Families and Households - topic 2 changing family patterns: marriage Flashcards
Give nine effects of the changing family structure?
Increase in stepfamilies
More people living alone
More births outside of marriage
Rise in same sex families
More lone-parents
Couples are cohabiting
Number of nuclear families has fallen
Couples with less children than before
Delaying marriage
What does monogamy mean?
Legally, men and women can only be married to one wife or husband at any one time.
What is serial monogamy?
This is where people re-marry due to divorce or a death of a spouse.
Compare the success of a second marriage to a first marriage?
Second marriages are more likely to be successful than first marriages according to statistics if one or both partners are remarrying they have a 31% chance of divorce, compared to 45% if it is both partners’ first time.
What is bigamy?
Bigamy is the act or condition of marrying one person while still being legally married to another.
What are the three forms of polygamy?
polygyny (a man has multiple simultaneous wives),
polyandry (a woman has multiple simultaneous husbands),
polyamory (or group marriage, wherein the family unit consists of multiple husbands and multiple wives)
Changes in number of marriages 1972/1991/2009
1972 – 480,000 marriages
1991 – 350,000 marriages
During the period of 1971 to 1991 divorce rates more than doubled
2009 - 231,490 marriages
Ethnic variations: Berthoud (2000): What is the percentage of marriages in british asian communities like?
three-quarters of Pakistani and Bangladeshi women are married by the age of 25.
This probably reflects powerful expectations of British Asian Communities.
Ethnic variations: Berthoud (2000): Where are extended families more common?
Extended families more common in South-Asian and East-African Asian communities, such as Pakistan, Bangladesh and India.
Ethnic variations: Berthoud (2000): Asian vs british household size?
Families tend to be larger. South Asian families have 4.4 persons per household respectively, compared with 2.4 for both Black Caribbean and White British.
Ethnic variations: Ballard (1982): What role do the extended family play in asian families?
Extended family ties provided additional support among Asian migrants in the 1950s and 1960s.
Greater value placed on extended family ties.
Although families are more nuclear, relatives lived nearby for frequent visiting, kinship networks and for a source of support.
Ethnic variations: Ballard (1982): What are the rates of marriages among british african carribean
British African Caribbean’s are the group least likely to get married - only 39% of African Caribbean adults under the age of 60 were in formal marriage.
They also have a higher rate of lone-parent families. In 2012, just over half of families with dependent children headed by a Black person were lone-parent families.
This is in comparison with one in ten white mothers
Ethnic variations: Berthoud: What does modern individualism emphasise?
the idea that emphasises choice and independence rather than commitment based on duty or a marriage certificate.
Ethnic variations: Berthoud: Why does he suggest African Carribean Women don’t marry as much?
African Caribbean women probably rationally weigh up the costs and benefits of living with the fathers of the children and conclude that African Caribbean men are unreliable as a source of family income and are potentially a financial burden.
Could be due to ‘family disorganisation’.
During slavery, men were separated from their female partners and children
Male unemployment and poverty means that Black men are unable to provide for a family, resulting in higher rates of desertion or marital breakdown.
Give 7 reasons marriage rates are declining?
Women don’t need to marry to secure financial stability.
Greater educational and employment opportunities.
People like to take more risks and not follow ‘safe patterns’ of how to live
Fear of future divorce which could cause future stress and turmoil.
Weddings have become too expensive. According to Brides Magazine, the average British wedding now comes to a total of around £24,000 (2015)
Decline in stigmatisation. In 1989, 70% believed couples who want children should get married but by 2012 only 42% thought so
Society has become more secular. Only 3% of those with no religion are married.
