Year 1 Sociology
Families and Households
Family
Diversity
Mrs Chaimowitz – Yavneh College – Page 1
, Before the lesson: Reading on Family Diversity
DIVORCE
Changing patterns of divorce
Since the 1960s, there has been a great increase in the number of divorces in the UK. The number of
divorces doubled between 1961 and 1969 and doubled again by 1972. The upward trend continued, peaking
in 1993 at 165,000.
One reason for the for the recent fall in divorces since the 1990s is that fewer people are marrying in the first
place and are choosing to cohabit instead.
About 65% of petitions for divorce come from women. This is in sharp contrast to the situation in the past.
For example, in 1946, only 37% of petitions came from women. The commonest reason for a woman to be
granted a divorce is the unreasonable behaviour of her husband.
Explanations for the increase in divorce
Changes in the law
o 3 kinds of changes in the law: (1) Equalising the grounds for divorce between the sexes, (2) Widening
the grounds for divorce and (3) Making divorce cheaper.
o When the grounds were equalised in 1923, there was a sharp rise in the number of divorce petitions
for women.
o Similarly, the widening of grounds in 1971 to ‘irretrievable breakdown’ made divorce easier to
obtain and produced the doubling of divorce rate almost overnight.
o The introduction of legal aid for cases in 1949 lowered the cost of divorcing.
o Couples can find other solutions to the problem of an unhappy marriage:
Desertion, where one partner leaves but the couple remain legally married.
Legal separation, where court separates the financial and legal affairs of the couple but
where they remain married they are not free to re-marry.
‘Empty shell’ marriage, couple continue to live under the same roof but remain married in
name only.
o However, as divorce becomes easier to obtain these solutions have become less popular.
Declining stigma and changing attitudes
o Stigma refers to the negative label or shame attached to a person, action or relationship.
o In the past, divorce was stigmatised. For example, churches tended to condemn divorce and often
refused to conduct marriages involving divorcees.
o Juliet Mitchell and Jack Goody note the importance reduced stigma attached to divorce since 1960s.
o As stigma declines and divorce becomes more socially acceptable, couples become more willing to
resort to it as a means of resolving their marital problems.
o The fact that it is now common begins to ‘normalise it’ and so it is no longer seen as shameful, but
rather a misfortune.
Secularisation
o This refers to the decline in the influence of religion in society. Many sociologists argue that religious
institutions and their ideas are losing influence, and society is becoming more secular.
o For example, church attendance rates continue to decline.
o As a result of secularisation, the traditional opposition of the churches to divorce carries less weight
in society and so less people take into account their views when making decisions.
o At the same time, many churches have softened their views on divorce.
Rising expectations of marriage
Mrs Chaimowitz – Yavneh College – Page 2
, o Functional sociologists such as Ronald Fletcher argue that higher expectations people place on
marriages make couples less willing to tolerate an unhappy marriage.
o This is linked to the ideology of romantic love – an idea that has become dominant over the last
couple of centuries – belief that marriage should be based solely on love. It follows that if love dies,
there is no longer any justification for remaining married, and every reason to divorce to renew the
search for one’s soul mate.
o In the past, by contrast, individuals had little say in who they married and so, people did not have
high expectations of marriage as romantic as it was often for a family duty. With these lowered
expectations, people were less likely to be dissatisfied by the absence of romance.
o Today however, marriage is not viewed as a binding contract, but as a relationship in which one
seeks fulfilment – encouraging couples to divorce if they don’t find it.
o However, despite the high divorce rate, fletcher takes an optimistic view – the high rate of re-
marriage after divorce shows that marriage is not rejected as an institution.
o However, feminist critics argue that the oppression of women within the family is the main cause of
marital conflict and divorce, but functionalists ignore this – they fail to explain why it is mainly
women that seek divorce over men.
Women’s increased financial independence
o Improvements in women’s economic position have made them less reliant on their husbands
financially and so they are freer to end an unhappy marriage.
o (1) Women today are much more likely to be in paid work. 53% in 1971 – 67% in 2013.
o (2) Equal pay and anti-discrimination laws have helped to narrow the pay gap.
o (3) Girls’ greater success in education now helps them to better-paid jobs than previous.
o (4) Availability of welfare benefits means women no longer have to be financially dependent on their
husbands.
o Allan and Crow put forward a similar view, they argue ‘marriage is less embedded within the
economic system’. There are fewer family firms and the family is no longer a unit of production, so
spouses are no longer dependent on each other economically.
