Family 6

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FAMILY DIVERSITY 

Patterns of marriage:

  • In 1972 there was a record number of 480,000 couples marrying in the UK. Since then there has been a steep decline with the lowest being in 2009 with 231,490 couples. 
  • In 1972 the mean age for marriage was 24.9 (men) 22.9 (women) however now the average age is 32.4 and 30.3. 
  • 3/4 Pakistani and Bangladeshi women married by age 25. 
  • 88% of over 40s are married.
  • New Right sociologist Morgan expressed concerns over declines in marriage as it shows a breakdown in typical family ideology. Rector argues this is due to state policies such as the welfare state, meaning women no longer need to depend on marriage for finance and so are becoming married to the welfare state. 
  • Feminists see the decline in marriage as a positive thing, with marriage now being seen as a more equal affiar and people are prepared to delay marriage for the perfect partner. 
  • 40% of marriages are remarriages meaning that although divorce rates are rising, marriage is still a popular social institution. 

Cohabitiation:

  • In 2012 there were 5.9 million cohabiting couples in the UK, which had doubled since 1996. 
  • In 2012 39% of cohabiting couples had dependant children compared to 38% of married couples. 
  • In 1938 only 4% of babies had unmarried parents compared to 47.5% in 2012. 
  • New Right sociologist Morgan sees cohabitiation to be responsible for the decline in marriage rates and sees it as being a 'marriage lite' as it is less stable than a marriage. 
  • Beaujouan et al argues this with the fact that 2/3 of couples 25-44 have cohabitied and hence is becoming a first step to strengthening marriage- which is still seen as the main cultural goal. 
  • Murphy analyesed data and found that children who had cohabiting parents did worse in school, left education earlier and were at a higher risk of developing illness. 

One parent families:

  • In 1961 only 2% of households were made up of one parent , however by 2012 25% of households were one person. 
  • In 2012 91% of SPFs were headed by women- which is culturally expected in the UK and often enforced when mothers are most likely to be given care of children in the case of divorce. 
  • Haskey identified a fast growing group of single female parents who have never married or cohabitied made up of middle class career women who chose to have children later and bring them up alone. 
  • The New Right see this type of family as 'broken' with parents selfishly putting their own needs ahead of those of their children. They also critisise children growing up without a lack of a father figure with the traditional dicisipline role. They believe mothers are attracted to being SPFs due to a rise in

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