Changing Family Patterns

Since the 1960s there has been a great increase in the number of divorces in the UK with the number doubling between 1961 and 1969. Since the mid 1990s the numbers have fallen due to the fact fewer people are marrying in the first place but the rate was still 112,000 in 2012 which was 6 times higher than in 1961 meaninh 40% of all marriages end in divorce

65% of petitions for divorce now come from women but in 1946 only 37% came from women. Some couples are also more likely to divorce such as those who marry young, have a child before they marry etc

Explanations for the increase in divorce

1. Changes in the law

Before 1857 divorce was virtually non existent but gradually changes in the law have made divorce easier by equalising the grounds for divorce between the sexes in 1923, widening the grounds for divorce in 1969 and making divorce cheaper in 1949. Divorce rates have risen with each change in the law

In addition to divorce couples can find other solutions to an unhappy marriage including Desertion where one person leaves the other but they remain married, Legal separation where a court separates the financial affairs but they remain married and an Empty Shell marriage where a couple lives together but remain married in name only. However, as divorce becomes easier to obtain these solutions have become less popular

2. Declining stigma and changing attitudes

In the past divorce and divorcees have been stigmatised, such as Edward VIII's marriage to divorcee Wallis Simpson which made him abdicate due to the church condemning divorce and refusing to marry divorcees. Since the 1960s there has been a rapid decline in the stigma attached to divorce so it becomes more socially acceptable so more couples are willing to resort to it

3. Secularisation

Religious institutions and ideas are losing their influence and society is becoming more secular shown with church attendance rates continuing to decline. As a result of this people are less likely to be influenced by religious teachings opposing divorce so make their own personal decisions. In addition many churchs have softened their views on divorce

4. Rising expectations of marriage

Fletcher argues that the higher expectations people place on marriage today is a major cause in rising divorce rates. This is linked to the dominant ideology of romantic love which is shown through films and books so if love dies there is no longer any justification for remaining married. In the past by contrast, individuals often married into families based on social status so they had lower expectations about marriage as a romantic union

Despite today's high divorce rates Functionalists say most adults marry and remarry after divorce showing people don't reject marriage as an institution but Feminists argue that the oppression of women within the family is the main cause of divorce which is why more women than men file for divorce

5. Women's increased financial independence

Women are more likely to seek divorce due to improvements in their economic position making them less reliant on a man. Women today are more likely to be in paid work increasing from 53% in 1971 to 67% in 2013, the Equal Pay Act has narrowed the pay gap, girls' increasing success in education rewards them with better jobs and welfare benefits also assist women. These developments mean that women are more likely to be able to support themselves in the event of a divorce

6. Feminist explanations

Feminists argue that married women today bear a dual burden. This has created a new source of conflict leading to a higher divorce rate. They argue that change in the family has been limited with patriarchy still existing. Hochschild says both partners working leaves less time for the emotion work needed to address marital issues resulting in more divorce

7. Modernity and individualisation

In modern society, traditional norms such as the duty to remain with the same partner for life lose their hold over individuals. As a result, people are free to persue their own self interest which is called the individualisation thesis. Relationships therefore become more fragile as instead people are looking for what Gidden calls the pure relationship, one that exists solely to satisfy each partner's needs and not out of sense of tradition resulting in higher divorce rates

The rising divorce rate also normalises it and individualisation is encouraged through the expectation that women work too which can cause conflict in the home resulting in more divorces

The meaning of a high divorce rate

• The New Right - They see divorce as undesirable as it undermines marriage and the nuclear family which is needed for social stability. They say that divorce has caused an underclass of welfare dependent lone mothers who are a burden on the state and fail to adequate their children properly
• Feminists - They see divorce as desirable as it shows women are breaking free from the oppression of the patriarchal nuclear family
• Postmodernists - They see divorce as showing that individuals have the freedom to choose to end a relationship when it no longer meets their needs resulting in greater family diversity
• Functionalists - They say that divorce isn't a threat to marriage because it is simply the result of people's higher expectations of marriage
• Interactionists - They say that we cannot generalise about the meaning of dovirce as every individual's interpretation of it is different

Marriage

• Fewer people are marrying with rates at their lowest since the 1920s
• There are more re-marriages as in 2012 1/3 of all marriages were re-marriages for one or both partners leading to a pattern of serial monogamy
• People are marrying later with the average age of marriage for a woman being 30, an increase of 7 years between 1971 and 2012
• Couples are less likely to marry in church

Reasons for changing patterns of marriage

• Changing attitudes to marriage - There is now less pressure to marry with a widespread belief that the quality of a couple's relationship is more important than its legal status
• Secularisation - The churches are in favour of marriage but as they lose their influence people feel freer to choose not to marry. Only 3% of young people were married 
• Declining stigma attached to alternatives - Cohabitation, remaining single and having children outside of marriage are now regarded as acceptable
• Changes in the position of women - Women now have better educational prospects so are less economically dependent on men so choose not to marry
• Fear of divorce - People are put off marrying due to the increased likelihood of marriage ending in divorce

