Topic 2-Divorce

Divorce- Legal dissolution of marriage

• Divorce statistics:

- No. of divorces each year rose from 27,000 in 1961 to a peak of 180,000 in 1993

-1974= One divorce for ever four marriages, 2012= Two divorces for every four marriages- Shows fewer people getting married

- Dramatic increase in divorces

- Divorce statistics don't show: No. people who are separated but not divorced. No. people who live in "Empty shell marriages"- Marital relationhip broken down, couple continue to live together. No divorce

• Reasons for increase in divorce rate- CHANGES IN LAW

- The Divorce Law Reform Act 1969- Made divorces easier and cheaper to get 

- The Matrimonial Act 1984- Increase in No. of divorces in 1984 and 1985- Men and women have equal rights- Steep rise in 1970's and 1980's

• Reasons for increase in divorce rate- CHANGES IN SOCIETY

- Increasing life expecatancy- More time for marriages to go wrong

-Change role in women- Welfare benefits. Less willing for patriarchal nature of marriages, Employement norm- financial dependence. Two thirds of divorce- Initiated to & granted to women

-Reduced functions of family- Rising expectations of marriages- Functionalists= Parsons- Women demand more in relationship

-Growing secularization- Gibson- Marriage has become less of a sacrificed commitment-Changing social attitudes- Greater indivdual freedom of choice- Gidden-CL gained in significance, less likely to be with undesirable partners,Postmodernist= Beck- Gernsheim- DR product of growing individualization