Joan Chandler (1993) says that the increase in cohabitation shows that people are choosing it as a long-term alternative to marriage. This is shown by the large number of births outside marriage to stable cohabiting couples (70%), couples may no longer feel the need to legitimise pregnancy by getting married. This evidence worries the New Right, who believe that the amount of births outside marriage poses a threat to the family.
Chester argued that cohabitation is only a temporary phase, and that most people who cohabit will eventually marry. He highlighted a number of reasons for cohabitation, including people still being married to previous partners or using cohabitation as a “marriage trial”. In a 1981 study by Burgoynet and Clarke, when people in Aberdeen and Sheffield were asked whether they thought that cohabitation was a legitimate alternative to marriage, 38% said yes if it led to marriage, compared to 15% who thought that it was legitimate as a permanent alternative. This supports Chester’s argument as it shows that more people were likely to marry after cohabitation than stay in cohabitation permanently.
Another alternative to marriage is to live alone, in a single-person household. These are often formed as a result of the break-up of marriage or partnership, or death of a partner, but they are occurring increasingly through the choice to live alone. John Bernades (1997) believes that there are strong social pressures against people living alone, because the media portrays marriage as the ideal state, but this is disputed by government statistics, which show that in 1996/7 12% of people under pensionable age lived alone, compared to just 4% in 1961. This shows that single person households are becoming more socially accepted as an alternative to marriage.
Britain has one of the highest divorce rates in Europe today, with almost half of marriages ending in divorce, a rate ten times higher than in 1970. The New Right sees this as a serious problem, believing the cause to be how cheap and easy divorce is to obtain. There are many contributors to marital breakdown and divorce in the UK today including this;
The Divorce Reform Act, introduced in 1969, has made divorce easier to obtain. It meant divorce could be granted on the grounds of an irretrievable breakdown in marriage, adultery or unreasonable behaviour. In 1984 the Matrimonial and Family proceedings act was passed allowing couples to divorce after only 12 months of marriage. This made marriage seem far easier to get out of than it had previously done so.
Functionalists say that the high divorce rate shows that people are expecting more from marriage and are demanding higher standards from their spouses. They need emotional & sexual equality & compatibility, and may have a number of marriages before they achieve this.
Feminists argue that women’s expectations have changed, and that improved educational and career opportunities allowing them to become full time breadwinners has caused frustration when they are expected to maintain parental and housework responsibilities. This frustration is seen as one of the reasons that women may choose to break away from a marriage. In the 1990s the majority of divorce petitions were by women. This shows that they are expecting more from their marriages than previously, and may not be prepared to conform to the functionalist Expressive Leader role.
Other contributing factors to the high divorce rate include increasing public acceptance of divorce and a lowering of the cost.
The breakdown of marital relations is common especially in younger age groups, working classes and the unemployed. This is hard to measure however, as there are other aspects to the breakdown of marriage apart from divorce. Many people, who split from their partners simply separate, live in different houses without suffering the stress or financial expense of a divorce. Some of these people may never divorce, but live separate lives with other partners despite this. This makes separation almost impossible to measure, as no one need be informed that it has happened.
It is believed that many couples are currently living in “empty shell marriages”, where they remain married and living together, but are together in name only. This can be done for the sake of children, or for religious or financial reasons. It is believed (though not proved) that these have always existed, but are more likely to end in separation or divorce now than in the past.
Other reasons for not marrying may include people not valuing marriage so highly as in the past and living in an increasingly secular society where there is not such a religious pull towards marriage.
In conclusion there is no evidence to suggest that the current trends in the rates of marriage, cohabitation and divorce are about to change, as marriage is increasingly devalued and alternatives become more widely accepted in society.
