates - the new right

see divorce as undesirable as it undermines marriage and the nuclear family which is needed for social stability. they say that divorce has caused an underclass of welfare dependant lone mothers who are a burden on the state and fail to adequate children properly

KEY SOCIOLOGIST: - Weeks (1999) - chosen families

see gays creating families based on 'friendship as kinship' as a reason for the increase in same-sex families i.e) families can be based on friendship than blood ties

KEY SOCIOLOGIST: - Allan and Crow (2001)

step families may face problems of divided loyalties + issues like contact and non-resident parents cause tension

changes in the law

such as: - equalising the grounds (the legal reasons) for divorce between the sexes - 1923 - widening grounds for divorce - making divorce cheaper - The introduction of legal aid in 1949 - due to the divorce reform act (1969) it meant that couples could get divorced and it be accepted in society.