Families Flashcards

Question

What methods did Delphy and Leonard (1992) use to do their research?

Answer 1

- They used unstructured or in-depth interviews - They observed how individuals interacted with one another in their homes using non-participant observations - They used information from existing research on families

Answer 2

- Delphy & Leonard are radical feminists who used qualitative research methods to investigate the idea of the symmetrical family - They view the family as a patriarchal institution that men benefit from, as women are expected to do unpaid work inside the home - Unpaid work includes cooking, cleaning, shopping and less obvious tasks (such as booking medical appointments and sending birthday cards) - Wives are exploited as their work is undervalued, their husbands profit from their labour, and they remain financially dependent on them - The family is based on a hierarchy - The patriarchal family upholds men's dominance over women and children, which in turn upholds societies' patriarchal structure

Answer 3

The family is based on a hierarchy: - Other family members occupy lower positions, with the husband at the top - The husband provides for his wife's upkeep and controls her labour for his own use - She has no money of her own - Even when women have well-paid, full time employment, they still have the dual burden of doing most of the domestic work and childcare - Time at home for men is leisure time, whereas for women it is also work time

Answer 4

- Delphy and Leonard do not consider egalitarian families that share power between their members - Marxist approaches argue that inequalities within families is linked to capitalism rather than patriarchy - Functionalists see the structure of the family as meeting the needs of individuals (including females) and society

Answer 5

Additional criticisms of the family include: - Concern regarding the decline in traditional family values - The idea that a normal family type is made up of a married couple bringing up their biological children - Social changes such as the increase in marital breakdown, divorce and lone-parent families - These changes undermine the functions of the family, according to functionalists, and threaten the stability of society as a whole if the family can't fulfil its functions - The isolation of the nuclear family from the wider kinship networks and its loss of contact with the wider family - The loss of traditional functions (such as education, economic production) that families once carried out, which have now been transferred to other agencies like the education system - The functionalist perspective's unrealistic idealisation of the nuclear family - It ignores dysfunctional families in which domestic violence and abuse occur

Answer 6

A couple who are married, civil partners or cohabiting, with or without dependent children, or a lone parent with their child(ren)

Answer 7

A household contains either one person living alone or a group of people who live together at the same address - They may share facilities such as a bathroom - It could consist of a nuclear family or same-sex family - It could consist of a group of students who live in a shared house - Individuals in a household aren't necessarily related by blood or marriage

Answer 8

- Nuclear families - Extended families - Beanpole families - Reconstituted families - Same-sex families - Lone-parent families

Answer 9

A family containing a father, mother and their child(ren), where parents are married or cohabiting. Two generations live together in the same household. Also known as a 'cereal packet' family.

Answer 10

A group of relatives extending beyond the nuclear family, which contains three generations living together in the same household. In modified extended families, members live apart but have regular contact and support.

Answer 11

Families with multiple generations of older people and few children in any one generation. In 4-generation families, the children's parents, grandparents and great-grandparents are all alive.

Answer 12

A blended or step-family in which one or both partners have a child or children from a previous relationship living with them.

Answer 13

One parent (usually mum) lives with their child(ren). This could be due to a couple's separation, divorce, the death of a partner, or a single woman bringing up a baby on her own.

Answer 14

A gay or lesbian couple (married, civil partner or cohabiting) live together with their child(ren).

Answer 15

- **Changing social attitudes** and values have led to a greater acceptance of alternatives to living as a family, such as same-sex families or cohabiting - **Secularisation**, or the decline in religion, means that marriage isn't viewed as being as sacred as it used to be so new family types, such as the lone-parent family, are now seen as being socially acceptable - **Changes in the law** have made divorce easier to obtain, causing a rise in lone-parent, same-sex families and reconstituted/blended families - **Migration** to the UK has brought family traditions from other cultures, such as extended families

Answer 16

- one-person households - children's homes - residential care homes

Answer 17

- One-person households in the UK have increased significantly as people are living longer - Increased life expectancy means that there are more elderly, one-person households that typically contain older women whose partners have died - The influence of feminism and the changing role of women in society has led to more financially independent women living alone who are career-focused

Answer 18

- remain single and childless - are divorced - are international migrants who have moved to Britain - choose to live alone before marrying or cohabiting - choose to live apart from their partner

