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 about some amendments in 1999 that included a minimum ‘cooling off’ period of nine months and the introduction of compulsory mediation between partners to try and reconcile them, which illustrates that divorce is still hoped to be the very last resort and not just an easy way out. The increase in divorce can also be looked at from the view that more and more people are looking for the ‘perfect’ marriage and rather than stay in an ‘empty shell’ one they will divorce. Statistics also show that in a survey of people under 35 (who had divorced between 1983 and 1986) 40% of them had remarried within five years. (Family Class Handout (21.10.04:2). These statistics could be used therefore to show that marriage itself is still popular and surely the basis for the family?
Unfortunately although divorced people seem to be remarrying the actual number of marriages has dropped. Reasons for this could be the increase in cohabiting couples, the expense involved, creative singlehood, the increase in rights for ‘common law’ wives and that when considering marriage religion isn’t as paramount anymore.
The New Rights view on the falling marriage rate is that cohabitating couples are a threat to the sanctity of marriage and the arrangement lacks commitment. Robert Chester (1985:1) argues though, “We are not witnessing a mass rejection of marriage. Rather people are delaying marriage. In other words, people are marrying later in life for economic reasons.”
This view could be backed up by the fact that the majority of cohabitating couples go on to marry, plus marriage holds no financial gain to it anymore as well as couples feeling that they don’t need ‘a piece of paper’ to prove they are a family unit. The increase in same sex relationships also has an impact on the marriage rates and although the New Right views them as ‘unnatural’ and ‘deviant’ they are part of the ‘new’ structure of the family. It is fair to say therefore that although the marriage rates have fallen can they be viewed as proving a decline in the family especially as cohabitating couples (heterosexual and same sex) are not included in the figures?
The last big change in the family structure today is the increase in single mothers. This structure has been criticised the most and scapegoated by many especially New Right thinker Charles Murray (1990:5) who suggested, “Single parents are at the heart of a so called ‘underclass’ or ‘new rabble’ that has appeared in the inner cities. This group is allegedly socialising its children into a dependency culture based around voluntary unemployment, claiming benefits and crime.” This could obviously be seen as not only a threat to the stability of the family but to the economy also.
This view has been criticised heavily though by feminists and critical thinkers. It has been argued that “the ideology of familism which stresses the nuclear family ideal has led to the negative labeling of one-parent families by social agencies such as teachers, social workers, housing departments, police and the courts.”(Chester (1985:5)). It has also been pointed out by critical sociologists that there is little financial gain to being a single parent and infact 17% of those officially classed as poor are single parents. (Class Handout (08.10.04:5)). It has also been argued, “it is often preferable for a child to live with one caring parent than with parents who are in conflict and who may scapegoat the child”(Phoenix (1993:5) and Cashmore (1995:5)). It is also true to say that despite the media there are far fewer teenage single parents than there were in the 1980s and that most single mothers go on to marry or remarry and the likelihood of a reconstituted family forming is very likely.
It is fair to say that the family has undergone some major and radical changes over the years but can it be said that these changes are pointing towards a decline in the family? The definition of ‘a family’ is outdated so isn’t it also true to say that rather than the family being in decline it has actually just become more diverse and more individualist. We all have our own views of how we see a family so couldn’t it be that the family has its own structure dependant on who you are and as long as it functions to the best of its ability, it is about change ‘with the times’ rather than decline.
Bibliography
Moore, S., Chapman, S. and Aiken, D. (2001) Sociology for AS-Level, Families and Households Topic 2 (1-6): 36-55, London: Collins.
New Right and Changes in the Family (Class Handout 07.10.04)
Changing Patterns of Marriage and Divorce (Class Handout 21.10.04)
Contemporary Changes in the Family (Class Handout 08.10.04)
Cambridge Dictionaries Online (accessed 24.10.04) Available:
S-cool Student Site As & A2 Level Sociology Family Ideology-Introduction, Type of Family, Diversity and A View from 1950 (accessed 21.10.04) Available: