Patterns Of Divorce

• •Divorce is a major cause for changing family patterns and greater family diversity.
• Why An Increase?

  •Changes in the law•Declining stigma and changing attitudes•Secularisation•Rising expectations in marriage•Changes in the position of women/women’s financial independence
• 3 Changes In The Law That Affect Divorce

  Equal Grounds, widening grounds and making divorce cheaper
• Declining Stigma And Changing Attitudes

  The church tended to condemn divorce and often refused to conduct marriage services involving divorcees.

  Mitchell and Goody (1997) note that an important change since the 1960s has been the rapid decline in the stigma attached to divorce

  As the stigma declines and divorce become more socially acceptable couples are more likely to see divorce as a means of solving marital problems. It has become normalised.
• Securalisation

  Many sociologists argue that religious institutions are losing their influence on society. They point to evidence such as church attendance being in decline•The traditional opposition of the church to divorce carries less weight in society•People are less likely to be influenced by religious teachings when making decisions.
• Rising Expectation Of Marriage (Flecher)

  The higher expectations people place on marriage today are a major cause of rising divorce rates. Higher expectations make couples less willing to tolerate an unhappy marriage.This is linked to the ideology of romantic love.
• Rising Expectations Of Marriage

  In the past individuals had little choice in whom they married.

  At the time when the family was a unit of production marriages were often out of duty to one’s family or for economic reasons.Under these circumstances people were less likely to have high expectations and were less likely to be dissatisfied by the absence of romance and intimacy
• Rising Expectations Of Marriage

  Flecher Takes an optimistic view of marriage.

  Marriage continues to be popular, most adults marry and the high number of re-marriages show that society has not rejected marriage as in institution.
• Critisms Of Flecher etc

  Feminists argue that the oppression of women within the marriage and family is the main cause of marital conflict and divorce and think that functionalists ignore this.

  Functionalists offer an explanation for the rise in divorce rate but do not explain why it is mainly women who petition for divorce.
• Changes In Their Position Of Woman

  Anti-discrimination laws have helped to narrow the pay gap

  Girls’ greater success in education how help them to pursue different careers

  Welfare benefits mean that women no longer have to remain financially depended on their husbands

  •One reason that women may seek divorce is due to improvements in their economic position.
• Allen + Crow Changes In Postion Of Women

  •Marriage less embedded in the economic system••Fewer family firms••Spouses not so financially interdependent••This means that they do not have to tolerate each other in the absence of love – more willing to seek divorce.
• Alternatives

  •Desertion – where one partner leaves the other but the couple remain legally married••Legal separation – when a court separates the financial and legal affairs of the couple but they remain married and are not free to re-marry••Empty shell marriage – the couple continue to live under the same roof but remain married in name only•