In the last 30 years or so, British society has experienced many changes in the organization of the family. It could be argued that many of these changes have occurred because of a change in attitudes and expectations of family life as well as legislative changes. In this essay I will be looking at the changes in family organization in terms of changes to marriage, divorce, cohabitation and how these changes have led to a wider range or diversity of family types in the United Kingdom when compared with 30 or more years ago.
Families and households in the UK are continuously changing and there have been vast changes since the 1970’s. There has been an increase in the number of divorces and in turn in a decline in marriage as an institution mainly due to the growing secularization of society in the last 30 years or so. The secularization of society has also led to a rise in cohabitation. Another change is the number of children that women have and the age at which they have children. There are also a rising number of lone parents, civil partnerships and much more. All of these changes have meant that the way that families are organized looks very different to the way families were organized even fifty years ago. Lewis (2001) argues that these changes have happened because sex, parenthood and marriage are no longer interconnected because individuals have freedom in their personal lives and the ways in which they choose to live their lives. He believes that this is because these things are no longer controlled by a societal moral code.
The concept and structure of family has changed vastly in the last 30 years or so from being an extended family in pre-industrial society which contained two or more generations living under one roof. The role of this type of family was primarily as a unit of production which tended to revolve around a farm due to industrialization. With the end of industrialization families became smaller nuclear units. Graham Allan (2000) states that “familial arrangements …no longer… constrained by social convention and or economic need (p.19). In the past women who were unmarried would be looked down on as at the time it was expected that women would marry and spend their life raising a family. It has become more acceptable for women to choose not to get married and rather than being looked down on, single women are more likely to be viewed as strong focused and independent. These changes have led to a significant change in the way that families look today.
In the past marriage oftentimes occurred because of economic or political interests. Upper class individuals were encouraged to marry well in order to acquire influential in laws, or to forge a business partnership. Middle class men often intended to marry women who has sizable dowry’s. In turn women married for social stability. As a result, young people seeking to get married often did not get married for love. And married couples were not required to form a relationship based on love but rather one in which the traditional ideas of a male lead household existed. As Allan and Head (2011) argued “marriage signified respectability for the individual, and for his or her family, but also institutionally (p.335) It was only in the last 30 years or do that things such as adultery and wife beating were seen as less acceptable. This is because laws and social mores ensured that women gave into their husbands wishes. All this changed as a result of the civil rights climate of the 1960’s and 1970’s which caused economic, social and political reform. The result has been a sharp rise in divorce rates over the past fifty years changing the ways that families are organized.
There has also been less pressure for couples to marry quickly and as a result there has been a rise in cohabitation. A reason for this could be that society no longer views marriage as the only definition of a serious relationship. 30 years ago, cohabitation was rare but now can be seen as an acceptable alternative to marriage. According to the ONS (2015)
cohabitating couple families are the fastest growing family type with cohabitating couple families growing 29.7% between 2004 and 2014. This is partly because of changing attitudes to sexual relationships that means that sex is no longer seen as legitimate or acceptable just within marriage, and far few people see sex outside of marriage as morally wrong. Neither is having children out of wedlock removing any social pressure to get married which could explain the rise in cohabitation. Because of the rise of cohabitation, the way that families look has changed.
Divorce rates have also increased as a result of changing social attitudes in the UK. Whereas in the past, there was a lot of stigma attached to divorcees. It is now considered much more acceptable as a result individuals are less wary of the social consequences of divorce and are more likely to seek the legal end to the marriage. Changes in legislation have also made marriage easier and women have equal rights in divorce. The 1969 Divorce Reform Act made it possible for individuals to file for divorce in the grounds of an “irretrievable breakdown” of marriage, this meant that individuals no longer had to prove that their partner was at fault for any reason. Instead all that had to be proved was that the marriage had broken down beyond repair. Beck and Beck Gernstien (1995) claim that the rising divorce rates are as a result of the growing individualization of society. These have changes the nature of families because people are less willing to stay in unhappy families as a result the organization of family has changed drastically.
