Another explanation for the increase in divorce rate is secularisation. Religion has had less influence over society, which reduced the stigma of getting divorced. Whereas in the early 20th century, society believed that marriage was a sacred event that lasted forever, throughout the years views have changed and people overall have placed less importance on marriage. Society also does not associated marriage with religion to the same degree as before, which can be shown through the decrease in church marriages. Therefore secularisation is a vital explanation, although it is not the sole reason for the increase.
Today there is a higher expectation of marriage, as people tend to believe in happy marriages. While in the past, people could have married for economic reasons, now the focus is on marrying for love and happiness. This is also linked with secularisation, as before, people usually had a lower expectation of marriage, as from a Christian perspective, marriage was seen as as eternal, even if it was difficult. Also the increase in the number opf divorces could be due to the increase in life expectancy. Whereas in the early 20th century, there was a lower life expectancy and therefore people would be married for less years, nowadays many feel it is not worth being in an unhappy marriage for many decades.
Feminists can also offer an explanation for the increase in divorce. With approxiamately 75% of divorce petitions being from women, there is a suggestion that marriage may be unfair for women. Radical feminists explain that the amount of housework and childcare shared between married couples is unequal. They also argue that before divorce, women were subject to domestic violence or unhappy in an empty shell marriage. Therefore, Feminists believe that divorce has increased, because marriage has inequalities that favour men.
On the other hand, the New Right, unlike Feminism, believe in marriage and disagree with divorce. They believe that marriage between two hetrosexual people is part of a civilised and ordered society. Also the New Right disagree with cohabiting, as cohabiting couples with children are more likely to split up, which could result in single parent families. Single parent families to them are a negative part of society, as they believe they do not socialise children to the same degree as married couples. Charles Murray, an American sociologist believes that children brought up by single mothers lack a male role model and therefore he strongly agrees with marriage. This social group overall regards divorce as being too easily obtainable and that in the past, couples had to work on their relationship in order to keep their family together for the children. This is linked with law, as The Divorce Law Reform Act 1969 had meant divorces are easier to acquire and therefore The New Right view that because of this, couples have worked less harder on their marriages could be correct. The New Right also feel it is the government’s and The Church of England’s responsibility to discourage divorce. This is connected with secularisation, as the decrease in Church power over society has meant that the Church could have been afraid to condemn divorce.
Other explanations include that more married couples have no children. This is demonstrated by the statistic that childless couples are more likely to divorce than couples with children. Simulatenously, this shows that married couples could stay together for their children’s happiness. Therefore, the change in social attitudes could have increased the divorce rate, as today there is less stigma associated with divorce, even if children are involved.
In conclusion, The New Right’s idea that the higher divorce rate is caused by couples not working on their marriage to the same extent as before needs to be considered. As there is a higher rate of divorce for couples in their first five years of marriage, it could be argued that today people do not try as hard for the marriage to work. However, the New Right have a traditional view and do not acknowledge the negative aspects of marriage, such as domestic violence in some circumstances. Their blame on couples not trying hard enough is similar to the social attitudes in the 1960’s and therefore the change in social attitudes is an important factor when explaning the increase of divorce rate. Feminists on the other hand believe that before divorce was legalised, women suffered in unhappy or violent marriages. Since three quarters of divorce are applied for by women, this argument is valid and demonstrates that the change in law has increased the divorce rate. Although in 1960 divorce was legal, it was difficult to acquire and therefore not many people would have applied for it. However, the change in law has not altered societies attitude to divorce. Although due to the Divorce acts, people could have been more open to the idea of divorce, it has not solely changed the stigma of getting divorced. Consequently, the change in social attitudes is a very important explanation for the increase in the number of divorces. However, divorce statistics do not explain or acknowledge empty shell marriages where married couples remain together, but don’t love each other. This is usually to benefit the children, but can also be for a number of religious, cultural or financial reasons. When divorce was rarer and viewed as a scandal, more people were likely to have empty shell marriages and this can be shown by the large amount of long married couples who applied for divorce when the law changed. Today couples married for over 30 years are twice as likely to divorce as they were 10 years ago. As a result of the evidence, legal changes were a major reason for the increase. Despite this though, the change in social attitudes is a very important explanation and it is linked with secularisation, because when the church had high influence on society, divorce was seen as a sin. The personal attitudes of people were also different to today. In the past, society was more judgemental and condemned divorce. Overall therefore the main reason for the increase in the number of divorces since 1960 is the change of social attitudes.