Answer 19

- Friends are increasingly becoming a source of emotional support rather than family - More friends than kin provided support to those with mental health issues, according to research by Roseneil and Budgeon (2006) - When romantic relationships ended, friends offered support instead of family - However, critics argue that many people turn to their family first when they need support and friends may be becoming more like family rather than replacing them

Answer 20

- In March 2015, local authorities looked after 69,540 children in England - Around 60% of these were looked after due to neglect or abuse - Around 75% of looked-after children are placed with foster carers and many others are placed in children's homes or secure units - Children's homes provide young people with accommodation and care - Some specialise in looking after children with behavioural or emotional difficulties - Secure units accommodate children who have committed a criminal offence

Answer 21

- Some older people live in residential care and nursing homes - In 2011, 3.2% of over 65s lived in care homes in England and Wales

Answer 22

Rapoport and Rapoport (1982)

Answer 23

Rapoport and Rapoport (1982) argue that families in the UK are changing - There is no longer a dominant norm regarding what family should be like - Today, people value their freedom to choose the kind of family life that suits them; therefore, the diversity of families we see today reflects the needs and desires of individuals in society - Diverse family types are just as functional and effective as nuclear families in performing essential functions for society The Rapoports reviewed previously published works by other sociologists and therefore used secondary sources in their research to develop the **five types of family diversity**

Answer 24

- Organisational diversity - Cultural diversity - Social class diversity - Life-course diversity - Cohort diversity (life cycle diversity)

Answer 25

- Families differ in their structures, the way their domestic division of labour is organised and their social networks - Examples of family structures include conventional nuclear families, reconstituted families and dual-worker families

Answer 26

- Families differ in their cultural values and beliefs - Different minority ethnic groups (such as South Asian, Cypriot or African-Caribbean heritage) illustrate this diversity in beliefs and values - These differences can affect people's lifestyles, ideas about gender roles, child-rearing and attitudes towards education For example: - African-Caribbean communities have a higher than average proportion of lone-parent families and Asian communities have lower than average - A relatively high percentage of extended families are found in the British Asian community

Answer 27

- Working-class families tend to favour conventional role relationships between husbands and wives - Middle-class family roles may be unequal due to the husband's demanding career - Social class also affects childrearing, as discipline is more physical among working-class parents

Answer 28

- The structure of a family changes depending on where in the life cycle the family is - Newlyweds without children, families with young children and retired couples in empty-nest families all have different lifestyles

Answer 29

- The particular time period in which a family passes through different stages of the family life cycle - e.g. Homosexuality has lost its social stigma so younger people may find it easier to live in same-sex families today compared to 40 years ago

Answer 30

Since this study, family diversity has further increased due to - Changes in social attitudes towards divorce - Changes in the law, such as the introduction of civil partnerships and same-sex marriages - Developments in reproductive technology like IVF or surrogacy

Answer 31

Cross-cultural studies show that different family types exist in different cultures - Communes - Kibbutzim - One-child family policy in China

Answer 32

- A group of people who share living accommodation, ownership of property and the division of labour, valuing equality and cooperation between members, such as an Israeli kibbutz - These small communities tend to share similar political or environmental beliefs, such as the Findhorn ecovillage community in Scotland, in which members avoid activities that might exhaust the earth’s natural resources - Members share the ownership of wealth and may follow certain religious beliefs, such as the Bruderhof Christian community in East Sussex

Answer 33

- Originally agricultural settlements set up by Jewish settlers in Palestine a century ago, now over 2% of Israel's population live in kibbutzim - A kibbutz is a group of people who live together communally and value equality between members - Children used to sleep separately from their parents and were looked after by a metaplet but now, children live with their biological parents up to age 15 - Children born in the same year are raised and educated together

Answer 34

- Introduced in 1979, couples living in cities in China were legally allowed to have just one child - If they had a second, they could face fines, demotion or dismissal from work - In 2016, this controversial policy ended and married couples in China could request government-issued birth permits for up to two children - Since 2021, married couples are now allowed to have up to to three children - These changes are due to China's ageing population so more young people are needed to provide the workforce of the future and to look after ageing relatives

Answer 35

Cultural diversity is due to migration - In the 19th century, migrants came from Ireland - After World War 2, there was migration from former colonies, e.g., India, Pakistan and parts of the Caribbean - Asylum seekers may move to another country to seek protection from persecution - Immigration takes place alongside emigration

Answer 36

Cultural diversity is associated with different patterns of family formation - Among those of African-Caribbean heritage, becoming a mother is not always associated with stopping full time work - Among those of Asian heritage, there is still some emphasis on being a full time mother - However, these patterns are changing among second-generation migrants

Answer 37

- In 2001, 10% of Bangladeshi and Pakistani homes in England and Wales had an extended family with three or more generations. - This contrasts with 3% of black Caribbean homes and 2% of white British and mixed households. - According to Qureshi et al. (2015) British Asians are often seen as committed to traditional, old-fashioned family life with low rates of divorce and lone-parent families - However, this pattern is changing

Answer 38

- Popular belief suggests that British Asian families are based on unequal, male-dominated relationships - This is challenged by sociologists who argue that this image of 'the Asian family' is based on prejudice - In reality, there are ethnic differences between people of Asian heritage in Britain according to their religion and social class - This makes it difficult to make generalisation about 'the Asian family' - Some sociologists argue that relationships within families vary according to social class - Popular belief suggests that working-class families are male-dominated - There is evidence to suggest that middle-class role relationships are more egalitarian or equal than working-class relationships - Some evidence suggests that working-class fathers are more involved in childcare than middle-class fathers

Answer 39

- Conjugal roles are the domestic roles of married or cohabiting partners (such as who is responsible for the ironing or the gardening) - Bott (1971) studied families using qualitative research methods such as in-depth interviews with husbands and wives in 20 London-based families with children under 10 years of age - She identified two different types of conjugal roles: -Segregated conjugal roles -Joint (integrated) conjugal roles

Answer 40

- In the home, tasks are assigned based on gender. Typically the husband repairs household equipment and does DIY, whilst the wife is responsible for the washing and cooking - Partners spend little free time together as they have separate interests and leisure activities and their own friends - There is a clear division of labour in the household - Financial decisions made by the husband - Roles are separate and unequal

Answer 41

- The husband and wife share many tasks (the husband may cook and clean on some days, and on other days, the wife will perform these tasks) - Partners spend much of their leisure time together and share interests and friends - There is no rigid division of labour in the household - Financial decisions shared by both partners - Roles are collaborative and equal

Answer 42

- During the early 20th century, conjugal roles were segregated as married women were expected to take responsibility for housework and childcare and their husbands were expected to be the breadwinner Women's roles differed according to their social class - Many working-class women had to go out to work in addition to having housework and childcare responsibilities (dual-burden) - Middle-class women were not expected to work but instead supervise household employees (such as the maid or the nanny) - Amongst both classes, husbands were expected to be the breadwinner and families were male-dominated

Answer 43

- Sociologists argue that families are changing as they move towards equality in conjugal roles and relationships - Conjugal roles are becoming more joint (integrated conjugal roles) rather than segregated

Answer 44

From a functionalist perspective, Parsons (1956) links sex roles within the family to its functions - In the nuclear family, the man takes the more **instrumental role** as the breadwinner - The woman takes the more **expressive role** as a housewife and mother, with responsibility for the household and for providing emotional support - These roles are important in the primary socialisation of children Parsons believed these roles were allocated based on biological differences between men and women - Childbearing means that women are attuned to build strong relationships with their children - Men's assertiveness leads them to instrumental direction in the workplace

Answer 45

Willmott and Young (1973) on the symmetrical family They are functionalists

Answer 46

- They studied families in London using large-scale social surveys, where nearly 2000 people took part in a structured interview - They also carried out a time budget study where participants were asked to complete a diary on the sequence, times and during of their activities - Using this primary data, they were able to compare how much time husbands and wives spent on domestic work - Only 411 people completed the diaries - Using the mixed methods approach, they were able to collect qualitative and quantitative data

Answer 47

- there is more equality between spouses - spouses perform different tasks but each makes a similar contribution to the home - leisure time is spent together and much more home-centred - decision-making is shared, including financial decisions (deciding whether to move house or buy a particular car is a joint decision) - The nuclear family is privatised

Answer 48

- Willmott and Young developed the principle of stratified diffusion to explain the changes in family life - Many social changes start at the top of the stratification system and filter downwards from the middle class to the working class