Feminist explanations
o Feminists argue that married women today bear a dual burden: they are required to take on paid
work as well as performing domestic labour. For feminists, this has created a new source of conflict
which leads to a higher divorce rate.
o Whist there has been big improvements in women’s position in the public sphere of employment,
politics, education and more, feminists argue that in the private sphere of family and personal
relationships the change has been limited and slow. – they argue marriage remains patriarchal, with
men benefitting from women’s triple shift (domestic, paid and emotion work).
o Arlie Hochschild argues that at work, women feel valued but at home men’s continuing resistance of
housework is a source of frustration and makes marriage less stable.
o Also, the fact that both partners now go to work leaves less time and energy for the emotion work
needed to address the problems that arise – contributing to higher divorce rate.
o According to Wendy Sigle-Rushton, mothers who have a dual burden of paid work and domestic
work are more likely to divorce than non-working mothers in marriages with traditional labour
division.
o However, Cooke and Gash found no evidence that working women are more likely to divorce. They
argue that this is because working has become an accepted norm for married women.
o Radical feminists such as Jessie Bernard observe that many women feel a growing dissatisfaction
with patriarchal marriage. She sees the rising divorce rate, and the fact that most petitions come
from women, as evidence of their growing acceptance of feminist ideas: women are becoming more
conscious of patriarchal oppression and more confident about rejecting it.
Modernity and individualisation
o Sociologists such as Ulrich Beck and Anthony Giddens argue that in modern society, traditional
norms, such as the duty to remain with the same partner for life, lose their hold over individuals.
o This results in the individualisation thesis – individuals are free to pursue one’s self-interest.
Mrs Chaimowitz – Yavneh College – Page 3
, o Relationships thus become more fragile, as if the fulfilment is not there with a partner, one is more
willing to up and leave. Instead they seek Giddens ‘pure relationship’ – one that exists solely to
satisfy each partner’s needs and not out of duty or tradition. This results in higher divorce rates.
o Modern society also encourages individualism in other ways. For example, women as well as men
are now expected to work and are encouraged to pursue their own career ambitions.
o This can cause a conflict of interest between spouses and contribute to divorce.
The meaning of a high divorce rate
The new right
o See a high divorce rate as undesirable because it undermines marriage and the traditional nuclear
family, which they regard as vital to social stability.
o In their view – a high divorce rate creates a growing underclass of welfare dependent female lone
parents who are a burden on the state and leaving boys without a male role model etc.
o They believe this leads to poorer health and educational outcomes for children.
Feminists
o See a high divorce rate as desirable because it shows women are breaking free from the
oppression of the patriarchal family.
Postmodernists and the individualisation thesis
o See a high divorce rate as showing that individuals now have the freedom to choose and end a
relationship when in no longer meets their needs. See it as a major cause of family diversity.
Functionalists
o Argue a high divorce rate is not necessarily a threat to marriage as a social institution. Simply the
result of people’s higher expectations of marriage today. Higher rate of re-marriage shows the
commitment to the idea of marriage.
Interactionists
o Aim to understand what divorce means to the individual. David Morgan argues that we cannot
generalise about the meaning of divorce , because every individuals interpretation of it is
different.
PARTNERSHIPS
Marriage
Fewer people are marrying: marrying rates are at their lowest since the 1920s. in 2012, there were
175,000 first marriages for both partners – less than half the number for 1970.
However, there are more remarriages. In 2012, one third of all marriages were remarriages for one or
both partners, for many people this is leading to ‘serial monogamy’: a pattern of marriage-divorce-
remarriage.
People are marrying later: the average age of first marriage rose by 7 years between 1971 and 2012, when
it stood at 32 years for men and 30 years for women.
Couples are less likely to marry in church. In 1981, 60% of weddings were conducted with religious
ceremonies, but by 2012 this had fallen to 30%.
Reasons for changing marriage patterns
First marriages – many of the reasons for a fall in the number of first marriages are similar to the reasons
for the increase in divorce. They include:
o Changing attitudes towards marriage – there is less pressure to marry and more freedom for
individuals to choose the type of relationship they want. There is now a widespread belief that the
quality of a couple’s relationship is more important than its legal status. The norm that people
ought to be married is greatly weakened.
o Secularisation – the church is in favour of marriage but as their influence declines, people feel
freer not to choose marriage. According to the 2001 Census, only 3% of young people with no
religion were married, as against up to 17% of those with a religion.
