Changing patterns in marriage Essay Example for Free

Changing patterns in marriage EssayUsing information from the items and elsewhere, examine the reasons for changing patterns of marriage, cohabitation and childbearing in the last 40 years (24 marks) According to the Office for National Statistics, the highest number of couples in 1972 was 480,000 and was due to the baby boom contemporaries of the 1950s reaching marriageable age and the point that people chose to marry at a younger age compargond to pervious generations. However the annual number of marriages in England and Wales then went into decline and reached an all-time belittled in 2005 when only 244,710 couples got married. This decline in the total number of marriages has been paralleled by a decline in marriage rates. In 1994, the marriage rate was 11.4 but has decline to 10.3 by 2004. The male rate declined from 36.3 in 1994 to 27.8 in 2004 whilst the female rate declined from 30.6 to 24.6. Fears about what marriage statistics reveal argon exaggerated for four re asons heap argon delaying marriage rather than rejecting it. Most people will marry at some school principal in their lives, but people are now marrying later in life, probably after a period of cohabitation.Women whitethorn delay marriage because they want to develop their careers and enjoy a period of independence. The BSAS indicates that virtually people, whether single, divorced or cohabiting, still see marriage as a desirable life-goal. People similarly generally debate that having children is best done in the context of marriage and few people believe that the freedom associate with living alone is better than being married to someone. Two fifths of all marriages are remarriages. Evidently these people are committed to the institution of marriage despite their previous negative dwell of it. Despite the decrease in the overall number of people marrying, married couples are still the primary(prenominal) types of partnership for men and women in the UK. Wilkinson notes tha t female attitudes towards marriage and family life name undergone a radical intensify or genderquake. She argues that young females no nightlong prioritize marriage and children.Educational opportunities and the feminization of the economy have resulted in young women weighing up the costs of marriage and having children against the benefits of a career and economic independence. thus the result of this is that many females, particularly middle-class, are postponing marriage and family life until their careers are established. Other feminist sociologists are sceptical about the hold dear of marriage. Smith argues that marriage creates unrealistic expectationabout monogamy and homage in a world characterized by sexual freedom. She argues that at different points in peoples life cycles, people need different things that often can only be gained from a saucily partner. Campbell, however, suggests that marriage benefits men more than it does women. A constant source of concern t o the New Right has been the prodigious rise in the number of couples cohabiting.The proportion of non-married people cohabiting has risen sharply in the last 20 years from 11% of men and 13% of women in 1986 to 24% and 25% respectively. In 2007, the ONS suggested that cohabiting couples are the express growing family type in the UK. Around 2.2 million families are cohabiting couples with or without children. This family type has grown by 65% since 1997. However, New Right commentators claim that cohabitation is less stable than marriage. A report by the name for the Study of Civil Society claimed that cohabiting couples were less happy and less fulfilled than married couples, and more promising to be abusive, unfaithful, stressed and depressed.Although surveys indicate that few people see cohabitation as an alternative to marriage, the fact that cohabiting couples are much younger than married couples suggests cohabitation is seen my many participants as a test of compatibility and an introduction to marriage. Other investigate suggests that cohabitation is a temporary phase lasting on average for about 5 years. Approximately 60% of cohabiting couples eventually marry. Although cohabitation marks a dramatic change in heavy(p) living arrangements as of late as the 1960s, it was regarded immoral cohabiting couples with and without children only accounted for 10% of households in 2006.Reasons for increase in divorce ratesThornes and Collard women value friendship and emotional gratification more than men do. If the husband fails to live up to these expectations, women may timber the need to look elsewhere. Hart divorce may be reaction to the frustration that many working(a) wives may feel if they are responsible for the bulk of housework and childcare. Beck and Beck-Gernsheim (1995) rising divorce rates are the product of a rapidly changing world in which traditional rules, rituals and traditions of love, romance and relationships no longer apply. In 1938, 6,000 divorces were granted in the UK. This figure had increased tenfold by 1970, and in 1993, numbers jam-packed at 180,000. By2000, this figure had fallen to 154,600 although the years 2001-2004 have seen a gradual rise to 167,100.Flouri and Buchanans (2002) study of 17,000 children from families that had experienced separation and divorce found that in families, their fathers were still involved in their children so the children were more successful in gaining educational qualifications and continued to seek out educational opportunities in adult life. In conclusion, the reasons for changing patterns of marriage, cohabitation and childbearing in the last 40 years are due to the fact that conjugal roles within marriages have differed and the ability to change marriage beliefs in an instant. Men and women, especially the middle-class, may fear the need to put their careers before starting a family, which therefore causes problems within marriage.