changing in family patterns

Question 1

empty shell marriage

Answer 1

• couples who remain married and living together but no longer maintain an emotionally and / oh sexually intimate relationship

Question 2

secularisation

Answer 2

• decline in the influence of religion on culture and society

Question 3

divorce rate

Answer 3

• number of divorces per thousand men and women

Question 4

cohabitation

Answer 4

• unmarried couples who live together in an emotionally and / or sexually intimate relationship

Question 5

civil partnerships

Answer 5

• legally recognised union of a same-sex couple with rights like those of marriage (in some countries)

Question 6

serial monogamy

Answer 6

• when an individual has several marriages or long-term partners over their lifetime, but only one at a time

Question 7

reasons for changes in marriage patterns

Answer 7

• changes in attitudes and norms: less pressure to marry and more freedom to choose the type of relationship they want, quality of relationship seen as more important than its legal status (pure relationship)
• secularisation: decline in influence of religion leaves people with freedom to choose not to marry, in the past, to be married and not live together was seen as sinful
• decline in stigma of staying unmarried: cohabitation, remaining single and having children outside of marriage is now widely regarded as acceptable, so pregnancy no longer automatically leads to a shotgun wedding, for example in the 1980s 70% of people believe that couples who want children ought to get married compared to only 42% in 2012
• Changing position of women: radical change in female attitudes towards marriage and family life, shift in power from men to women, women no more career focused and may take longer to commit to a partner as they have higher expectations of men
• Fear of divorce: fewer people are likely to rush into marriage due to increased divorce rates and expensive marriage costs

Question 8

factors contributed to the increase in cohabitation

Answer 8

• changing attitudes towards sex: plastic sexuality, more people believe that sex outside of marriage is acceptable
• decline in social stigma: more socially acceptable for couples to live together without being married
• changes to mortgage applications: mortgage applications available to cohabitating couples whilst in the past only marry couples could get a joint mortgage, women now have the right to get their own home and have a mortgage
• financial independence of women: equal pay act, increased career opportunities for women means less need for financial dependence so free to opt for cohabitation = can support themselves

Question 9

civil partnership act, adoption and children act, marriage same-sex couples act (Weeks)

Answer 9

• enable the same-sex couples to obtain legal recognition of their relationship, giving them a new legal status, civil partners have equal treatment in a wide range of legal matters as a married couples (eg tax allowances, employment benefits, protection from domestic abuse, ability to apply for parental responsibility for your civil partner’s child)
• adoption and children act: right to adopt as a couple or single
• marriage (same sex couple) act: increasing marriages, could be officially married, cannot be married in a catholic church
• Weeks considers homosexual couples as creating families based on the idea of friendship, where friendships become a type of kinship network, he describes these as chosen families and argues that they offer the same security and stability as heterosexual families

Question 10

reasons for changed in single person / one person households

Answer 10

• the increase in separation and divorce: created more one person households because following a divorce children are more likely to live with their mother and their father is more likely to leave the family home
• the decline in numbers of marrying + the trends towards people marrying later: means that more people are remaining single, a growing number of people are opting for creative singlehood by deliberately choosing to live alone

Question 11

factors contributing to increase in divorce

Answer 11

• changes in law: divorce reform act, no legal to get a divorce, not based on sin anymore
• declining stigma and changing attitude: less people view divorce, negatively and wrong, less social pressure so people no longer feel judged for divorcing, more open minded
• secularisation: marriage not as religious as it used to be, less of an impact on divorcing
• rising expectations of marriage: higher expectations due to the media / pure relationships, women no longer take abuse from partners, aren’t trapped in the relationship as financially independent

Question 12

functionalist view on divorce

Answer 12

• higher divorce rates = simply a result of peoples higher expectations of marriage, high rate of remarriage shows commitment to the idea of marriage

Question 13

new right view on divorce

Answer 13

• higher divorce is undesirable, undermine the traditional nuclear family, creates underclass of dependent female loan parents, leaves boys without a male role model that they need

Question 14

feminist view on divorce

Answer 14

• sees high divorce rate as desirable, shows women are breaking free from oppression of patriarchal nuclear family

Question 15

PLP view on divorce

Answer 15

• divorce can cause problems such as financial difficulties and lack of daily contact with non-resident parent

Question 16

postmodern view on divorce

Answer 16

• higher divorce rates gives individuals freedom to choose to end a relationship when it no longer meets their needs, cause of greater family diversity