Mrs Chaimowitz – Yavneh College – Page 4
Families and Households
Family
Diversity
Mrs Chaimowitz – Yavneh College – Page 1
, Before the lesson: Reading on Family Diversity
DIVORCE
Changing patterns of divorce
Since the 1960s, there has been a great increase in the number of divorces in the UK. The number of
divorces doubled between 1961 and 1969 and doubled again by 1972. The upward trend continued, peaking
in 1993 at 165,000.
One reason for the for the recent fall in divorces since the 1990s is that fewer people are marrying in the first
place and are choosing to cohabit instead.
About 65% of petitions for divorce come from women. This is in sharp contrast to the situation in the past.
For example, in 1946, only 37% of petitions came from women. The commonest reason for a woman to be
granted a divorce is the unreasonable behaviour of her husband.
Explanations for the increase in divorce
Changes in the law
o 3 kinds of changes in the law: (1) Equalising the grounds for divorce between the sexes, (2) Widening
the grounds for divorce and (3) Making divorce cheaper.
o When the grounds were equalised in 1923, there was a sharp rise in the number of divorce petitions
for women.
o Similarly, the widening of grounds in 1971 to ‘irretrievable breakdown’ made divorce easier to
obtain and produced the doubling of divorce rate almost overnight.
o The introduction of legal aid for cases in 1949 lowered the cost of divorcing.
o Couples can find other solutions to the problem of an unhappy marriage:
Desertion, where one partner leaves but the couple remain legally married.
Legal separation, where court separates the financial and legal affairs of the couple but
where they remain married they are not free to re-marry.
‘Empty shell’ marriage, couple continue to live under the same roof but remain married in
name only.
o However, as divorce becomes easier to obtain these solutions have become less popular.
Declining stigma and changing attitudes
o Stigma refers to the negative label or shame attached to a person, action or relationship.
o In the past, divorce was stigmatised. For example, churches tended to condemn divorce and often
refused to conduct marriages involving divorcees.
o Juliet Mitchell and Jack Goody note the importance reduced stigma attached to divorce since 1960s.
o As stigma declines and divorce becomes more socially acceptable, couples become more willing to
resort to it as a means of resolving their marital problems.
o The fact that it is now common begins to ‘normalise it’ and so it is no longer seen as shameful, but
rather a misfortune.
Secularisation
o This refers to the decline in the influence of religion in society. Many sociologists argue that religious
institutions and their ideas are losing influence, and society is becoming more secular.
o For example, church attendance rates continue to decline.
o As a result of secularisation, the traditional opposition of the churches to divorce carries less weight
in society and so less people take into account their views when making decisions.
o At the same time, many churches have softened their views on divorce.
Rising expectations of marriage
Mrs Chaimowitz – Yavneh College – Page 2
, o Functional sociologists such as Ronald Fletcher argue that higher expectations people place on
marriages make couples less willing to tolerate an unhappy marriage.
o This is linked to the ideology of romantic love – an idea that has become dominant over the last
couple of centuries – belief that marriage should be based solely on love. It follows that if love dies,
there is no longer any justification for remaining married, and every reason to divorce to renew the
search for one’s soul mate.
o In the past, by contrast, individuals had little say in who they married and so, people did not have
high expectations of marriage as romantic as it was often for a family duty. With these lowered
expectations, people were less likely to be dissatisfied by the absence of romance.
o Today however, marriage is not viewed as a binding contract, but as a relationship in which one
seeks fulfilment – encouraging couples to divorce if they don’t find it.
o However, despite the high divorce rate, fletcher takes an optimistic view – the high rate of re-
marriage after divorce shows that marriage is not rejected as an institution.
o However, feminist critics argue that the oppression of women within the family is the main cause of
marital conflict and divorce, but functionalists ignore this – they fail to explain why it is mainly
women that seek divorce over men.
Women’s increased financial independence
o Improvements in women’s economic position have made them less reliant on their husbands
financially and so they are freer to end an unhappy marriage.
o (1) Women today are much more likely to be in paid work. 53% in 1971 – 67% in 2013.
o (2) Equal pay and anti-discrimination laws have helped to narrow the pay gap.
o (3) Girls’ greater success in education now helps them to better-paid jobs than previous.
o (4) Availability of welfare benefits means women no longer have to be financially dependent on their
husbands.
o Allan and Crow put forward a similar view, they argue ‘marriage is less embedded within the
economic system’. There are fewer family firms and the family is no longer a unit of production, so
spouses are no longer dependent on each other economically.
