Marriage

• Explanations for Decrease in Marriages:

  > secularisation

  > decline in stigma to alternatives

  > changing position of women

  > fear of divorce
• Marriage - Secularisation:

  > the decline in the influence of the Church means that people no longer feel they should get married for religious reasons

  > people are freer to choose what type of relationship they enter into
• Marriage - Decline in Stigma to Alternatives:

  > cohabitation, remaining single and having children outside of marriage are now regarded as acceptable - in 1989, 70% believed that couples who want children should get married, compared to 42% in 2012

  > expectations of marriage are changing
• Marriage - Changing Positions of Women:

  > many women are now financially independent from men because of better education and career prospects

  > this gives them greater freedom to not marry

  > the growing impact of feminism, and the view that marriage is an oppressive patriarchal institution, may dissuade women from marriage
• Marriage - Fear of Divorce:

  > the fear of divorce, and the experience of seeing or going through a divorce has led to some people rejecting marriage