One of these policies is the divorce act 1969; which has made it easier for couples to get divorced. Due to this, marriage has become less sacred which has made the family unit weaker. Couples may get a divorce instead of trying hard in the relationship to make it better. Another law affecting the family is the new deal 1998; which makes it easier for lone mothers to get back into paid work. This was introduced by the Labour party, who Lewis argues have taken on the idea of ‘social investment in children’ seriously and have realised family forms are changing.
After this law there was an increase in lone parent families, cohabiting and even same sex couples, this was because it started to be more socially acceptable and married couples didn’t have to be forced into a relationship if they weren’t happy. However, The New Right did not like the idea of having lone parent families, they said that lone parents (mostly mothers) cannot discipline their children properly and are a burden on the welfare state as they need to claim benefits due to the fact that they are not working so they can’t support their children. Conservatives see marriage as the essential basis for creating a stable environment for bringing up children, so I don’t think that they are very happy with the fact that family diversity is such a big deal in our society nowadays as they have a very traditional view. Similarly to The New Right’s view, Chester in 1985 claimed that people aspire to be in a nuclear family because that is the way that most people in the UK have been brought up, he also claimed that most people live in a household headed by a married couple and will most likely be the head of a nuclear family in the future. He believes that the nuclear family is the ideal type of family where the husband is the breadwinner and the wife is the housewife
Almost one-third of adults in the U.S. are obese, and more than two-thirds of adults are overweight. Obesity rates have increased by 214 percent between 1950 and 2000(Livestrong.com). Also According to livestrong.com, the main cause for the increase it weight among American’s is lack of exercise, as well as the convenience of fast food, and caloric increase. This rise in obesity has increased diseases such as heart disease, and type 2 diabetes. As a country, we are spending over $190 billion a year treating these diseases, diseases that could be prevented by increasing exercise and decreasing calories.
During the 1970’s, divorce rates had double (and the number of divorces tripled from 400,000 in 1962 to 1.2 million in 1981) (Ministries). This was due to the baby booming generation. While older couples still lived by the tradition they were brought up in. Age plays a huge facto in divorce. According to Divorce Rate, “between the ages of 20 to 29 the divorce rate is greater than couples 30 and older.” Some statistics say at least 66 percent of younger couples end up divorced because of childless issues.
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
About 80% of female Baby Boomers worked which was also a contribution to the two income family. The higher percentage of two income families contributes to the simulation of the economy from purchases. Based on the financial planning literature provided by, The Social Security Bulletin (2003/2004), a fifty percent replacement rate represents a shortfall that could create economic challenges and necessitate lifestyle adjustments. The fifty percent replacement will not only have an effect on benefits but also the simulation of the economy. A little over a third of the current retirees but over two-fifths of near term and Baby Boomer retirees will replace less the three-quarters of their preretirement income.
Morgan Johnson English Period 5 March 12, 2012 The American Dream is when you go to college, get a job, make money, get married and have kids. Marriage in America has changed a lot throughout the years. Marriage is the center point of family which is very common to have families in America. In the article “Is There Hope for American Marriage?” it talks about how affairs in America have become much more common among Americans in recent years. In the article “The Truth about Marriage in America” states that people think twice about getting married after they already having kids, divorce is always a pain.
They are also adopting new roles for family members and various kinds of family structures. Many of these changes reflect economic, and social developments and changing attitudes. Even after marriage modern birth control methods enable couples to limit the size of their family and to space their children. Many young people are postponing marriage and childbearing, and many couples want to have fewer children than people had in the past. The number of employed married women has been growing dramatically in industrialized countries.
Rick Santorum recognizes the need to define the term, and does so in his essay, “It Takes a Family: Conservatism and the Common Good.” As it seems that many individuals throw the word around without thinking about how it is interpreted, Santorum says on the matter, “I have been talking about the traditional family. By that I mean a family constituted by a mother and a father who have committed themselves to each other in lifelong marriage, together with their children” (Santorum 92). Santorum continues on to say that the liberals who believe in same sex marriage benefiting society as much as a heterosexual marriage does, are damaging the common good. While a marriage does not need to exist specifically so a couple can adopt, adoption agencies can classify these unmarried circumstances as “not in the best interest of the child” (Children’s Hour
Reconstructed families are couple that beforehand may have been in a previous marriage or relationship. Children are brought into the family although having a different parent. These are on the rise according to statistics. This could be because of: the economy – the price of getting married again may be a too costly price – especially in today’s society where prices are rocketing, a longer life expectancy – people not wanting to be alone, also, some people may believe marriage should only be done once from a moral front. (Self, A Zealey, L 2007) National statistics shows that remarriages have risen from approximately 80,000 to