Changing family patterns

• Divorce

  • 2018 - 90,000 divorces in UK of heterosexual couples (428 same-sex)
  • 1971 - 74,000 divorces in the year the Divorce Reform Act came into place
  • 1993 - number of divorces peaked at 165,000
• Reasons for increase in divorce - Secularisation/stigma

  • No longer guided by morality of church as losing credibility with members and society
  • Mitchell & Goody note rapid decline in stigma since 1960s
  • Less social disapproval of divorce with rise of feminism
• Reason for increases in divorce - Changes in law

  • Divorce cheaper, widening grounds for divorce and equalising grounds
  • Introduction of legal aid for divorce in 1949 lowered cost
  • ONS reported increased divorce rates for over 65s in 2018 - males by 23% & women by 38%
  • People more likely to lave unhappy marriages and seek out new partners - increasein remarriage
• Reasons for increase in divorce - Financial independence

  • Women more likely to be in paid work - rose to 72% in 2020
  • Availability of welfare beenfits means that women no longer have to remain financially dependent on their husbands
  • Allan & Crow: marriage is less embedded within the economic system, so spouses are less economically dependent on eachother
• Marriage

  • 2017: over 240,000 marriages in the UK - 88% had lived together before getting married (ONS)
  • Average age of marriage - 38 years for men & 35.7 for women
  • 2017: almost 7,000 same-sex marriages (56% between females couples)
• Reasons for decline in marriage - role of women

  • Career aspirations of women meant a rise in average age at which people first marry
  • Greater control over reproductive rights and increased medical technology - delay having children
  • Financial and social independence means women are more likely to look for the right partner to satisfy their needs rather than financial arrangement
• Reasons for decline in marriage - social attitudes

  • Alternatives - cohabitation or living apart together (LATs) relationships
  • Individualism and self-improvement
• Reasons for decline in marriage - declining stigma

  • 1989 - 70% believed couples who want children should get married
  • 2012 - ony 42%
• Cohabitation

  • About 3.5 million cohabiting heterosexual couples in Britain - 1/7 adults
  • 120,000 same-sex cohabiting couples
  • Reasons: young people more likely to accept, increased career opportunities for women, secularisation
• Same-sex relationships

  • Male homosexual acts decriminalised in 1967 for consenting adults over 21
  • Social policy treats them more equally
  • 2004 Civil Partnership Act gave simialr legal rights to married couples
  • 2014 - able to marry
• One-person households

  • 2019 - 3/10 households contained only one person
  • 1/2 are over 65
  • Due to increase in separation and divorce
• LATs

  • Duncan & Phillips: 1/10 adults are LATs
  • Some can't afford to or found it was too early to cohabit
• Childbearing

  • 48.5% of children born outside of marriage
  • Women are having children later and fewer with an average of 1.58 (2020)
  • Some remain childless
• Lone-parent

  • Make up 24% of all families with children
  • 90% are headed by lone-mothers - most by choice. Renvoize found professional women able support w/o father's involvement
  • Cashmore: some w/c mothers choose to live on benefits due to experience of abuse
  • A child with a lone-parent is 2X more likely to in poverty than a child with 2 parents
• Lone-parenthood & welfare state

  • Murray says the growth of lone-parent families is due to over-generous welfare state benefits
  • Creates a 'perverse incentive' and rewards irresponsible behaviour - creates a dependency culture
  • The solution is to abolish them
• Lone-parenthood & welfare - Criticism

  • Lack of affordable childcare stops lone parents from working
  • Most are women who generally earn less than men
  • Failure of father to pay maintenance
• Stepfamilies

  • Account for over 10% of all families
  • Allan & Crow: may face problems of divided loyalty
• Beanpole family

  • Extended vertically with 3 ore more generations
  • Brannen describes it as 'long and thin'