Marriage and households

• Family types

  extended family

  beanpole family

  traditional nuclear family

  neo conventional family

  same sex famillies

  single person households

  modified extended family

  commune family

  patriarchal family

  matriarchal family

  symmetrical family

  reconstituted family

  lone parent family
• Newbold et al 2008

  'a household refers to a person living alone or a group of people living together who may or may not be related to eachother'

  for example a group of students are a household but not a family
• Robert and Rhona Rapoport 1982

  Rapoports identified that the nuclear family was no longer the dominant family in the UK. Instead the family had evolved into a range of alternatives.

  They celebrated this diversity as they believed people can now choose the type of family life they wish to lead
• Robert Chester 1985... a critique of the rapoports

  the nuclear family is the most common

  many single parent families began as a nuclear family

  many people are singletons, however they will eventually marry

  many who are single were married

  cohabiting couples tend to marry

  according to Chester, family diversity has been exaggerated
• nuclear family

  a family consisting of an adult male and female with one or more children, own or adopted
• extended family

  a family containing relatives in addition to the nuclear family
• monogamy


  marriage involving 2 adults one of each sex
• polygamy

  system of marriage involving 2 or more husbands or wives
• polygyny

  marriage involving 2 or more wives
• polyandry

  marriage involving 2 or more husbands
• Murdock 1949, is the family universal


  functionalist view

  studied 250 societies ranging from small hunting to large scale industrial societies

  "the family is a social group characterised by common residence, economic cooperation and reproduction. it includes adults of both sexes, at least two of whom maintain a socially approved relationship, and one or more children, own or adopted of the sexually cohabiting adults"
• types of marriage

  polygyny

  monogamy

  serial monogamy

  polyandry

  forced marriage

  arranged marriage

  polygamy
• marriage patterns

  fewer people are marrying. in 2005 there were 170,800 first marriages, less than half the number of 1970

  however there are more remarriages. in 2005 4 out of 10 marriages were re marriages

  couples are less likely to marry in a church. in 1981, 60% of weddings were conducted with religious ceremonies. in 2005 this dropped to 35%.

  people are marrying later
• reasons marriage patterns have changed over the last 50 years


  changing attitudes towards marriage

  secularisation

  declining stigma to alternatives to marriage

  impact of feminism

  change in the position of women

  the expense of a marriage

  fear of divorce
• marriage and age

  the average age for men to marry is 32 and 29 for a woman

  young people are spending longer time in full time education

  younger people choose to cohabitate before they marry
• the relationship between marriage and cohabitation

  cohabitation is used as a trial marriage

  Robert chester 1985 said that cohabitation is the process of getting married

  coast 2006 found that 75% of cohabiting couples expect to marry each other

  cohabitation is a temporary phase because one or both partners are awaiting a divorce

  Morgan 2003 sees it as part of a trend in which marriage is going out of fashion

  cohabitation is in part the reason for the increase in sexual partners
• Andre behjin 1985- cohabitation is used as an alternative to marriage


  argues that cohabitation among some young people represents a conscious attempt to create a more personally negotiated and equal relationship than conventional patriarchal marriage
• new right views on marriage

  in favour of marriage but against cohabitation

  marriage between two heterosexual couples is the cornerstone of civilised society

  cohabiting couples are more likely to split up. if they have children this will lead to single parent families

  more benefits are needed for married couples
• feminism views on marriage

  most feminists are not against marriage but they do see marriage as favouring men more than women

  feminists like the idea of cohabitation before marriage. women can 'check the man out'
• Divorce

  The legal termination of marriage
• who tends to divorce

  young people(teenagers)

  young pregnant couples

  the working classes

  those from a family who have experienced a divorce

  mixed ethnic couples

  mixed religion couples

  mixed class couples
• why do couples divorce

  changes in law

  declining stigma and changing attitudes

  secularisation

  rising expectations

  changes in the position of women
• 1857 matrimonial causes act


  grounds for divorce included adultery, cruelty and desertion but you needed proof
• 1969 divorce reform act


  grounds for divorce were irretrievable breakdown
• 1984 matrimonial and family proceedings act


  couples could divorce after one year
• 1999 family law act

  increased amount of time before a divorce could proceed to 18 months. also introduced compulsory marriage counselling
• secularisation


  the decline in influence of religion in society
• declining stigma in divorce

  become normalised

  Mitchel and goody 1997 note that an important change since the 1960s has been the rapid decline in the stigma attached to divorce
• rising expectations of marriage

  fletcher 1966 argues that we now place too high expectations on our marriages which is why so many of us end up getting divorces

  higher expectations make couples nowadays less willing to tolerate an unhappy marriage
• Graham Allan and graham crow 2001


  love, personal commitment and inartistic satisfaction are now seen as the cornerstones of marriage. the absence of these feelings is itself justification for ending the relationship
• willmott and young 1950s, the symmetrical family

  studied working class extended families in east London and found a distinct pattern of segregated conjugal roles, however they argue that families are gradually becoming more of a 'partnership of equals'. this has lead to them coining the term 'the symmetrical family'

  1973, published their ideas that families are slowly becoming more equal and democratic. MARCH OF PROGRESS

  increase in integrated conjugal roles
• impact of industrialisation

  willmott and young say industrialisation has become more equal

  • new technology 'labour saving devices'
  • increased employment activities
  • higher standard of living
  • weaker gender identities
  • geographical mobility
• feminism vs conjugal roles

  reject march of progress view

  men and women remain unequal within the family and women still do much of the housework

  W+Y exaggerated findings

  patriarchy is rife!

  Oakley 1974- 15% of husbands had high part in housework, 25% high level in childcare. no evidence of symmetry, not enough participation

  only based on 40 women, may not be representative
• The dual burden

  The Dual Burden:

  It might be argued that women, despite entering PAID

  EMPLOYMENT are still expected to do the UNPAID DOMESTIC WORK.... this is known as the DUAL BURDEN.

  Ferri & Smith (1996) Out of a sample of 1,589 parent couples, less than 4% of fathers took the main responsibility for child care. (approx 64 couples out of the total sample).

  Morris (1990) found that even in partnerships where only the woman works, there husbands still did less housework than there wives (Perhaps due to anxiety. over their masculinity).
• the triple shift

  duncombe and marsden 1995

  women having 3 roles

  1. employment
  2. domestic work
  3. emotional work
• silver and schor

  the commercialisation of housework means women are doing less housework. goods and services are available that make housework easier and or more redundant

  the increase in employed women means that they can afford these goods and services
• gillian dune 1999

  dune looked at lesbian households and found that they were more likely to share housework and childcare responsibilities
• decision making

  edgell 1980 found that men are more likely to make the important decisions

  hardhill et al 1997 conducted a similar study and found that actually decisions are more equal between couples
• pahl 1989: financial control


  interviewed 102 couples who both earned

  in most couples(39), money was shared but the husband had financial control. pahl called this husband controlled pooling and this occurred predominantly in higher class families

  In other couples (29) wife controlled pooling was common, where money was shared but the wife controlled spending.

  In the remaining 14 couples women controlled the finances and spending.

  No real evidence of symmetry.