Aspects of and reasons for family and
household diversity: trends in marriage
23 October
00:26
UK - traditionally monogamous- now UK moving towards social trend known as serial monogamy.
CHANGE: 1970s most weddings religious ceremonies but that became a minority in 2012- civil
ceremonies in approved buildings or hotels
FACTS AND FIGURES
-peak of marriage in 1970s - 470,000 compared to 262,000 in 2012
-being postponed to later ages among recent generations.
-An increasing proportion of marriages in 2012 were remarriages
Aspects of and reason for family household
diversity: trends in cohabitation
Couples that live outside of marriage or in a civil partnership
25 October
12:42
Office of national statics :
80% of couples who marry have cohabited with each other
Cohabitation accounts for 16.4 % of all UK families.
Beaujouan and Ni Bhrolchain (2011)
Cohabitation before marriage may actually strengthen the martial relationship and make it less likely
to break down into divorce.
Young and poor couples may cohabit as it helps then because of their low-paid jobs and it helps then
to leave the parental home by sharing living costs such as renting property.
Explanations for changing patterns in
marriage, cohabitation and singlehood
25 October
12:57
FOUR MAIN REASONS
Changing social attitudes
Decline in family values
Individualisation
Changes in women's roles
and attitudes
Changing Social Attitudes 1
, 1960s extremely conservative attitudes as society subscribed to fairly rigid ideas about
morality as religion was very influential.
Sex b4 marriage and children out of marriage - social and moral disapproval.
-'shotgun weddings' couples 'forced' by both parents to marry because of the potential
embarrassment or shame if pregnancy happened outside of marriage.
CHANGE: Conservative attitudes disappeared - replaced with liberal attitudes towards
homosexuality, sex before marriage, having children outside of marriage etc.
The decline in family values
-steep decline in Christian beliefs and practises
-cohabitation and family diversity now the norm
Families no longer expected to conform to the tradtional nuclear family ideal.
OPPOSITION New Right thinkers Patricia Morgan - gay marriage and the
number of babies born outside marriage are symptoms of a
decline in morality and the failure of the government and state
policies to safeguard traditional family values. ---Labour
government 1997-2010 Gordon Brown abolished the married
couple's tax allowance.
Individualisation
Beck and Beck Gernsheim (1995) - late modernity is individualisation meaning people put
their needs first and foremost.
People have become selfish and driven by desire to avoid personal risk and to put their own
interests b4 the interests of society.
Pursuing looser, less risky intimate arrangements such as singlehood
Anthony Giddens transformation of intimacy and love
People no longer seek traditional romatic love
'confluent love' replaced romantic love - individuals only emotionally invest in one another
so long as they see a constant return from that love.
Therefore people attracted to short-term relationships or affairs because these contain and
return on intimacy that they crave.
May agree on cohabitation as it is risk free, but not marriage as it is too 'risky'
Jamieson's research (2002) - no immediate advantage for themselves in getting married &
cohabitation allowed them to test whether they wanted to commit to others.
Confluent love important as a test whether intimacy could be sustained & returned over a
period of time.
-question commitment
, Changes in women's role and attitudes
Feminists - 'legalised form of prostitution' as patriarchal institution aimed at the
social control of women.
Sue sharpe- marriage and family life fallen well behind education & career as
priorities
COUNTER
Families headed by marriage = most common family type in UK today… 67% (12.5 million) of
the 18.6 million families that do exist.
Surveys clearly show that most people see marriage as the ultimate goal
Aspects of and reasons for s and household
diversity: trends in divorce
26 October
10:16
kim at 02/04 11:24
Divorce has had five profound effects on family life.
Legal ending of marriage
'empty shell marriage' - live together no intimacy - may be sinful or shameful if separated
by community. Financial reasons, sake of children or maintain appearance.
Divorce rate increase In uk & wales - 5.9 in 1974 - 14.2 in 1994
COUNTER - fell to 9.8 in 2013 its lowest level in 40 years only 42% of marriage ends in
divorce.
Divorce legalisation in England and Wales
The 1857 Matrimonial Causes Act - three matrimonial offences or grounds for divorce:
adultery, cruelty and desertion
The 1949 Legal Aid and Advice Act - financial help was made available to help with the high
financial costs of divorce.
The 1969 Divorce Reform Act - reduced expenses of divorce
COUNTER - 1996 family law act - increased amount of time a couple had to be married
before seek divorce from one year to 18 months, introducing a 'period of refection'
household diversity: trends in marriage
23 October
00:26
UK - traditionally monogamous- now UK moving towards social trend known as serial monogamy.
