Examine the Reasons for Changes in the Patterns of Marriage and Cohabitation in the Last

590 Words3 Pages
Marriage has increased in popularity, reaching a peak in 1971. Since then people have decided to ditch the stereotypical cereal packet nuclear family and live as singletons or to cohabit with a partner. There has been a significant decline in the number of marriages, from 459000 in 1971 to 250000 in 2001. However cohabitation had been rising in today’s society modern society. New Right thinkers have seen the trends as a sign of the breakdown of the family and have argued for a return to ‘traditional values’. They suggest that because of the easy availability of divorce, people are no longer as committed to the family as they were in the past. In the last 40 years there were a number of marriage laws that made divorce alot easier, particularly in 1971 The Divorce Law Reform Act which meant that the spouse no longer had to prove that their partner was guilty of a matrimonial offence. This was followed up by the Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act which insured a newlywed couple could get divorced after only one year of marriage. Both these together made for a good basis for divorce. People had seen patterns such as marriages was plummeting, people cohabitating with each other was rising. Living together as a couple was no longer seen as a sin. Increasingly the idea of cohabiting is being viewed as respectable. Two thirds (67%) of the British public now look upon cohabitation as acceptable, even when the couple have no intention in getting married. Divorce has become more socially acceptable and there is less social disapproval and stigma attached to divorces. It no longer hinders careers through a public sense of scandal and outrage. As a result of this people are less afraid of the consequences of divorce and are more likely to end an empty shell marriage. Young spouses and young marriages are most at risk. A person’s age at marriage is strongly
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