Answer 49

- The rise of feminism since the 1960s has changed women's attitudes towards education and work and caused them to reject the housewife role - Legal changes gave women more equality and status in the workplace, such as the Equal Pay Act (1970) and the Sex Discrimination Act (1975) - Effective birth control means women can decide whether and when to have children - Many women are financially independent due to entering the workplace, so they have more freedom, equality and status - Men are more likely to spend time at home and become more involved with their family - It is thought that men are more interested in DIY and home improvements than women - Advances in technology has led to more home-based leisure activities (such as playing computer games, watching sports, and streaming services like Netflix)

Answer 50

- Radical feminists Delphy and Leonard argued that family relationships involve economic exploitation as men benefit from the unpaid work of women inside the home - Liberal feminist Ann Oakley rejected the idea of the symmetrical family as she found little evidence of symmetry in her research - In 1974, she conducted 40 in-depth interviews with housewives who came from working- and middle-class areas of London Oakley found that: - women in paid work still had the main responsibility for housework - 15% of husbands were heavily involved in housework - 25% of husbands were heavily involved in childcare

Answer 51

Marxists believe that women and men have unequal roles because that structure supports capitalism. Women who stay at home doing unpaid housework and emotional work are supporting capitalist society because they are providing healthy, happy workers

Answer 52

People's behaviour has not changed much, despite shifts in attitudes towards gender roles - Media stereotyping portrays women as primarily responsible for many domestic tasks - Men still typically do home repairs, but women are more likely to do the laundry - Women still feel they do more of the housework and caring for family members; there is an unequal gender division of labour in the family - A new man is possibly hard to find Today, both partners tend to work so there are more dual-earner households than before - This means that women now work a double shift by having a paid job and doing most of the housework and childrearing - Duncombe and Marsden argue women continue to be exploited as women work a triple shift where emotional work is added to domestic work and paid work

Answer 53

Feminist, Ann Oakley (1982) on the conventional family

Answer 54

- Oakley, a feminist, reviewed the work of other sociologists who had studied the family - She used this secondary data to provide a critical analysis of the conventional nuclear family, supported by relevant official statistics

Answer 55

According to Oakley, a nuclear family is a conventional family that reinforces patriarchal relationships - Women are expected to do unpaid work inside the home, while men are expected to do paid work outside the home - The man's economic power is linked to his income from paid work - The woman's dependence on the man's wages creates gender inequality, especially when children are young and women are stay-at-home mums - When women do work, it is usually in part-time, low-paying jobs where their earnings go towards paying bills Oakley believed the conventional family, although archaic, was still idealised even though it is no longer the dominant family form, especially among middle-class people who are considering alternative lifestyles - Dual-worker and lone-parent families are increasing - Some are choosing to live without families This might be the case because, despite popular belief, the conventional family can be stressful Mothers may suffer from depression, and men may develop health issues as a result of the pressure of providing for their families

Answer 56

One area of interest for sociologists is the distribution of power in conjugal relationships between partners - Within symmetrical families, Willmott and Young (1973) noted a rise in shared decision-making, including financial decisions - Alternatively, feminists Delphy & Leonard (1992) contend that because male dominance and the subjugation of women form the foundation of family life, the family is hierarchical and patriarchal Feminist Jan Pahl (1989) interviewed 102 married couples with dependent children and found that: - men have more power than women in relationships as they dominate decision-making - although more couples make shared decisions about spending the household income, in many marriages husbands control the finances - women and children sometimes live in poverty even though the man they live with has a good income

Answer 57

- Domestic violence (DV) is a form of power and control within families in which one partner is violent towards the other - It also covers abuse of older people, violence between siblings, and physical, psychological, or sexual abuse of children

Answer 58

Victim surveys, like the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), are used to gauge the extent of domestic violence, and they show that DV is often not reported to the police because: - men might be reluctant to disclose physical abuse they have received from a female partner - according to the victims, it is best handled in the privacy of the home - victims are afraid of the repercussions if reported to the police - victims believe the police can do nothing about it

Answer 59

- Children, beyond infancy, were not considered to have needs which differed from those of adults so the concept of childhood did not exist - Young children started working at a young age to support their families because they were viewed as 'mini-adults' who had the same responsibilities and skills as adults - Parental attitudes towards children were very different from today due to high death rates, which encouraged indifference and neglect towards infants