There have also been changes to the attitudes towards family life. Wilkinson and Mulgan (Wilkinson 1994; Wilkinson and Mulgan 1995) found in their studies of women and men in the UK from the ages of 18-34 that major changes were occurring in the outlook of younger women. They argued that young women’s outlook has been shaped by the increasing freedoms that they have that were not available to previous generations. Their study found that of the women they studied 29% of women and over 50% of men wanted to delay having children. This shows a change in family practices. In 2008 25% of mothers were under the age of twenty-five. By comparison in 1971 47% of mothers were under twenty-five (ONS 2010). This has changed the way that family life is organized in the last 30 years.
The Civil Partnership Act in 2004 enabled people of the same sex to enter into a civil partnership. This has meant that the definition of marriage has been widened. Same sex couples have almost the same rights as married couple for example next of kin rights. By 2009 the number of civil partnerships formed was 34,00 (ONS 2010a). Because of the increasing rights of same sex couples there has been a rise in children brought up in same sex family households. This has therefore in turn changed the nature and organization of families in the last few years. Although data on this trend is hard to find. According gov.uk statistics between April 1st, 2013 and March 31st, 2014 935 people who identified themselves as either lesbian, gay or bisexual were approved to adopt. With the developments in reproductive techniques such as Artificial insemination mean that couples may be able to have child either surrogacy or “naturally. Once again, this has brought about changes to the organization of family.
There have also been changes to childhood and families. A percentage (47.6% according to the ONS) of children are born outside of marriage mostly to cohabitating partners. Women are also generally having children later in 1971 women on average had their first child at 24 by 2010 the average age was 30-34. (ONS 2017) There are numerous reason why this change has occurred. One key reason for this change could be that having children later on in life is due to the changes attitudes and roles of women. Women tend to work more and therefore may put their career before having children. Because of this the organization has changed in the United Kingdom as women are having fewer children and having them older.
There has also been a rise in lone parent families. According to the ONS (2017) there are 2,817 lone parent families in the UK. This could be due to the rise in divorce that has led to a rise in single parent families. This may be because women tend to gain custody of children in divorce (with exceptions). There has also been a rise in single parent households of mothers who have never been married. Again, this could be because of the decreased stigma surrounding sex outside of marriage. However, because the various way or routes that individuals can essentially exit and enter single parenthood means that it is hard to define and measure. The increase in single parent households has also led to a rise in the problem of absent fathers. With the rise of divorce there has become a rise in fathers who have infrequent to no contact with their children. This has changed the dynamics of family life in the UK
In the last 30 years or so there has been a rise in step families. They are normally as a result of divorce of one or both parents. In the past step-families tended to be as a result of the death of one parent whereas now step-families occur sometimes as a result of divorce from one or both partners. Allan et al. (2011) have pointed out that life in step families is sometimes complex. They argue that this is because the feeling of unity that appears in families with two biological parents may not appear within stepfamilies. Is because stepfamilies do not always have the same interest’s history or even how the household should be structured. As they state " step-parents have no privileged right or responsibilities for involvement in decisions about their children's lives" pg. 24. The rise of step families has led to a change in the organization of families because it has led to a greater interconnectedness and wider range of family types
The last 30 years has brought about changes to gender roles. As previously stated in the past men were seen as the breadwinners and women were in charge of domestic duties. These roles defined interpersonal relationships between men and women. With the emersion of feminism, the role of women in the household changes and the to the ways that women are viewed has challenged the understanding of what should occur in the home. Domestic abuse is a far more recognized if under reported issue than it was in the past. Women are freer to divorce their husbands than it was on the past. The problems of domestic violence has gained attention since the 1970’s as a result of feminist groups. Before the 1970’s domestic abuse was seen as a “private matter” but with the growth of awareness about domestic violence and laws regarding and have changed this. These changes have had an effect on the internal organization of family because the role of women has changed.
In conclusion, in the last 30 years the organization of family has been changing. This is demonstrated through the growing rates of divorce, the changing attitudes towards marriage and cohabitation becoming more popular. This is in part due to the changing in British society’s values and an emphasis on personal fulfillment rather than the traditional values of the past. This in turn has led to an increase in movement for rights for LGBT individuals and couples which has led to changes in the law such as the Civil Partnership Act. All these factors have changed the organization of family.