Family- changing family patterns and family diversity

The legal ending of a marriage

1969

could divorce because of irretrievable backdown and also make divorce a lot easier

1 in 4 marriages divorce, 7/10 divorce petitions come from women, The number of divorce doubled between 1961 and 1969, and doubled again by 1972.

Equalising the grounds of divorce, meaning both partners could file for divorce., Also, the widening grounds for divorce - 1971 irretrievable breakdown made divorce easier to obtain

Decline in the influence of religion on society. Society is becoming more secular e.g. churches attendance rates continue to decline. 2012 census - 43% of young people with no religion were cohabitating as 34% Christians

Functionalist Fletcher says higher expectations people place on marriages are a major cause of rising divorce rates. High expectations means that couples are less willing to tolerate an unhappy marriage. Believe that marriage could be based solely on love. If Love dies, there is no reason to stay married and divorced, allows us to renew our search for true soulmate

Women have improved economic positions so don’t need financial support. Proportion of working women rows from 47% in 1959 to 70% in 2005 equal pay act an anti-discriminate laws, close gender pay gaps Goals have greater success in education also welfare benefits

The home compares and favourably with work where women feel valued. At home men’s resistance to share housework, causes frustration, and as both partners work, there is less time and energy to communicate, and for emotional work needed to address this

Women are more likely to seek divorce due to oppression of women within the family. Bernard - women are becoming more conscious of the patriarchal, oppression and more confident about rejecting it.

high divorce rate is desirable as it shows that women are breaking from the oppression of the patriarchal nuclear family (Hart - divorce rate is a reaction to frustration face by Nanny working wives as I feel responsible for the book of childcare)

high divorce rate is undesirable as it undermines traditional nuclear family. Divorce creates an upper-class of wealthy dependent women loan. Parents and boys are left without a necessary male role model. (but a criticism is that over 75% of children are living with both natural parents who are legally married)

high divorce rates gives individuals freedom to end a relationship. They feel no longer meets their needs. Causes greater family diversity.

rising divorce rates or a products of rapidly, changing world, where traditional rules and rituals of loving relationship no longer apply as the modern family would characterise Individualisation - under less pressure to conform to traditions, freedom to pursue own goals Choice- culture and economic changes mean that we have greater choice in our lifestyle Conflict - more potential for conflict between men and women, as there is a natural clash of interest between selfishlessness and encouragement by individualisation and selfishlessness required for a relationship and family

high divorce rate doesn’t mean that marriage is in threat. It is simply a result of higher expectations of marriage. High rate of remarriages means people are still committed to marriage.

want to understand what the divorce rate means to the individual. David Morgan we cannot generalise about the meaning of divorce as each persons interpretation may be different.

the legally or formally recognized union of two people as partners in a personal relationship

Office for National statistics concluded in 2007, that marriage is good for health of couples, and that married people live longer than single or divorced people., people are delayed marriage rather than rejecting it. An average age of pride has risen from 22 in 1971 to 29 in 2003., 2/5 of marriages are remarriages. People are obviously still committed to the institution., Married couples are still the main type of partnership for men and women in the UK. 7/10 families are headed by a married couple.

The declining significance of religion in UK society could have contributed to the declining popularity of marriage. many marriages are no longer a religious ceremony. e.g. While there has been fluctuations in marriages the number of religious ceremonies have declined

there is no social stigma associated with cohabitation which was once thought of as “living in sin”.

Wilkinson- female attitude to marriage and family has undergone radical change. Young females, no longer prioritise marriage and children like then gens before them. Education opportunities have resulted in young women weighing up the cost of marriage and having children against the benefits of a career and economic independence. this has resulted in a lot of females, postponing, marriage and family. e.g. births, two women aged, 35 - 39 has dramatically increased in past 20 years

there has been a dramatic increase in the number of divorces. This could have had the effect of putting people off getting married, as so many end in divorce.

A unmarried couple in a sexual relationship living together

1/4 unmarried couples under 60 are cohabitating - double the number in 1986, Social trends 2004 - 88% of 18 to 24-year-olds thought it is alright for couples to live together without intending to get married compare to 44% of over 65s

Chester - the most people cohabitation is a part of the process to getting married, an arrangement by which a couple live together for a period of time to see if they are compatible for marriage

decline in stigma attached to sex outside of marriage, British social attitudes of a 2000 - 62% to view that premarital sex is not wrong, compared to 44% of those asked in 1989. also younger people are more likely to cohabitation

Census young people, with no religion, are more likely to cohabitate

couples, who are in a committed, intimate relationship with each other without cohabiting.

Individualistic society, Labour market changes, Modern technology, Pure relationships (relationships, based on love and care opposed to old-fashioned notions of traditions and duty)

there are almost 2 million children living in a one parent family about 23% of all families, children living with a lone parent is twice as likely to live in poverty compared to a child living with two parents

the increase in divorce (1969 divorce act, making it easier to divorce) segregation

I think it’s negative to society, there is a connection between one parent families and education underachievement on youth crime . Marie what’s the state run children children, lack self control and a positive role model to enforce discipline

It cost the state too much to look after it’s offers ‘perverse incentive’ two young girls to get pregnant, such as council, housing and benefits. It creates a dependency culture he suggested abolishing welfare.