Answer 60

In the 19th century, children's experiences differed according to their social class -Middle-class children were often looked after by a nurse -Working-class children (boys more so than girls) were expected to work in paid employment in factories such as cotton mills and coal mines - Many girls were involved in unpaid work at home such as housework and childminding - The state began to provide education, but since many parents relied on their children's income, poverty may have prevented them from sending their children to school - According to Willmott and Young, childhood became officially recognised as a separate stage of life when children were legally required to attend school up to age 14 (Education Act, 1918)

Answer 61

- As a result of their increased rights and recognition of their views, families are becoming increasingly child-centred - Class differences still exist in that middle-class families are more likely to have democratic relationships with their children and involve them in major household decisions (such as moving house or where to go on holiday) - Parent-child relationships are emotionally closer and parents are more attentive due to smaller family sizes - The emphasis is less on punishment, obedience and parental authority and more on individual freedom - However, one could argue that these changes have created a 'toxic' childhood as children are increasingly isolated - Due to mobile phones and social media, parents are no longer able to control what their children have access to

Answer 62

- Young people are financially dependent on their families for longer, as the minimum school-leaving age was raised to 18 years in 2015 - Even though they may have part-time jobs, young people are legally limited in the number of hours they can work, and the national minimum wage is lower for those under 21 - Many young adults move back home to live with their parents, having originally moved away - They are known as boomerang kids who may return to the family home after university, a relationship breakdown or because of expensive housing - This, as well as youth unemployment, can lead to conflict within the family - However, children's dependence on the family can be questioned - Therefore, it could be argued that children contribute a great deal to their families (Scott, 2004)

Answer 63

As: - many children contribute to childcare and housework - some children help out in family businesses - some children are young carers for a family member, providing emotional and practical support - children of immigrant parents may be asked to translate for their parents

Answer 64

Young and Willmott (1957) studied family life in Bethnal Green in 1950s London and found that: - the extended family flourished among working-class families as many young married couples lived with one set of parents - family ties were strong and 43% of daughters had seen their mothers within the previous 24 hours In their later study, Willmott and Young (1973) found that the nuclear family had become more separated from the extended family because of: - increasing geographical mobility (moving to another area of the UK or country) - women's increasing involvement in paid work and growing financial independence reduced the need for a supportive extended family . - It could be argued that the wider, extended family is becoming less important in Britain and that family ties are weakening - However, due to cultural diversity, there is a relatively high percentage of extended families found in the British Asian community

Answer 65

Charles et al. (2008) studied families in Swansea between 1960 and 2002 and found that family members continue to depend on each other - There were high rates of in-person interactions between family members: - Grandparents regularly cared for their grandchildren, enabling young women to continue paid employment - Fathers helped adult children with home improvements - Adult children looked after their parents - Older grandchildren were involved in caring for their grandparents Geographical mobility impacted the support family members received, but it came in the form of telephone calls, visits and financial support

Answer 66

- The quality of parenting - Relationships between teenagers and adults - Care of disabled & elderly people - Arranged marriage

Answer 67

- The quality of parenting is one of the main factors affecting children's wellbeing - Children's **educational achievements** depend on the quality of the child-parent relationship - Parental involvement in with school is linked to children's achievement Reading ability is linked to the environment around them, such as: - having access to reading material in the family home - parents making time to read with their children - how often children see parents themselves reading Children's **social skills and relationships with peers** depend on the quality of the child-parent relationship - Parental warmth is important in developing children's social skills as a caring parent offers a model of empathy and helping behaviours that children may emulate - The development of children's social skills is largely dependent on the absence of conflict and control. This is because democratic parenting fosters the growth of self-control, initiative, motivation, and high self-esteem in children

Answer 68

- Some parents cannot control their teenage children: delinquent teens are likely to have been inadequately socialised into society's norms and values by their parents - Another concern is that some teenagers are parents themselves and may be unready to be parents - In dual-earner families, both parents may be engaged in full-time work, leaving less time for direct interaction with their teenage children, leading to strained relationships - Teenagers are increasingly spending more time social networking and online gaming, which parents may find difficult to regulate and set boundaries for - Parents often experience conflicting expectations as they are encouraged to foster independence in their children but they are also expected to protect and monitor them, leading to a rise in helicopter parenting

Answer 69

Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS, 2014) shows that life expectancy for men is 79.3 years and for women is 83 years

Answer 70

- NHS provision - advances in healthcare - improvements in nutrition - improvements in living and working conditions

