Changing Family Patterns

Question 1

alternatives to divorce: 3 key

Answer 1

• desertion
• legal separation
• ‘empty shell’ marriage

Question 2

explanations for the increase in divorce:

Answer 2

1. changes in law
2. declining stigma and changing attitudes
3. secularisation
4. rising expectations of marriage
5. women’s increased financial independence
6. feminist explanations
7. modernity and individualism

Question 3

4 negative consequences of divorce:

Answer 3

1. emotional strain
2. lack of socialisation
3. emotional trauma
4. loss of childhood

Question 4

different types of partnerships:

Answer 4

• marriage
• civil partnerships
• civil ceremony

Question 5

cohabitation:

Answer 5

• relationship which involves an unmarried couple in a sexual relationship living together

Question 6

how has marriage changed?

Answer 6

• civil partnerships
• secularisation
• marriage at a later date
• increased cohabiting
• decline in marriage rates

Question 7

beanpole family:

Answer 7

particular extended family

Question 8

continuation: beanpole family

Answer 8

extended vertically: grandparents, parents and children

extended horizontally: not aunts, uncles and cousins

Question 9

childbearing:

Answer 9

child births that are mostly by cohabiting couples

Question 10

2 reasons for the pattern:

Answer 10

• divorce
• decline in stigma

Question 11

2 reasons for changes in childbearing:

Answer 11

• births outside marriage is due to a decline in stigma and a rise in cohabiting
• women are having children later due to them focusing on their careers

Question 12

3 reasons why lone parent families are generally headed by the women:

Answer 12

• women have the nurturing, expressive role
• divorce courts tend to usually give women the custody of the children to the mothers
• men be less willing than women to give up work to care for the children

Question 13

changes in patterns of marriages:

Answer 13

• fewer marriages
• increased marriages
• later marriages
• fewer church ceremonies

Question 14

explanations for the decrease in first marriages:

Answer 14

N: norms ( changes in attitudes, secularisation and decline in stigma:
- cohabiting are now acceptable and pregnancy are not the automatic response for ‘shotgun marriage’

Question 15

continuation:

Answer 15

w: women (feminism, independence, career aspects)
- better educational careers
- less economically dependence
- greater freedom to marriage

fear of divorce:
- some may see marriage as the likelihood of divorce due to the high divorce rate

Question 16

changing patterns of divorce: stats

Answer 16

• in (2018): 90,000 in the UK of opposite-sex couples and 428 same-sex couples
• in (1971): 74,000 divorces in the year Divorce Reform Act came into place

Question 17

reasons for increase in divorce: 5

Answer 17

1. changing attitudes to relationships
2. reduced stigma and secularism
3. increased life expectancy
4. changing gender roles
5. growing individualism in society

Question 18

changing patterns of family life: marriage and cohabiting

Answer 18

1. changing role of women in society
2. changing social attitudes
3. rising divorces and insecurity of relationships
4. changes to social institutions

Question 19

continuation:

Answer 19

2. Giddens’ ideas of confluent love and Baumen’s liquid love suggest that people will opt for serial monogamy over long-term relationships
3. marriage delay + fear of divorce
   increase in instability in relationships and society
   divorce rate decrease while re-marriages increase
4. process of secularisation has led people to see marriage as outdated and less stigma towards allternatives

Question 20

sociologist on divorce:

Answer 20

Fletcher (1966) argues that the higher expectations people place on marriage today is a major cause of rising divorce rates.
These higher expectations make couples less willing to tolerate an unhappy marriage, which in turn leads to increasing divorce rates.

Question 21

symbolic interactionism:

Answer 21

Davis Morgan (1996) argues we can’t generalise what divorce means because everyone’s interpretations are different.

Question 22

Feminists on divorce:

Answer 22

Women are more likely to initiate divorces, which suggests that marriage works less well for women than for men.