Seen as a second rate and in perfect family type, reflecting the selfish choices of adults against the interests of children (children shouldn’t be in poverty for their parents choices. We can’t punish them.)

The ideology creates problems for single parents as the nuclear family are seen as the ideal type this leads to negative labelling by professionals and in the justice system, so they become scapegoat for social problems, such as crime and education, underachievement when these are really due to unemployment and poverty, The new right ignores the idea that single parenthood may be preferable to domestic violence, or that the majority of lone parents raise the child to successfully

there is an increase in the amount of bean pole families

due to the increasing ageing population and the declining in birth rates. meaning we now have more grandparents but less cousins and aunts and uncles

means there is less children being born in families this mess that the birth rate is decreasing as a result.

the have increased over the year and they have become a more popular family type

the increase of this family type is due the the 1969 divorce act - as divorce increases of so does the reconstructed family type

the main ethnic groups in Britain are Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi (3.6%) mixed ethnicity (1.2%) black African (0.8%) and Chinese (0.4%), grater ethnic diversity has contributed to changing family patterns in the UK

Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Indian households tend to be larger than the ethnic groups, Three households are mainly nuclear family but have a higher rate for extended family, Ballard - extended family ties provided better support network among the Asian migration in the 1950s and 60s

most are a nuclear family but the higher prevalence of lone parent families- this could be due to the high rates of unemployment of black men so as they can’t support family they leave., some say that the tracing back of slavey can also explain why lone parent families are more prevalent in black families. this is as couples they were split and the child was kept with their mothers., Mirza - higher rates of loan, parent among the black community is not a result of slavery and unemployment that reflects the high value that black women place on independence

Willmott - it continues to exist as dispersed (separated) extended family where relatives are geographically, separate, but maintained, frequent contact visits and phone calls, Chamberlain’s - study of Caribbean families in Britain found that despite not living close by they provided support. She described them as multiple nuclear families with close contact between siblings aunts uncles cousins and often make a big contribution to raising children., Bell - working and middle-class families had emotional bond with extended family. Middle-class - financial help between father and son. Working-class - frequent contact and domestic help from mothers to daughters

Same-sex couples/ families don’t have the social norms of the roles men and women so therefore it is more equal due to them being same-sex. More equal as they discuss the roles they take on in the family.

6.5 million people on their own., 29% of all households are made up of one-person households in 2005

Increased in elderly households as they have a longer life expectancy, Increased in female employment and opportunities, Expansion on education, Changes in attitudes, Increase divorce, The main majority of single households or a temporary phase before a nuclear family

Cultural, Organisational, generational, Social class, life cycle

Families differ in terms of their beliefs and values. e.g different ethnic groups, with some ethnicities placing a greater emphasis on family than others, some preferring different gender roles, etc.

This refers to the way a family might organise itself in terms of the roles people perform (e.g. traditional male-dominated families and more symmetrical ones).

There is also change over time and what is the norm, in terms of family life, the norms of one generation of family may differ to the next generation. e.g great grandparents and grandparents may have had several siblings, and later generations have far fewer; more recent generations are more likely than their parents and grandparents to divorce or to be single parents.

Much information about the family assumes that family life experiences are the same as the ways of a middle-class family but it is not the same for other social classes. as availability of resources, quality of housing, leisure opportunities, etc. all impact the nature of families and family life.

we do not live in the same family structure of household for the whole of our lives. We might be born into a traditional nuclear family. This might change later in our childhood (for example it might become a lone parent family and then a reconstituted family). When we leave home it might be to live on our own, or with flatmates. It might be to live with a partner as a couple without children. A couple with or without children might live with their parents in an extended family, or move away and form their own nuclear family.

Different families fit different times

pre-industrial (1600’s)

post-industrial (1870)

Means of production as they made everything on their own

Made a workplace - so Dad works. That means of production is in the factories and family is means of consumption.

Chester

Agrees that there has been changes within the family, but disagrees with the new right by suggesting that the changes that have a card or not ready significant. Traditional values are still being upheld and changes within the family are exaggerated.

he says it cost too much the state to look after people as it offers ‘perverse incentive’ two young girls to get pregnant as they will have things such as council housing and benefits. He says this creates a dependency culture and suggests that welfare should be abolished.

Giddens, Beck, Stacey

supports the idea that families are more diverse nowadays, and suggests that it is because of an increase of choice based society

The two main contributions to this, according to him is the improved knowledge and ability of contraception and the increased independence of women., Also says this choice has allowed couples to define their own relationship which creates pure relationships, based on love and care, as opposed to the old fashion notions of traditional and duty

Divorce extended families. Women have been able to take greater control over their life and are beginning to create families that are tailored to their own needs. E.g. in California there has been a rise in divorce extended families. Divorces has brought women together to form fictive extended families which offers support and involve to suit their individual needs.