Partnerships

• reasons for changing patterns of first marriages

  • changing attidudes to marriages - less pressure to marry as more freedom for individuals to choose
  • secularisation - the churches influence of marriage has declined
  • declining stigma attached to alternatives to marriage - methods like cohabitation, remaining single etc have all been accepted by society now
  • changes in the position of women - women are less economically dependent on men so marriage is no longer necessary
  • fear of divorce - many are scared if they marry they will end up getting divorced so avoid getting married altogether
• feminist view on marriage

  • marriage is bad
  • like the idea of pro-decline in marriage
• functionalist view on marriage

  • marriage is good = stability
  • anti decline in marriage
• new right view on marriage

  • like marriage
  • traditional
• post modernist view on marriage

  • due to risk society it causes decline in marriage
• marriage and cohabitation changing patterns

  • 2017 there were 242,842 marriages with 88% having lived together before marriage
  • average age of marriage for opposite sex is 38 for men and 35 for women in 2019
  • 2017 there were 6932 same sex marriages
• reasons for decline in marriage


  • changing role of women in society
  • changing social attitudes
  • rising divorce and insecurity of relationships
  • changes to social institutions
• changing role of women 


  • career aspirations of women so rise of average age of women getting married
  • greater control over reproductive rights and increased medical technology so can delay having children
  • financial and social independence to satisfy their own needs
• changing social attitudes


  • there is alternatives to marriage e.g. cohabitation
  • Giddens idea of confluent love and baumans liquid love suggests people will opt for serial monogamy
  • greater reflexivity and self improvement has led to more individualism rather than romantic love
• rising divorce and insecurity of relationships


  • people delay marriage due to fear
  • increased instability in relationships so more want to control this risk
  • divorce rate is declining and number of remarriages is increasing
• changes to social institutions

  • family provides less functions in previous generations so can rely on other support networks
  • process of secularisation has led to more people seeing marriage as outdated
  • less sigma to marriage alternatives
  • only 23% of marriages in 2017 took place in religious settings
• increase in cohabitation

  • many choose to live together before getting married
  • seen as a 'trial marriage'
  • often temporary
• other trends in marriages

  • more re-marriages
  • people getting married older
  • fewer church weddings
• cohabitation

  • unmarried people living together
• reasons for the increase in cohabitation

  • less stigma around sex outside marriage
  • women's improved economic position - don't need financial security of marriage
  • more young people to accept cohabitation
• types of cohabitation

  • trial marriage
  • alternative to marriage
• same sex relationships

  • greater acceptance of them now due to changes in laws
  • moves towards legal equality
  • policies treating all couples equally
• chosen families

  • Weeks 1999 argues that increased social acceptance may explain a trend towards same-sex cohabitation and stable relationships that resembles those found among heterosexuals
  • sees gays as creating families based on the idea of 'friendship as kinship'
  • describes these as chosen families and says they offer the same security and stability as heterosexual relationships
• one person households

  • big rise in people living alone
  • 40% of all people living alone at 65+
  • reasons for increase in one-person households
  • increasing in separation and divorce
  • decline in marrying and more people marrying later
  • increased choice