Divorce

Question 1

What does divorce refer to

Answer 1

The legal ending of marriage

Question 2

Do all martial end in divorce, what are alternatives to it

Answer 2

No they don’t
Some couples prefer to just merely separate from each other. Some may continue to live in a ‘empty shell marriage’ - which is where the couple are together but don’t engage in intimacy
Or they stay together for financial reasons or the children

Question 3

Why might couples resort to an ‘empty shell marriage’

Answer 3

Divorce or separation might be regarded as extremely shameful or sinful by the community or because they are followers of religion that doesn’t morally approve of divorce

Question 4

Statistic on the number of divorces per thousand married population

Answer 4

It has been increasing
From 5.9 in 1974 to 14.2 in 1994 (its peak)

Between 1995 and 2000 it fell to 12.7, but rose to 14 in 2004

However in 2013 it fell back to 9.8

Question 5

What year was age Matrimonial Causes Act identified

Answer 5

1857

Question 6

What did the Matrimonial Causes Act do

Answer 6

Identified three matrimonial offences or grounds for divorce: adultery, cruelty and desertion.
In order to gain a divorce one partner had to prove the other guilty of one of these offences, which often meant employing expensive barristers

Question 7

When did women gain the right to sue for divorce

Answer 7

1923 in the grounds of only adultery

Question 8

What year was the Legal Aid and Advice Act

Answer 8

1949

Question 9

What did the Legal Aid and Advice Act do

Answer 9

It meant that financial help was made available to help with the high financial costs of divorce

Question 10

What year was the Divorce Reform Act and when did it become effective

Answer 10

1969 and became effective in 1971

Question 11

What did the Divorce Reform Act do

Answer 11

Dramatically changes access to divorce. It reduced the expense of divorce as it took away the need for one partner to prove the other partner guilty.
The act awarded divorce is both partners agreed that the marriage had ‘irretrievably broken down’ after a two year separation.

Question 12

What did some sociologists speculate the rise in divorces that occurred after the Divorce reform act was linked to

Answer 12

The decline of the working-class extended family

Question 13

What do Parsons and Bale (1995) argue

Answer 13

That the nuclear family became ‘privatised’ and isolated from extended kin during the 1950s, which meant couples were less likely to be under pressure from their kin to stay together.
Extended kin acted as a social control agency and helped prevent martial breakdown

Question 14

What does Leach (1967) claim

Answer 14

That nuclear families were like ‘over-loaded electrical circuits’ and that there was too much pressure on couples to fulfil all of each others emotional needs.
This pressure led to conflict and divorce

Question 15

How did secularisation become a reason for divorce

Answer 15

The rapid decline in religious attendance and beliefs between the 1960s and 1990s led to divorce being viewed as a ‘necessary evil’ rather than as a source of shame and social stigma

Question 16

What is a major influence on divorce

Answer 16

The changing role of women in society

Question 17

How did the Divorce Reform Act help women

Answer 17

Prior to the act, men started divorce petitions. But now 65% of divorces are initiated by wives who are unhappy with some aspect of their marriage

Question 18

What is the difference between wives in the 1960s and wives now

Answer 18

Wives now are more likely to go out to work and are less likely to be financially dependent on their husbands

Question 19

What is some evidence that the attitudes of women towards marriage has rapidly changed

Answer 19

Wives in the past probably tolerated domestic violence, mens emotional incompetence and inequalities in the domestic division of labour as martial ‘norms’.
Evidence suggests that women today see such male behaviour as justifiable grounds for initiating divorce

Question 20

Define division of labour

Answer 20

The way work is divided up among members of a social group

Question 21

What does evidence suggest about expectations of marriage

Answer 21

That society’s attitude towards divorce have shifted because both men and women now have higher expectations of marriage

Question 22

What does Fletcher (1996) argue

Answer 22

That both sexes now expect marriage to be based on companionship, underpinned by mutual love and support and couples are no longer prepared to tolerate loveless marriage

Question 23

Are marriages more likely to survive now than thirty years ago, and why

Answer 23

Yes
Because people are marrying at a much more mature age and usually after a period of cohabitation - these strengthen the marriage and allows couples to iron out any difficulties before marriage

Question 24

What do Beck and Beck-Gernsheim (1995) argue

Answer 24

That divorce rates increased because of the growing trend towards individualisation which means people have become more self orientated. They suggest that marriage often leads to chaos as the selflessness expected in love and marriage clashes with the self-interest of individualisation

Question 25

What does Giddens (1992) suggest

Answer 25

That divorce has resulted from the transformation of intimacy which resulted from the gradual replacement of romantic love with confluent love