Functionalists like Fletcher believed that divorce was rising because people were raising their expectations in marriage, this suggests that higher divorce rates means higher value of marriage. Women petition for 70% of divorces this shows that the women may be increasingly likely to feel dissatisfied with marriage. The unequal distribution of tasks may be a key factor for example Delphy and Leonard suggest that the woman already performed 57 unpaid roles for their partner. This places a great deal of pressure on the wife leading them to believe that divorce is the key to lift this burden off their shoulders. Couples also had fewer children which again may mean that there is less to keep them together leading to an increase in
Social policies that can be linked to this type of family diversity are laws to do with homosexuality in the UK. For example, in 1967 male homosexuality was legalised in the UK this has made homosexuality more socially accepted; this would allow gay couples to start a recognised family. However, other social policies have made same sex families even more accepted. For example, in 2002 the UK adoption laws were changed to allow gay couples to adopt children and create a family unit. Furthermore, in 2004 the Civil Partnership Act meant that gay individuals could now enter into a civil partnership; resulting in the stability and long term commitment of a family.
Mitchell and Goody note that an important change since the 1960s has been the rapid decline in the stigma attached to divorce. As stigma declines and divorce becomes more socially acceptable, couples become more willing to resort to divorce as a means of solving their marital problems. This has lead to a sharp increase in divorce rates over recent years. In turn, the fact that divorce is now more common begins to ‘normalise’ it and reduces the stigma attached it. Important and influential celebrities also went through divorce during this time and so made it seem to the public that it was even more acceptable.
This idea spread into the United States and gained footing during the 1950s. The focus though was less on eugenics and more on the making of a strong family unit. Eugenics is the idea of breeding out those of lesser intelligence or class. However, after World War II, people shied away from the idea of creating a “perfect race.” But there was still a concept of creating a strong, nuclear family consisting of father, mother, and children (Jurczak, 2012, p. 3). Paul Popenoe, a eugenicist, opened the first marriage-counseling center in the United States.
I feel that the bible was a guide, but the guide needs to be updated. People change, cultures change, life changes, the world has changed since it was created. To me, homosexuals have the same right to be happy as heterosexuals. Letting homosexuals marry is the right thing to do, for it is now a new beginning for them. Introduction: The issues of homosexual marriages is very complex, especially who, or who should not be married.
Norms are social rules, standards or expectations that govern the behaviour expected in particular situation for example wearing clothing in public, Values are drive norms, they are general behaviour guides and beliefs about how something should be. Cohabitation in the UK used to be viewed as ‘living in sin’, a stigma which has declined, this has led to an increase in cohabitation because couples can now live together without it being frowned upon. Cohabitation is increasingly becoming a long term alternative to marriage, Chester in 1993 suggested that this can be reflected in the increasing proportions of children born out of marriage, this has also helped to increase cohabitation because partners no longer feel as much pressure to marry to legitimize a pregnancy. Another reason for the increase in cohabitation in contemporary UK is due to legal and social policy changes. In 1969, the Divorce Reform Act which made divorce a lot easier to get and was responsible for a large rise in divorce in addition in 1984 the law allowed couples to petition for divorce just after one year of marriage, these laws encouraged cohabitation because it gave partners a chance to trial what it would be like living together like a married
There have also been other views and explanations of this for example some functionalist views of one below: One such Functionalist Ronald Fletcher (1996) suggested that in this day and age marriage is seen as less necessary and divorce more accepted in wider society, back as far as the 19th century it was much harder to achieve and was even frowned upon. Also he argued that higher expectations of people place on marriage today are a major cause of rising divorce rates. Higher expectations make couples nowadays less willing to tolerate an unhappy marriage. Also those such as Arlie Hochschild (1997) argues that for many women, the home compares unfavourably with work. At work women feel
right to vote, more education opportunities for girls, change in women role in family and women are now able to have paid jobs. Another reason that has led to decrease in child birth is the introduction of contraception. Legalisation of abortion is another factor that has contributed to the decline in birth rates over the recent years. This has led to women have the power to control their own fertility. These changes have allowed women able to choose whether to have children at all or delay childbearing.
However, there seems to have been a noticeable change in the attitudes and perceptions of those living in Western cultures (Shriner & Shriner). For example, gay marriage is becoming more accepted as time passes. Being homosexual used to be a career ending move for those in the entertainment industry. Today, celebrities like Ellen DeGeneres and Neil Patrick Harris are able to be openly gay, married, with families and have thriving careers. Gay relationships are becoming a norm on television in shows like Modern Family.
This was where you no longer had to prove that a matrimonial offence had been committed, just that your marriage had broken down. This made it much easier to get a divorce and the number of divorces increased massively. From 1969 to 1973 it increased by 50,000 people whereas before it only increased by around 2,000. Also it has now become socially acceptable to be in a same sex partnership and since the civil rights partnership act of 2004 it has expanded the sexual diversity. Also, womens education is now a lot better, so women are now not wanting to start a family and be in relationships but want to do well in their education and stay in education as long as possible.