Changes in the Family

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  • Created by: ash8642
  • Created on: 25-04-19 19:10

Marriage

  • Fewer people marrying
    • Lowest rates since 1920s
    • 2005 - less than half the number of first-time marriages in 1970
  • More re-marriages
    • 2005 - 4 in 10 had one or more partner previously married
    • Serial monogamy
  • People marrying later
    • Women = 30
    • Men = 32
  • Change in venue
    • Less marrying in Church - 35% in 2005
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Marriage

Reasons for Change

  • Social attitudes
    • Acceptance of co-habitation
    • Having children out of wedlock
  • Secularisation
    • Influence of religion has dwindled
    • 3% non-religious vs 17% religious
  • Freedom of Women
    • Less economically dependent
    • Increased choice/options
  • Fear of divorce
    • Remain unmarried to avoid divorce
    • Beck + Giddens/Postmodernism
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Co-Habitation

  • Fastest growing type in the UK
    • 3.3 million in Britain
  • 'Young Person's Game'
    • 88% 18-42-year-olds think it's alright
    • 40% of over-60s think it's alright
  • Secularisation
    • Less religious influence
    • Not living in sin
  • Freedom of women
    • Less financially dependent
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Co-Habitation

Evaluation

  • Chester
    • Process towards marriage
  • Coast
    • 75% expect to marry each other
  • Bejin
    • Viable alternative arrangement
    • Create more personalised/equal relationships
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Same-Sex Couples

  • 5-7% of couples are same-sex (2012)
  • Legal changes
    • Decriminalisation of male homosexuality
    • Same-sex marriages (2014)
  • Social attitudes
    • More tolerance of same-sex
    • Adopt 'traditional' relationships
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Single-Parent Families

  • Make up 22% of families with children
    • 90% female-headed
    • Pre-1990s - generally divorced women
    • Post-1990s - single (never married) women
  • Dependency culture
    • Children are twice as likely to be in poverty
    • 60% of single-parents are unemployed
    • Murray - married to the system
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