Change in the law
In 1857 it was the only way to obtain a divorce was by a private act of parliament
Expensive and complicated and required friends in parliament so available to a small number of wealthy people
Over next 150 years, divorce became simpler, cheaper and available
Changes in the law allowed many more people the option of escaping from unhappy marriages via divorce
Not always coincided with changes in the law such as through the number of divorces doubled in 1971 after divorce from reform act were rising
Change in legislation may have simplifier reflected growing public demand for easier divorce
Sociologists suggest changes in society in any explanation of why the popularity of divorce has increased
Privatised Nuclear Family
Functionalist sociologists have tended to see high divorce rates as going hand on hand with a trend towards nuclear family
Parsons and Bales (1955) such as argue that modern American family has become structurally isolated from extended families
Less pressure from extended family for a couple to stay together and greater demands are placed such as central to the working of the nuclear family so social control agency and help prevent martial breakdown
For functionalist this is not a problem so high divorce rates are due to simply the price
Some critics, however, argue they are far from perfect
Anthropologists Leach (1967) argued that the nuclear family was the source of all our discounts so over loaded electrical circuits
Portrayed the relationship between husband and wife as life an over loaded circuit so having fulfilled all of the emotional needs of a couple so too much pressure
No surprise that nuclear family were a source of conflict for many with divorce one possible outcome
Higher Expectations of Marriage
Ronald Fletcher (1996) argued that higher divorce linked to higher value being placed as marriage such as couples come to expect more companionate relationship based on love
Evidence suggest that society attitudes towards divorce have shifted so both men and woman have higher expectations of marriage
More mature age probably after a period of cohabitation so strengthened marriage due to prelude to marriage allows couples the opportunity to agree any difficulties
Survey evidence from Beaujouna and Ni Bhrolchain suggest that a positive experience of cohabitation provides greater commitment
Channing Social Attitudes
Until the 1960s there was a strong stigma with divorce
More recently, people in Britain view divorce as normal and acceptable
Britain social attitudes survey 2006 found the 63% of respondents agreed divorce can be positive step towards a new life and 7% disagreed
25% agreed that It is not divorce that harms children but conflict between their parents and 7% disagreed
Decline of religious beliefs may also have contributed greater social acceptability of divorce so led to a necessary evil rather than a source of shame and social stigma
Colin Gibson (1994) argues Britain has undergone a process of secularisation so religious values have weakened in society including the influence of the traditional teaching about lifelong marriage
Deborah Chambers (2012) sees a range of evidence that within dominant public discourses as signs of moral decline such as lone parents are defined by the tabloid press as underserving scroungers widespread divorce leads to bad parenting, so stigma has disappeared
Individualisation and Reflexivity
Beck and Beck – Gernsheim (1995) like fletcher who said divorce has increased due to growing trend towards individualisation, so people have become more self-orientated
Focus on changing expectations of marriage rather than seeing these as shared values so nature of relationship is open to negotiation
Marriage leads to chaos of love as selflessness expected in love and marriage clashes with self-interest of individualism so traditional norms and values are no longer constrain people
Where people feel a relationship no longer serves their personal interest so less likely to maintain sense of commitment to others
Giddens (1992) has seen a growth in reflexivity in late modernity so individuals reflect on their personal lives
Divorce resulted from the transformation of intimacy when resulted from the gradual replacement of romantic love with confluent love
No longer see marriage as a lifelong commitment underpinned by romantic love so only maintain relationship as long as both are fulfilled
Desire the confluent version of love as they expect both temporary and fragile and look elsewhere
Argues woman have gained from this as they are no longer in unsatisfactory relationships so acknowledged the consequence been greater insecurity for individuals and higher rates
Changing Role of Woman
Prior to the divorce reform act most divorce petitions were started by men
65% of divorces are initiated by wives who are unhappy with some aspects of their marriages
Major differences with wives in 1960s and how they are more likely to go to work and less likely to be financially dependent husband
Evidence that the attitudes towards marriage have radically changed over generations such as wives in the past tolerated domestic violence as men’s emotional incompetence and inequalities in domestic division of labour
Woman today see such more behaviour as justifiable grounds for intimating divorce
Graham Allein and Graham Crowe (2001) argue that the changing positions of woman in society by influencing rise
In 1940s around 2/3 of divorce were men
Woman mostly didn’t have functional resources to fund divorce
In 2012, 65% were woman
Since 1970s far more married woman were employed
Most woman are more likely to be worse off after divorce
Lyon Prince Cooke and Vanessa Gash (2012) found no clear relationship between employment, earning and likelihood of divorce
Some feminists, large number of women seeking to escape marriage reflects problematic nature of marriage so supported by a small-scale study by Duncombe and Marsden (1995) where woman is dissatisfied with husband’s ability to take responsibility
Trends in Divorce since 1990s
The number of marriages has declined so fewer potential marriages so explains decline in total number of divorces which explains the decline in divorce per 1000 married couples
People are no longer waiting to marry as research suggests that couples who marry young and they have a higher chance of divorce so the increase of average age in marriage
Most couples have a trail period of cohabitation before marrying