Divorce

• social changes, eg. feminism

  • undermined the importance of marriage
  • allowed people to seek happiness by breaking away from bad relationships
• Islam - divorce

  divorce is the most hated by God, Qur’an treats it as something permitted but not commendable
• Humanist - divorce

  a marriage breakdown can cause many issues, so divorce is better
• Catholic - divorce

  does not recognise divorce, regards marriage as a lifelong commitment
• Catholic - single parents

  God holds single parent families to a high regard, “a father to the fatherless, a defender of widows is God in his holy dwelling” - Psalm 68:5
• Islam - single parents

  single motherhood is not a sin, helps to boost trust in Allah
• Humanist - single parents

  welcome diverse family structures as they are able to choose what suits them
• Greer (2000) - radical feminist

  sees the decline in popularity of marriage as a positive development resulting from women’s unwillingness to accept oppression by their husbands
• marital breakdown

  unhappily married couples would stay together in ‘empty shell’ marriages to maintain outward appearances
• legislation

  women did not gain the right to divorce until 1923, emphasising the social acceptance of men committing adultery
• Functionalists

  divorce is not a problem, and high divorce rates are a result of living in nuclear families
• Duncan and Phillips (2008)

  ‘divorce can be a positive step towards a new life’ - only 7% disagreed
• Parsons and Bales (1995) - The Privatised Nuclear Family

  • the modern American family has become structurally isolated from extended family with the main focus on the relationship between the husband, wife, and children
  • less pressure for couples to stay together
• Fletcher (1966) - functionalism

  • the higher expectations people place on marriage today is a major cause of rising divorce rates
  • if love is lost, there is no reason to stay