Answer 71

- As a result, the UK has an ageing population, with an increasing percentage of older people and a declining percentage of children and young people - Women in beanpole families are likely to be under pressure as they may have the burden of caring for family members from different generations - The women are part of the sandwich generation because they are sandwiched between caring for younger and older generations - Class, gender and ethnicity affect an older person's independence, well-being and social life - These factors are linked to the availability of resources like savings, good health and access to care in their own home

Answer 72

- An arranged marriage is one in which parents or other family members choose a partner they believe will be suitable for their children - It is based on consent and the individuals' right to choose whether to accept the partner - They are common in countries such as Bangladesh, China, India and Japan.

Answer 73

- A forced marriage is not the same, as this is where one or both partners do not give their consent but the wedding goes ahead against their will - Forced marriages are illegal in Britain and forcing someone to marry carries a maximum prison sentence of 7 years

Answer 74

There have been many changes in family and household structures since the mid-1970s, including: - a decrease in children living in nuclear families headed by a married couple, but this is still the most common family type - Married or civil-partnered couple families accounted for 66% of families in 2023 (ONS, 2024) - an increase in children living in families headed by a cohabiting couple - 16.2% of children in 2021 compared to 14.2% in 2011 lived with a cohabiting couple - an increase in one-person households - an increase in families headed by a same-sex couple

Answer 75

- Both parents have paid employment outside the home and they both pursue an independent career - Also known as a neo-conventional or dual-breadwinner family with a symmetrical division of labour - They have increased due to the increasing proportion of married or cohabiting women in employment - Women may experience role conflict if the demands of their roles as parent and employee/employer clash

Answer 76

They have decreased in England and Wales from 631,000 to 544,000 between 2001 and 2011 (ONS, 2012) because: - the average age of women having their first baby is increasing, so older couples are more likely to stay together, reducing the chances of incorporating step-children into the family - lone parents tend to have 'live apart together' relationships, which do not count as blended families in the census data

Answer 77

In 2023, 85% of lone-parent families were headed by a mother (a matriarchal family)

Answer 78

They have increased since the 1970s because: - divorce rates are increasing as legal changes have made it easier to divorce - moral standards are slipping in society, causing fatherless families who depend on welfare benefits, according to the New Right - women are less economically dependent on men due to changes in the labour market Changes in social attitudes towards family and marriage as: - people have more freedom to choose the type of relationship they want - it is more socially acceptable for single women to have children without a partner due to new technologies (IVF)

Answer 79

Fertility refers to the average number of children that women between the ages of 15 and 44 have

Answer 80

- Fertility rates are declining as women born in the UK are having fewer children than 30 years ago The average number of children per woman in England and Wales was: - 2.0 in 1920 - 1.91 in 1967 - 1.49 in 2022 Additionally, women are having children later in life The average age of mothers at childbirth in England and Wales was: - 26.7 in 1970 - 28.5 in 2000 - 30.9 in 2021

Answer 81

- Economic factors - Labour market uncertainty (Due to job market uncertainty, people may delay having children during global recessions) - Later marriage (People have been marrying later since the 1970s, which has caused women to put off having children) - Women's increased participation in higher education and paid employment - Effective birth control methods - Contemporary factors

Answer 82

- During the 19th century, parents relied on their children's income so tended to have larger families - There is no longer much financial incentive to have children - in fact, the opposite is true - It is estimated that parents in the UK spend an average of around £3760 per child annually on essentials such as food, clothing and entertainment

Answer 83

- Women no longer accept that having children and being a mother should be a woman's primary responsibilities - Due to legal changes, women now have more options than they did 35 years ago in terms of education and employment

Answer 84

Women have more control over their fertility due to: - the introduction of the contraceptive pill in the 1960s - deciding whether and when to become pregnant - the availability of legal abortion

Answer 85

More recent factors affecting fertility rates include: - skyrocketing childcare costs - the housing crisis - poor availability of IVF on the NHS - the cost of living crisis - poorly paid employment - the climate crisis

Answer 86

- Monogamy - Serial monogamy - Bigamy - Polygamy - Polygyny - Polyandry - Arranged

Answer 87

Being married to one person at a time, which is the accepted form of marriage in the UK.

Answer 88

When a divorced person remarries, then divorces and remarries, and so on; therefore, marriage is not considered a lifelong commitment.