CHANGE: 1970s most weddings religious ceremonies but that became a minority in 2012- civil
ceremonies in approved buildings or hotels
FACTS AND FIGURES
-peak of marriage in 1970s - 470,000 compared to 262,000 in 2012
-being postponed to later ages among recent generations.
-An increasing proportion of marriages in 2012 were remarriages
Aspects of and reason for family household
diversity: trends in cohabitation
Couples that live outside of marriage or in a civil partnership
25 October
12:42
Office of national statics :
80% of couples who marry have cohabited with each other
Cohabitation accounts for 16.4 % of all UK families.
Beaujouan and Ni Bhrolchain (2011)
Cohabitation before marriage may actually strengthen the martial relationship and make it less likely
to break down into divorce.
Young and poor couples may cohabit as it helps then because of their low-paid jobs and it helps then
to leave the parental home by sharing living costs such as renting property.
Explanations for changing patterns in
marriage, cohabitation and singlehood
25 October
12:57
FOUR MAIN REASONS
Changing social attitudes
Decline in family values
Individualisation
Changes in women's roles
and attitudes
Changing Social Attitudes 1
, 1960s extremely conservative attitudes as society subscribed to fairly rigid ideas about
morality as religion was very influential.
Sex b4 marriage and children out of marriage - social and moral disapproval.
-'shotgun weddings' couples 'forced' by both parents to marry because of the potential
embarrassment or shame if pregnancy happened outside of marriage.
CHANGE: Conservative attitudes disappeared - replaced with liberal attitudes towards
homosexuality, sex before marriage, having children outside of marriage etc.
The decline in family values
-steep decline in Christian beliefs and practises
-cohabitation and family diversity now the norm
Families no longer expected to conform to the tradtional nuclear family ideal.
OPPOSITION New Right thinkers Patricia Morgan - gay marriage and the
number of babies born outside marriage are symptoms of a
decline in morality and the failure of the government and state
policies to safeguard traditional family values. ---Labour
government 1997-2010 Gordon Brown abolished the married
couple's tax allowance.
Individualisation
Beck and Beck Gernsheim (1995) - late modernity is individualisation meaning people put
their needs first and foremost.
People have become selfish and driven by desire to avoid personal risk and to put their own
interests b4 the interests of society.
Pursuing looser, less risky intimate arrangements such as singlehood
Anthony Giddens transformation of intimacy and love
People no longer seek traditional romatic love
'confluent love' replaced romantic love - individuals only emotionally invest in one another
so long as they see a constant return from that love.
Therefore people attracted to short-term relationships or affairs because these contain and
return on intimacy that they crave.
May agree on cohabitation as it is risk free, but not marriage as it is too 'risky'
Jamieson's research (2002) - no immediate advantage for themselves in getting married &
cohabitation allowed them to test whether they wanted to commit to others.
Confluent love important as a test whether intimacy could be sustained & returned over a
period of time.
-question commitment
, Changes in women's role and attitudes
Feminists - 'legalised form of prostitution' as patriarchal institution aimed at the
social control of women.
Sue sharpe- marriage and family life fallen well behind education & career as
priorities
COUNTER
Families headed by marriage = most common family type in UK today… 67% (12.5 million) of
the 18.6 million families that do exist.
Surveys clearly show that most people see marriage as the ultimate goal
Aspects of and reasons for s and household
diversity: trends in divorce
26 October
10:16
kim at 02/04 11:24
Divorce has had five profound effects on family life.
Legal ending of marriage
'empty shell marriage' - live together no intimacy - may be sinful or shameful if separated
by community. Financial reasons, sake of children or maintain appearance.
Divorce rate increase In uk & wales - 5.9 in 1974 - 14.2 in 1994
COUNTER - fell to 9.8 in 2013 its lowest level in 40 years only 42% of marriage ends in
divorce.
Divorce legalisation in England and Wales
The 1857 Matrimonial Causes Act - three matrimonial offences or grounds for divorce:
adultery, cruelty and desertion
The 1949 Legal Aid and Advice Act - financial help was made available to help with the high
financial costs of divorce.
The 1969 Divorce Reform Act - reduced expenses of divorce
COUNTER - 1996 family law act - increased amount of time a couple had to be married
before seek divorce from one year to 18 months, introducing a 'period of refection'