Feminist explanations
o Feminists argue that married women today bear a dual burden: they are required to take on paid
work as well as performing domestic labour. For feminists, this has created a new source of conflict
which leads to a higher divorce rate.
o Whist there has been big improvements in women’s position in the public sphere of employment,
politics, education and more, feminists argue that in the private sphere of family and personal
relationships the change has been limited and slow. – they argue marriage remains patriarchal, with
men benefitting from women’s triple shift (domestic, paid and emotion work).
o Arlie Hochschild argues that at work, women feel valued but at home men’s continuing resistance of
housework is a source of frustration and makes marriage less stable.
o Also, the fact that both partners now go to work leaves less time and energy for the emotion work
needed to address the problems that arise – contributing to higher divorce rate.
o According to Wendy Sigle-Rushton, mothers who have a dual burden of paid work and domestic
work are more likely to divorce than non-working mothers in marriages with traditional labour
division.
o However, Cooke and Gash found no evidence that working women are more likely to divorce. They
argue that this is because working has become an accepted norm for married women.
o Radical feminists such as Jessie Bernard observe that many women feel a growing dissatisfaction
with patriarchal marriage. She sees the rising divorce rate, and the fact that most petitions come
from women, as evidence of their growing acceptance of feminist ideas: women are becoming more
conscious of patriarchal oppression and more confident about rejecting it.
Modernity and individualisation
o Sociologists such as Ulrich Beck and Anthony Giddens argue that in modern society, traditional
norms, such as the duty to remain with the same partner for life, lose their hold over individuals.
o This results in the individualisation thesis – individuals are free to pursue one’s self-interest.
Mrs Chaimowitz – Yavneh College – Page 3
, o Relationships thus become more fragile, as if the fulfilment is not there with a partner, one is more
willing to up and leave. Instead they seek Giddens ‘pure relationship’ – one that exists solely to
satisfy each partner’s needs and not out of duty or tradition. This results in higher divorce rates.
o Modern society also encourages individualism in other ways. For example, women as well as men
are now expected to work and are encouraged to pursue their own career ambitions.
o This can cause a conflict of interest between spouses and contribute to divorce.
The meaning of a high divorce rate
The new right
o See a high divorce rate as undesirable because it undermines marriage and the traditional nuclear
family, which they regard as vital to social stability.
o In their view – a high divorce rate creates a growing underclass of welfare dependent female lone
parents who are a burden on the state and leaving boys without a male role model etc.
o They believe this leads to poorer health and educational outcomes for children.
Feminists
o See a high divorce rate as desirable because it shows women are breaking free from the
oppression of the patriarchal family.
Postmodernists and the individualisation thesis
o See a high divorce rate as showing that individuals now have the freedom to choose and end a
relationship when in no longer meets their needs. See it as a major cause of family diversity.
Functionalists
o Argue a high divorce rate is not necessarily a threat to marriage as a social institution. Simply the
result of people’s higher expectations of marriage today. Higher rate of re-marriage shows the
commitment to the idea of marriage.
Interactionists
o Aim to understand what divorce means to the individual. David Morgan argues that we cannot
generalise about the meaning of divorce , because every individuals interpretation of it is
different.
PARTNERSHIPS
Marriage
Fewer people are marrying: marrying rates are at their lowest since the 1920s. in 2012, there were
175,000 first marriages for both partners – less than half the number for 1970.
However, there are more remarriages. In 2012, one third of all marriages were remarriages for one or
both partners, for many people this is leading to ‘serial monogamy’: a pattern of marriage-divorce-
remarriage.
People are marrying later: the average age of first marriage rose by 7 years between 1971 and 2012, when
it stood at 32 years for men and 30 years for women.
Couples are less likely to marry in church. In 1981, 60% of weddings were conducted with religious
ceremonies, but by 2012 this had fallen to 30%.
Reasons for changing marriage patterns
First marriages – many of the reasons for a fall in the number of first marriages are similar to the reasons
for the increase in divorce. They include:
o Changing attitudes towards marriage – there is less pressure to marry and more freedom for
individuals to choose the type of relationship they want. There is now a widespread belief that the
quality of a couple’s relationship is more important than its legal status. The norm that people
ought to be married is greatly weakened.
o Secularisation – the church is in favour of marriage but as their influence declines, people feel
freer not to choose marriage. According to the 2001 Census, only 3% of young people with no
religion were married, as against up to 17% of those with a religion.
Mrs Chaimowitz – Yavneh College – Page 4
