Marriage and Divorce

Key terms in this topic:

• Cohabitation – when a couple live together but are not married

• Illegitimate children – children whose parents were not married when they were born

• Monogamy – this means that a person can only be married to one person at a time

• Bigamy – is against the law. This is when a person is married to more than one person at the same time

• Divorce – is the legal end to a marriage

• Separation – when a couple live apart but are still legally married

• Empty shell marriages – when a couple are still married and live in the same house but lead separate lives

• Serial monogamy – when a person has a series of marriages, divorces and remarriages, e.g. Henry VIII and Jennifer Lopez.

• Polygamy – is when a person is married to more than one person at the same time. This is accepted in some countries but is against the law in Britain. There are two types of polygamy:
  
  • Polyandry – woman and husbands e.g. Tibet
  • Polygyny – man with wives e.g. Masai in Africa

Trends in marriage and divorce

• Increase in divorce rate (number of divorces per 1000 people per year)
• Decrease in first marriages (where the people had not been married before)
• Increase in re-marriage (where people were married before) This suggests perhaps that it is not necessarily marriage that is declining in popularity - just that some people choose the wrong person to marry.
• Increase in cohabitation
• Increase in illegitimate children

1. Changes in the law - several laws have been passed to make divorce easier to obtain.

2. Ease of divorce - the stigma of divorce is greatly reduced in society today, so people no longer feel ashamed to be divorced. Sociologists point to a decline in the influence of religion as another factor.

3. Change in attitudes - some sociologists argue that marriage is highly valued in society, partly due to the image the media present of marriage as based on romance and happiness. People now demand more from marriage and if it does not live up to the ideal they hold then they will get divorced and try again - this explains the growing number of remarriages.

4. The changing role of women - approx. 70% of divorces are initiated by women. Women today are more likely to be independent - with a good education, fewer children and a job. If they are unhappy in a marriage it is easier for them to leave and start again.

• More single parent families
• More one person households
• More remarriages
• May be more poverty if the person who has the children gets no financial support from their ex partner.
• Children may lack a male role model (as most often the female gets custody of the children) and therefore not be socialised properly which according to the New Right may lead them to do badly in education.
• Feminists might say that divorce is a positive thing for women and children as only men benefit from family life. They believe that female single parent families are better than nuclear families for women.

Is the family in decline?

It would appear from the evidence that the media image of the ‘cereal packet family’ as the typical family seems in doubt. It seems that ‘the family’ generally is not in decline, it is simply that there is now more diversity of family types in Britain today (i.e. many different types).

New Right and Feminist views of divorce

Feminism
Divorce is a positive thing for women and children as only men benefit from family life. They believe that female single parent families are better than nuclear families for women.

New Right
Children may lack a male role model (as most often the female gets custody of the children) and therefore not be socialised properly which may lead them to do badly in education.