Answer 89

Marrying when already married to another person, which is a criminal offence in the UK.

Answer 90

When a person has more than one spouse at the same time, which is legal in some countries (such as Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Cameroon).

Answer 91

When a man has two or more wives at the same time, which was acceptable in the Mormon religion until 1890. It is more prevalent in Africa than on any other continent.

Answer 92

When a woman has more than one husband at the same time. It is practiced among Tibetans in rural areas of Nepal and parts of China.

Answer 93

- The declining number of marriages - People are getting married later - Civil partnerships and same-sex marriage - Increase in births outside of marriage - The increase in cohabitation

Answer 94

The number of marriages in the UK has fallen, suggesting it is no longer important as it once was - In 1972, there were 480,000 marriages - In 2011, just over 286,600 marriages took place - In 2019, there were 219,850 marriages

Answer 95

In contrast to the 1970s, a growing number of people are delaying marriage until later in life, which is probably the result of: - the changing role of women due to increased opportunities in the workplace to establish a career - This means that women have less need for support from men due to their own financial independence - increased educational opportunities as young people are spending a longer time in full-time education - changing social attitudes as there is less stigma attached to living together without being married than in previous years

Answer 96

- In the UK, legal recognition of same-sex relationships dates back to the Civil Partnership Act of 2004, where: -16,106 civil partnerships were formed in 2006 -6276 civil partnerships were formed in 2013 -6876 civil partnerships were formed in 2022 - Although the number of civil partnerships has increased in recent times, the proportion of people in civil partnerships as a percentage of the population has been decreasing - Marriages of same-sex couples were introduced in 2014, which could explain the 70% decline in civil partnerships from 2013 to 2014 - In 2015, over 9000 same-sex couples converted their civil partnership to marriage, suggesting that marriage is still considered to be important

Answer 97

- Births outside of marriage became common during the 1960s and 1970s - The following statistics show that births occurring outside of marriage are no longer stigmatised and are now socially acceptable in the UK: -In 1988, 25.2% of births happened outside marriage -This increased in 2006 to 43.7% -In 2022, 51.4% of births were outside marriage - A high proportion of unmarried mothers were cohabiting with their child's father at the time of the child's birth

Answer 98

- The proportion of people cohabiting in the UK has doubled over the last 20 years - Some people cohabit without expecting the relationship to last long-term - Some consider cohabitation an alternative to marriage as it is a cheaper option as the average cost of a wedding in Britain is now over £20,000 - Some couples see cohabitation as a gateway to marriage, as it allows them to save up for their wedding - The increase in cohabitation is linked to secularisation and shifting perceptions of premarital sex, which is no longer regarded as 'sinful' - It is also a result of changing social attitudes, as cohabitation is seen as more socially acceptable within some social groups

Answer 99

In England and Wales, the number of divorces per year has risen since 1945, although there have also been decreases: - The number of divorces peaked in 1993, when there were 165,018 divorces - In 2012, there were 118,140 divorces - In 2022, there were 80,057 divorces Statistics on divorce do not reveal the extent of empty shell marriages

Answer 100

A marriage in which the couple lives together even though the marriage has broken down

Answer 101

- Changes in the law - Changing social attitudes and values - Secularisation - Changes in the status of women - Media influence

Answer 102

- Legal changes have made divorce easier, quicker and cheaper to obtain - In 1971, the Divorce Reform Act (1969) was implemented in England and Wales, allowing for the use of "irretrievable breakdown of marriage" as a basis for divorce in situations involving adultery, desertion, separation, or unreasonable behaviour - Before a divorce could be requested, the Matrimonial Causes Act of 1973 required a marriage to last for three years; however, legislation in 1984 shortened this period to one year - When legal aid became available, getting a divorce was less expensive up until 2013, when changes to legal aid funding limited availability - The Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act (2020) was changed in April 2022 to allow for 'no fault' divorces so that couples can divorce without blaming each other or giving a reason for divorce

Answer 103

- Since the 1960s, attitudes have changed, making divorce less stigmatised and more socially acceptable within particular social groups - Celebrity divorces are frequently reported by the media, as well as those involving members of the Royal Family

Answer 104

- The idea that religion is losing its influence in society - Many people are choosing to have a civil ceremony in a registry office or somewhere else rather than a church wedding - This means that fewer people take sacred vows before God, which has weakened the religious barrier to divorce

