1. Powerpoint Templates THE MANOR ACADEMY Changing Family Relationships

2. Powerpoint Templates THE MANOR ACADEMY Marriage Apart from a few ups and downs, the number of marriages per year in the UK increased steadily from 1838 (when they were first recorded) until the 1970’s. Since then there has been a significant decline from 480,000 marriages in 1972 to 306,000 in 2000 (1 st marriages and remarriage) Remarriage has increased but 1 st marriages have significantly decreased.

3. Powerpoint Templates THE MANOR ACADEMY Over the past 30 years people have tended to marry later. In 1971 average age for 1 st marriage was 24 for men and 22 for women. By 2000 it was 30 for men and 28 for women.

4. Powerpoint Templates THE MANOR ACADEMY Singlehood A large number of people never marry. Instead they either choose to remain single or they never fail to find somebody they want to marry. The number of people who do not get married increased over the 20 th Century. Many people today cohabit with their partner and never marry.

5. Powerpoint Templates THE MANOR ACADEMY More and more people are also choosing to live alone. In 1971 6% of professional people aged between 25-29 lived alone. In 1991 nearly 20% of professional people aged 25-29 lived alone. In the past being single women were seen as a bad thing, they had failed to find a husband. Today being single can be seen as a positive thing.

6. Powerpoint Templates THE MANOR ACADEMY Cohabitation Definition: Living together as a couple without being married. Love is the most common reason for cohabiting Between 1976 and 1998 the proportion of women under 50 cohabiting more than trebled from 9% to 27% Young people tend to cohabit more than older people. It is normal to live together before getting married today.

7. Powerpoint Templates THE MANOR ACADEMY Reasons people give for cohabitation 1) Some people see cohabitation is part of the process of getting married. It is usually seen as a prelude to marriage and NOT an alternative. 2) Some people see cohabitation as a trial marriage, it gives the couple an opportunity to test the relationship before making it legally binding. 3) Some people see cohabitation as a alternative to marriage. 4) Some people prefer to cohabit rather than marry because it means it is easier to end the relationship if they want to.

8. Powerpoint Templates THE MANOR ACADEMY Reasons sociologists give for cohabitation Changing attitudes Its no longer unacceptable to live together before marriage. Effective contraception In 1967 reliable contraception was made available to unmarried women on the NHS. So couple could live together ad have sexual relations because they love each other not just to reproduce. Changes in parental control, education and housing There’s evidence that parental control over children has decreased over the past 50 years. More people go to university today and so leave home at a younger age and can do what they like. Divorce Rate Divorce rate has increased rapidly in the past 50 years. If your divorce hasn’t yet gone through you may have no other choice but to cohabit. You may not want to get married again if it went wrong the 1 st time

9. Powerpoint Templates THE MANOR ACADEMY Divorce Before 1857 a private Act of Parliament was needed to get a divorce. It was expensive and complicated. 1949 Legal aid and Advice act set up to provide free advice and paid solicitors fees for those who couldn’t afford them. In 1969 you no longer had to prove a partner guilty of adultery you just had to show that the marriage was beyond repair to get a divorce. In 1984 the time a couple needed to be married before they got a divorce was cut from 3 years to 1 year.

10. Powerpoint Templates THE MANOR ACADEMY Reasons for rising divorce rate Giddens says we marry for CONFLUENT love ( love which focuses on intimacy, closeness and emotion) today and so if this stops we are likely to get a divorce. Divorce is now more socially acceptable. Women are more economically independent and so can divorce their husband if they want to. Feminists say that rising divorce proves that women are unhappy with the inequality of marriage i.e. women still do most of the housework.

11. Powerpoint Templates THE MANOR ACADEMY Who divorces? In general the earlier the age of marriage, the more likely it is to end in divorce because: 1) Bride likely to be pregnant which places strain on marriage 2)Money problems 3) Lack of experience in choosing a suitable partner 4)More likely to grow apart as they are still developing. 5) The lower the social class position of the husband the more likely you are to divorce

12. Powerpoint Templates THE MANOR ACADEMY Family Diversity Most people as children or adults live part of their lives in a nuclear family. But there has still be a significant decline in: 1) the proportion of households made up of a couple with dependant children 2) The proportion of people in such households 3) and the proportion of dependant children living in couple families. The rise in lone-parent families has been coupled with a decline in the nuclear family, which means there is more family diversity.

13. Powerpoint Templates THE MANOR ACADEMY The terms “nuclear” family and “couple” hide further diversity. For example the couple may be: 1) Married for the first time 2) Remarried 3) Cohabiting 4) Opposite sex 5) Same sex

14. Powerpoint Templates THE MANOR ACADEMY Lone-Parent families There is only one parent present as well as his or her dependant children. In Britain it is most commonly it is the mother who is a lone-parent. There has been a huge increase in lone parents over the last 25 years. Why do you think this is? Discuss

15. Powerpoint Templates THE MANOR ACADEMY Reasons for rise in Lone-Parent families Rise in divorce rate Pregnancy outside marriage is now more accepted in society Women have become more independent and sometimes choose to have children without having a relationship with a male.

16. Powerpoint Templates THE MANOR ACADEMY Reconstituted Families Being part of a lone-parent family is normally only temporary. 75% of men and 70% of women who get divorced get re-married within 5 years. They form reconstituted families, where children live with one blood related parent and one step-parent.

17. Powerpoint Templates THE MANOR ACADEMY Gay and Lesbian Families In recent years growing numbers of gays and lesbians have built homes and families together. Some have artificial insemination from anonymous donors. In the UK in 2002 an Act of Parliament was passed to allow gays and lesbians to adopt children

18. Powerpoint Templates THE MANOR ACADEMY What do we call the era we live in? Giddens says we live in late modernity. This is an era of choice and change. You can choose your own i.d. and lifestyle. People can construct their own domestic arrangements and tailor their family to meet their own needs and identity. Relationships are just based on CONFLUENT love and so break up when this type of love no longer exists.