family patterns

Question 1

mitchell and goody

Answer 1

Declining stigma and changing attitudes

-since the 1960s has been the rapid decline in the stigma attached to divorce.
-As the stigma declines and divorce becomes more socially acceptable couples are more likely to see divorce as a means of solving marital problems. It has become normalised

Question 2

Beck and Giddens

Answer 2

Modernity and individualisation

Beck and Giddens emphasise the individualisation thesis where everyone is free to pursue his or her own self interest. This results in relationships becoming more fragile as people are unwilling to remain with a partner if the relationship fails to deliver personal fulfilment. Relates to women pursing careers, which can cause to conflict and then marital breakdown. Modernity encourages freedom and the pursuit of self interest, this can pull spouses apart

Question 3

hochschild

Answer 3

Hoschchild is a feminist who says a new source of conflict has been created by women’s dual burden and triple shift.
argues that for many women, the home compares unfavourably with work. At work, women feel valued. At home men’s continuing resistance to doing housework is a source of frustration and makes marriage less stable. As well as this, both partners now go out to work which leaves less time and energy for the emotion work needed to address the problems that arise

Question 4

Rushton

Answer 4

mothers who have a dual burden are more likely to divorce than non-working mothers in marriages with a traditional division of labour. But, where the husband of a working wife is actively involved with domestic work, the divorce rate is the same as for couples with a traditional division of labour

Question 5

Cooke and Gash (2010)

Answer 5

• found no evidence that working women were more likely to divorce.
  More divorces are petitioned by women, there are other reasons for the breakdown of a marriage e.g., meeting a new partner

Question 6

Fletcher

Answer 6

argued that the higher expectations people place on marriage today are a major cause of rising divorce rates. Couple are less willing to tolerate unhappy marriage. In the past we had little choice, lower expectations and a binding contract. Today we have higher expectations and personal fulfilment

Question 7

Mitchell and Goody

Answer 7

There is now less pressure to get married and more freedom for individuals to choose the type of relationship they want to have. There is now a widespread belief that the quality of a couples relationship is more important than its legal status. The norm that everyone out to get married has greatly weakened.

Question 8

coast

Answer 8

65% cohabitating couples say that they expect to marry each other.

Question 9

Bejin

Answer 9

argues cohabitation amongst some young people represents a conscious attempt to create a more personally negotiated and equal relationship than conventional patriarchal marriage

Question 10

Shelton and john (1993)

Answer 10

found that women who cohabit do less housework than their married counterparts

Question 11

Ferri and Smith (1998)

Answer 11

Found that stepfamilies are very similar to first families and the involvement of stepparents in childcare and childrearing is a positive one. However, they found stepfamilies are at greater risk of poverty

Question 12

Allen and Crow (2001)

Answer 12

Found that stepfamilies may face problems of divided loyalties such as contact with the non-resident parent can cause tensions

Question 13

McCarthy et al (2003)

Answer 13

Due to diversity among these families, we should speak of ‘stepfamilies’ plural instead of ‘the stepfamily’ Some have few tensions, but for those that do, the tensions aren’t so different from those “intact” families.