Changing family patterns

• Explanations for the increase in divorce


  1- changes in law

  2- decline in stigma

  3- secularisation

  4- rising expectations of marriage

  5- women's increased financial independence

  6- feminist explanation

  7- modernity and individualism
• 1969 Divorce Reform Act


  widening grounds of divorce to include 'irretrievable breakdown' rather than having someone at fault
• 1949 Legal Aid


  Made divorce cheaper so easier to access
• Allan and Crow


  Marriage is "less embedded within the economic system" so marriage is no longer required to have an income
• Feminist explanation for the increase in divorce rates


  Married women have a dual burden that acts as a source of conflict and many women feel a growing dissatisfaction with a patriarchal marriage
• Beck and Gidden's individualisation thesis


  tradition has lost influence over us so we value individual pursuits of interest so relationships become focused on satisfying needs and self interest rather than tradition
• Reasons for changes in patterns of marriage

  1- secularisation

  2- position of women

  3- fear of divorce

  4- re-marriage

  5- Age of marriage
• Reasons for increase in cohabiting couples

  1- decline in stigma attached to sex outside marriage

  2- Young more likely to accept cohabitation

  3- Increased career opportunities for women

  4- cost of marriage

  5- secularisation
• Chester's view of cohabitation


  For most people, it is simply part of the process before getting married, not a replacement of marriage
• Shelton and John


  Women who cohabit do less housework than married women
• Jeffrey Weeks - chosen families


  increased social acceptance leads to an increase in same-sex cohabitation which are 'chosen families' that offer security and stability
• Allan and Crow - chosen families


  Due to the absence of legal marriages until recently, same-sex partners negotiated commitments making them more flexible than heterosexual relationships
• Reasons for the increase in one person households

  1- increased separation and divorce

  2- decline in marriages and marrying later

  3- too few partners available in their age group, mostly older widows
• Duncan and Phillips - LATS


  living apart together

  2013 - found that 1 in 10 adults are LATs whohc is a trend towards 'families of choice
• Changes in childbearing

  Nearly 1/2 of all children are born outside marriage

  Women having children later, fewer children or remaining childless
• Lone parent family patterns

  1 in 4 children live in a lone parent family

  Over 90% are headed by women

  Twice as likely to live in poverty
• Charles Murray view of lone parents


  result of over generous welfare state, create a 'perverse incentive' and a 'dependency culture
• Stepfamily patterns


  In 85% of stepfamilies at least one child is from the woman

  Allan and Crow - may face divided loyalties and issues with contact with the other parent
• Black family patterns

  more lone parent families and more likely to be female headed

  Male unemployment and poverty means black men less able to provide for their families

  Black women place value on independence
• Asian family patterns


  tend to be larger and nuclear and place great value om extended family
• Willmott's dispersed extended family


  extended families that don't live together but maintain regular contact. They survive because it performs important functions such as financial support and domestic help and childcare
• Beanpole family


  multiple generations but only a few members in each one

  Result of increased life expectancy and smaller family sizes
• Finch and Mason


  over 90% of people had given or received financial help from extended family.

  Daughter more likely to be used as caregivers while sons more likely used for money.