Changing Patterns of Divorce Sociology
"Changing Patterns of Divorce Sociology" refers to the study of how divorce rates, reasons for divorce, and the impact of divorce on individuals and society have evolved over time. This field of sociology examines the social, cultural, and economic factors that influence divorce trends, as well as the consequences of divorce for families, children, and communities.
5 Key excerpts on "Changing Patterns of Divorce Sociology"
eBook - ePubDivorce in Psychosocial Perspective
Theory and Research
- Joseph Guttmann(Author)
- 1993(Publication Date)
- Psychology Press(Publisher)
...1 Divorce in Its Social Context Much of this book deals with divorce as a personal experience within a social context. This chapter, however, discusses divorce from the social perspective. The assumption is that in order to understand the etiology and consequences of divorce we must view divorce as a personal matter that is greatly affected by the social and cultural environment in which it occurs. It is the knowledge of the particular interaction between personal and social factors that gives us a better comprehension of the divorce phenomenon. Even a cursory look at the divorce rate and trend in past decades shows the susceptibility of the divorce rate to short- and long-term fluctuations. For example, the rate of divorce dropped during the Great Depression of the 1930s, and quickly returned to its earlier level afterward. Then, toward the end of World War II and immediately after, it increased dramatically and reached a peak in 1946. The rate then decreased very rapidly, reaching almost its prewar level, only to mount again to record heights in the early 1970s. The aim of this chapter is to present the principal social factors that may account for these fluctuations in the frequency and trend of divorce. The chapter begins with a consideration of the difference, indeed the tension, between individualistic and social explanations of divorce. It then reviews the relevant statistics, and discusses the legal, social, cultural, and economic contexts that affect the divorce rate and are affected by divorce. INDIVIDUALISTIC VERSUS SOCIAL EXPLANATIONS OF DIVORCE The United States has among the highest divorce rate among the industrialized countries, but it also has among the highest marriage and remarriage rates. These rates are not independent of each other, but are part of the same phenomenon...
eBook - ePubFamilies
Joys, Conflicts, and Changes
- Alex Liazos(Author)
- 2015(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...Also, the real reasons people have and those sociologists propose may differ from the grounds that laws allow (as we have seen). The Rise in Divorce Some accounts and explanations for divorce are found in most times and places: adultery, cruelty, arguing and bickering, laziness, among others. Divorce is not unique to our time. It was and has been common in all societies outside peasant patriarchal ones. In U.S. history, the following gradual social changes have raised the divorce rate to its present levels. Similar social changes have created similar increases in other industrial societies. Different Expectations of Marriage. Supporters and critics of divorce, and most sociologists and historians, agree that as the Colonial era ended and industrialization emerged in the United States women and men gradually began wanting and expecting more out of their marriages. Great Expectations: Marriage and Divorce in Post-Victorian America (May, 1980), Divorce: An American Tradition (Riley, 1991), and The Divorce Culture (Whitehead, 1997), among others, show that men and women were looking for happiness, communication, sexual pleasure, and personal growth in their marital relationships. Because the expectations are high, intense, and important, people cannot stay in marriages they feel are empty and meaningless. Adultery and mental cruelty may be tolerated when the couple is an economic team in a small community, where each can find friendships and support in extended family and friends. They become less tolerable in the more isolated nuclear family; empty and meaningless marriages are more painful and impossible to maintain there. This is the family shown in chapter 2, taken just before the wedding of the oldest daughter. At the time of this photo, the parents have been divorced for a year, yet just after this photo was taken they walked their daughter down the aisle together for her wedding...
eBook - ePubLife-Span Development and Behavior
Volume 10
- Paul B. Baltes, David L. Featherman, Richard M. Lerner, Paul B. Baltes, David L. Featherman, Richard M. Lerner(Authors)
- 2014(Publication Date)
- Psychology Press(Publisher)
...We begin with a review of the demographics of divorce, single parenthood, remarriage, and redivorce. Findings on the short and long term effects of divorce on parents and children are then presented. Throughout the chapter, factors that may account for variations in adjustment following divorce are discussed. I. Demographics of Divorce The dramatic rise in the rate of divorce during the past 2 decades has been well established (Bumpass & Castro, 1987; Cherlin, 1981; Norton & Moorman, 1987). The divorce rate more than doubled between 1960 and 1981, rising from 9.2 per 1000 marriages in 1960 to 22.6 per 1000 marriages in 1981 (Cherlin, 1981). Correspondingly, the proportion of children experiencing their parents’ marital disruptions increased from 22% in the early 1960s to an estimated 46% in the 1980s (Bumpass, 1984). Dramatic though these figures are, they fail to convey that divorce is only one in a series of transitions and family reorganizations that may follow marital separation across the life span. Missing from these frequently cited statistics is a reflection of the individual’s experience over time as well as the timing and duration of marital events. In this section, demographic changes in terms of period and cohort effects and the timing and sequencing of marital transitions across the adult life span are addressed. In addition, the implications of these transitions for children are examined. A. HISTORICAL TRENDS The postwar era. The rapid upsurge of divorce in the 1960s and 1970s should be examined within the context of divorce rates for the 20th century in order to be correctly interpreted. The rate of divorce has gradually increased since the early 1900s, and the most significant deviation from this upward pattern occurred in the decade and a half after World War II. At that time, women married at younger ages than at any other point in the 20th century, and the divorce rate declined...
eBook - ePub- Shelley Day Sclater(Author)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...231). It is this emphasis which informs the majority of feminist studies of the divorce experience, and which is moving away from the constraints of ‘objective’ methodologies which supply us with statistics but do little to increase knowledge of how divorce feels to individuals and how they make sense of it. Alongside these methodological issues, divorce research has also been characterised as exhibiting what Irving and Benjamin (1995) see as ‘a dearth of theory’; when theory is invoked it is often based, either explicitly or implicitly, on a conception of the ‘normal’ family containing two (married) parents. Thus divorce, by default, is seen as psychopathological. As Wallerstein (1991) states: [I]t is the lack of theoretical clarity as well as the challenge of method that has contributed so substantially to the equivocal, sometimes conflicting conclusions that have been reached by different investigators (p. 349). Another factor which has to be taken into consideration when looking at research into divorce is its country of origin. Whilst this chapter assesses research from a variety of different countries, it must be remembered that cultural, legal and religious (Nathanson, 1995) differences often make the direct comparison of divorce experiences and outcomes tenuous. In an attempt to increase our understanding of the divorce process, it is necessary to devise methodologies which encapsulate the complexities of divorce and uncover both the social and personal features which make up individual experience...
eBook - ePubMulti-generational Family Therapy
Tools and resources for the therapist
- Maurizio Andolfi(Author)
- 2016(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...3 SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION AND NEW FAMILY FORMS The history of humanity presents an inexhaustible repertoire of ways of organizing and attributing meaning to reproduction and to sexuality, to the alliance between groups and individuals, and therefore, an infinite variety of ways of building families. Sociological, demographic and psychological studies and research have clearly identified the range of family models that have always characterized human societies, highlighting how the family assumes different functions and structures, supporting and nurturing itself through different economic systems. The transition from the patriarchal family of the rural world, extended and economically self-sufficient, to that of the nuclear family of the industrial era is a significant example of this variability. Over the past 50 years, the family has undergone a process of radical transformation in its structure, demographic configuration, and internal and social roles, to assume gradually greater complexity and differences, and even more dramatic fragmentation, to such an extent that today it is impossible to refer to the family as a standard unit...