Answer 105

- Improved opportunities mean that more married women are less economically dependent on their husbands as they earn their own income and therefore do not have to remain in an empty shell marriage - Welfare benefits are available to mothers with young children to help support their family should they divorce - But even after a divorce, women with small children who work low-paying jobs or receive inadequate welfare benefits may face financial difficulties

Answer 106

- Individuals have high expectations of marriage as the media tends to emphasise romantic love, chemistry and mutual attraction in relationships - If a person's marriage is not fulfilling, they are more likely to file for divorce because these expectations might not accurately reflect the day-to-day realities of married life - There is more positive media coverage of divorce reform

Answer 107

There are consequence for family members, the extended family and for the structure of family - Changes to family structure - Financial hardship - Remarriage - Relationship breakdown and emotional distress

Answer 108

- There are more reconstituted/blended families - It could be challenging for certain family members to live in a reconstituted family since they might need to get used to new behavioural expectations - On the other hand, there are more people available to show love, care, and emotional support, so it might be beneficial - There may be logistical issues related to co-parenting, as most children live with their mother after a divorce and struggle to keep in regular contact with their father - It is estimated that between 33 and 50% of divorced fathers gradually lose all contact with their children

Answer 109

- Divorce leads to changes in financial circumstances after assets like property are divided, so adults have to manage with less money coming into the home - After divorce, lone parents with dependent children are more likely to live in poverty - They might also struggle to balance the responsibilities of their paid jobs with their personal lives

Answer 110

Remarriage is declining in England and Wales - Between 1995 and 2000, 19% of all marriages were remarriages - In 2013, this decreased to 15% Divorced people may remarry for the following reasons: - They continue to believe in the institution of marriage and hope their second marriage works out - Divorcees with young children may want a partner to help them raise their children - People remarry for companionship and love

Answer 111

- There may continue to be disputes over parenting and property after divorce - Relationship breakdown between parents means that the children's relationship with their father suffers if they are living with their mother - The father's parents may see less of any grandchildren who live with the mother in a reconstituted family - Pressure groups such as Fathers4Justice (F4J) campaign to raise awareness of the treatment of fathers following divorce - They point out that fathers do not have a legal right to contact with their children - For some, the emotional consequences are positive, as circumstances may have changed for the better Those going through divorce experience emotional distress, which can worsen if people's social networks change - Men are more likely to lose emotional support after divorce if their friends and kinship networks change - Women are more likely to have their own support networks

Answer 112

- Feminists see a high divorce rate as desirable because it shows that women are breaking free from the oppression of the patriarchal nuclear family - Although there has been an increase in mothers in the workplace, there has been no corresponding increase in fathers' domestic contributions, and women continue to bear the overwhelming responsibility for child rearing - According to Kate Millett, women file for divorce 69% of the time, supporting the idea that marriage is a patriarchal institution that exploits women and benefits men

Answer 113

Functionalists, such as Parsons, argue that a high divorce rate is not a threat to the institution of marriage because the high rate of remarriages shows that marriage remains popular and is still seen as an 'ideal' to which people aspire; they just have higher values and expectations from it - Ronald Fletcher argues that people expect more out of marriage and family life than they used to - He says that couples are no longer prepared to be part of empty-shell marriages as they attach more value to marriage than in the past - Marriage is important to ensure the health and survival of society - Marriage is still seen as very important in British Asian family life - Royal weddings and celebrity weddings are frequently reported by the media

Answer 114

Marxists view the family and marriage as beneficial to the capitalist economic system - Divorce could be a result of a lack of resources, such as money and time, and frustration of men experiencing exploitation and oppression at work, which is usually taken out of the wife - This may explain the higher rates of divorce among the working class Hart contends that shifts in the economy have led to high divorce rates because they have required women to work double shifts, which has increased their discontent - Therefore, divorce is positive as it allows individuals (particularly women) to be personally fulfilled

Answer 115

The New Right see a high divorce rate as undesirable because it undermines marriage and the traditional nuclear family, which is vital to developing children into stable, functioning adult members of society - A high divorce rate creates an underclass of welfare-dependent female lone parents who are a burden on the state - Divorce leaves boys without the adult male role model they need - Divorce results in poorer health and educational outcomes for children

Families Flashcards

(139 cards)