CHANGING FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS

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CHANGING FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS
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AIMS

• To examine how patterns of marriage,
  cohabitation, separation and divorce have
  changed.
• To investigate explanations that have been given
  for these changes.
• To look at statistics and see how they would be
  dealt with in an exam.

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MARRIAGE

• Marriage increased from 1838 to 1970s.
• First marriages have declined from 390,000 (1970)
  to 180,000 (2000)
• Remarriages rose from 57,000 in 1961 to 126,000
  in 2000 (41 of marriages)
• Age at marriage has risen from 24 (men) 22
  (women) in 1971 to 30 28 in 2000.
• The latter is possibly due to cohabitation.

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SINGLEHOOD

• Increasing number never marry.
• Some cohabit figures are rising.
• More people live alone.
• Creative singlehood negative status of never
  marrying (spinster, old maid) is decreasing
  now seen as a positive choice.

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COHABITATION

• Living together without being married.
• Numbers have risen quickly over the last 30 years
  especially amongst the young.
• Cohabitation before marriage has now become the
  norm less than 2 in the 1950s to 77 in 1976.

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WHY DO PEOPLE LIVE TOGETHER?

• British Households Survey, 19981. Most saw it
  as part of the process of getting married not
  an alternative to marriage.2. A trial marriage
  check you get on before making it legal.3. 40
  wanted to live together instead of marriage.4.
  No legal ties therefore it gives more freedom
  than marriage.

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CAUSES

• Changing attitudes.
• Effective contraception.
• Changes in parental control, education (female
  university students) and housing (mortgages to
  unmarried couples).
• Changes in divorce.

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CHILDBEARING

• Fertility rates falling lowest ever.
• Voluntarily childless women increasing.
• Age and fertility women have children later in
  life.
• Births outside marriage increasing mostly to
  cohabiting couples.

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REASONS FOR CHILDBEARING

• Changing attitudes illegitimate
• Changing attitudes childfree
• Birth control
• Changing opportunities work, education, etc
• Changing values people choosing their own
  lifestyle

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TASK

• Look at activity 21.
• List 5 points you would want to make in answer to
  question 1.
• Feedback points to your table what differences
  have people got?
• Feedback to the class.
• Now attempt question 1 of activity 22.

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DIVORCE AND SEPARATION

• Number of divorces has risen.
• Divorce rate has risen.WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE?
• If the divorce rate continues at the present
  level, 40 of marriages will end in divorce.

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INTERPRETING DIVORCE STATISTICS

• Divorce is only one measure of marital breakdown.
• Separation.
• Empty shell marriages.
• What about people living together?
• It is not possible to use these statistics to
  prove that relationships are becoming more likely
  to breakdown than in the past.

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EXPLAINING THE CHANGES

• Changes in the law Divorce Reform Act (1969),
  Matrimonial Family Proceedings Act (1984).
• Changing expectations of love and marriage
  confluent love.
• Changing social values.
• Economic position of women.
• Women and marriage.

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WHO DIVORCES?

• Younger people pregnancy, money, unsuitable
  partner, lack of awareness, changes lead to
  growing apart?
• Lower class money problems?
• Divorced parents.
• Second marriages.
• Differences in class, ethnicity and religion.

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CONSEQUENCES OF DIVORCE

• How are children effected? Positive or negative?
• How is society effected? The New Right and
  Feminists?

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TASK

• Complete activity 23.
• Complete activity 24 use information from all
  three items.