Determine the chemical properties of a certain alkanol, ethanol, by analyzing the observations made by subjecting it to various reactions with a range of substances.

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Gail Rudge

Discuss to what extent the family is in decline in modern Britain

Family- "a group of people who are related to each other such as a mother, a father and their children "(Cambridge Dictionaries Online, Cambridge University Press (2004)),

Is this the view of a family in 2004, clearly it could be said that this definition is somewhat outdated but does it point to the family being in decline?

In Britain today the family has certainly undergone a lot of changes compared to the 1950s where the family was predominately a nuclear family where the man of the household went out to work and the woman stayed at home to cook, clean and look after the children.

Today there are a number of 'new' structures to a family such as single parent families, reconstituted families and same sex families all of which consider they to be what constitutes a family. But how did these 'new' structures come about, to answer this we have to look at the changes the family has undergone in recent years.

Divorce is a big influence on the structure of a family as it is today. Divorce is easier to obtain than in previous years with the introduction in 1971 of the Divorce Reform Act that established irretrievable breakdown of marriage as grounds for divorce. Another act was passed in 1984 that allowed married couples to divorce after one year of marriage that ultimately increased the number of divorces. Legal aid is now more accessible and ends in most cases the expense of a divorce. Divorce is also far less stigmatised than previously where the likelihood of knowing someone who is divorced as opposed to not knowing anyone (as in previous years) is rare and on the whole accepted as the 'norm' to most people. The New Right certainly believes that divorce is a major factor to the decline of the family.
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They believe the Divorce Reform Act was undermining to marriage and that the 1960s and early 1970s were the beginning of an attack on traditional family values particularly because of the introduction of the Pill and the legalisation of abortion.

They considered this was lessening woman's commitment to the family because of their increased sexual freedom (Moore et al (2001:45)), which could be viewed as the beginning of the change in how the family is structured with women now having much more independence and freedom of choice.

However the reforms in the Divorce Act also brought ...

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