Cohabitation

• Cohabitating couples with children are a fast growing family type, consisting of 1.9 million children in 2013
• 1 in 8 adults are now cohabitating
• 1/5 of all those cohabitating are serial cohabitants 
• There is 69,000 same sex cohabitating couples

Increased cohabitation rates are a result of the decline in stigma attached to sex outside marriage. The young are more likely to accept cohabitation and increased career opportunities for women mean cohabitation is more easier as well as secularisation meaning people don't see marriage as a necessity

Chester argues for most people cohabitation is part of the process of getting married with 75% of cohabiting couples say they expect to marry eachother. Many see cohabitation as a trial marriage so therefore a temporary phase particularly in cases where people are awaiting divorces

Some couples do see cohabitation as a permanent alternative to marriage as they see it as being a more equal relationship than the patriarchal marriage and this is shown with the fact that women who cohabit do less housework than those married

Same-sex relationships

5-7% of the populaton today have same sex relationships but it is impossible to judge whether this is an increase because in the past stigma and illegality meant that these relationships were hidden. There is increased social acceptance now with male homosexual acts being decriminalised in 1967 and increased tolerance shown through social policies. In 2004 same sex couples could enter a Civil Partnership and since 2014 they have been able to marry

Weeks argues that increased social acceptance explains a trend towards same sex cohabitation. He sees them as creating families based on the idea where friendships become a type of kinship network with this being chosen families where they offer the same security as hetereosexual families. Same sex couples have had to negotiate their commitment more than married couples until recently with same sex marriages

One person households

• There has been a big rise in the number of people living alone with 3/10 households in 2013 containing only one person
• 40% of all one person households are over 65
• By 2033 over 30% of the adult population will be single

The increase in separation and divorce has created more one person households, particularly with men under 65 as following a divorce their children are more likely to live with their mother. The decline in people marrying and the trend towards marrying later mean more people are living alone

1 in 10 adults are living apart together where they are in a significant relationship but are not living together. People in these relationships often choose this to remain a sense of independence and a sense of fear that it is too early to cohabit

Childbearing

• 47% of children are now born outside of marriage but in most cases the parents are cohabiting
• Women are having children later
• Women are now having fewer children, 1.94 in 2010
• More women are remaining childless

Reasons for the increase in births outside marriage include a decline in stigma and increase in cohabitation. Only 28% of 25-34 year olds now think that marriage should come before parenthood. The later age women are having children, smaller family sizes etc reflect that many women wish to establish a career before having a family

Lone-parent families

• Lone parent families make up 22% of families with children
• 90% are headed by lone mothers
• Until the 1990s divorced women were the bigget group of lone mothers but single women are now the biggest group
• A child living with a lone parent is twice as likely to be in poverty

The number of lone parent families has risen due to an increase in divorce and an increase in the number of women having children outside of married. This is linked to the decline in stigma attached to births outside of marriage. Most are female headed because the belief that women have the nurturing role and courts usually give women custody of their children. Many lone mothers are single by choice too as Renvoize found that professional women were able to support their child without the father's involvement

Murray and the New Right sees the growth of lone parent families as resulting from an over generous welfare system providing benefits. He argues that this has created a perverse incentive and a dependency culture in which people assume that the state will provide for them so his solution is to abolish benefits. However, critics argue that most lone parent families are likely to be in poverty due to inadequate benefits and the cost of childcare preventing employment

Stepfamilies

• Stepfamilies account for 10% of all families and are similar to first families but often face problems like divided loyalties

Stepfamilies are formed when lone parents form new partnerships. In 85% at least one child is from the woman's previous relationship because women often take custody of their children. Stepfamilies are at greater risk of poverty because there are more children to support and the men might have further children to support 

Black families

Black pople have a higher proportion of lone parent households - in 2012 51% were lone parent families. The high rate of female headed lone parent black families is often seen as evidence of family disorganisation that can be traced back to slavery. Under slavery when couples were sold separately children stayed with the mother and this pattern often persists today. Male unemployment can also result in marital breakdown due to being unable to provide for the family. However, Mirza argues that instead it places a high value on female independence

Asian families

Asian households tend to be larger and many are extended families due to Asian culture and to provide an important source of support during the migration of 1950s and 1960s. Most households today are often nuclear with relatives living nearby however

Whilst the extended family may have declined, it has not entirely disapperared. Instead, Willmott argues that it continues to exist as a dispersed extended family where relatives are geographically separated but maintain contact through visits and phone calls

The extended family survives because it performs important functions for iys members with Bell finding that both working class and middle class families had emotional bonds; among the middle class there was more financial help from father to son and in the working class there was more domestic help from mothers to daughters. This suggests the importance of the beanpole family which is extended vertically but not horizontally as with brothers and sisters there had been a decline in support and contact

Many people still feel a sense of obligation to help with their wider extended kin but Finch & Mason found that more is expected of females than males such as caring for elderly relatives