Has Britain's Contemporary Family Life broken down?

As the Sunday Telegraph pointed out last year (July 15, 2007),

‘‘Over the past decade, Labor has presided over the almost total destruction of any official recognition that marriage is something to be encouraged, to the point where most official forms no longer require, indeed no longer allow, people filling them in to state whether they are married. It has become government policy to accept that co-habitation should be recognized as “just as good” and “equally as valid a choice” as marriage, and that all trace of stigma attached to having children out of wedlock should be removed.’’

This indicates that the British government has played a very important role in accelerating family breakdown as they have influenced many households that it is not necessary for couples to be married. Nowadays, many couples plan to have fewer children normally no more than two and some have no plan for children in their lives. This is mostly because they are trying to avoid higher expenses since technology is changing and money rate is increasing.

Overall, it is not to say that the government is the main cause of family breakdown in Britain because the institution of marriage has been steadily eroding since the early 1970s. It is also because of technology since it has affected society by giving no limit. It has created a people of instant touch of a button satisfaction with more, more and more requested. If technology had not developed as fast as it had people would spend more time interacting in 'real-time' in person. Family and Community principles would be of more value as there wouldn't be such a variety of things to seclude and distance us because of all these issues, Britain has lost its empire and what’s left of its society is fading away.

Bibliography

Abercrombie, N. and Warde, A., (2001), Family and households in The Contemporary British Society, (eds), Cambridge: Policy Press

Abraham, J, H., (1966), The Family and the State in Teach Yourself Sociology, (eds), London: The English University Press Limited