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Law, divorce. A major change that has occurred in the Western family is an
increased incidence in divorce. Whereas in the past, divorce ...
Divorce Law. Divorce is a growing epidemic in Canada and the United States. ... The Canadian
constitution allows only the federal government to set divorce law. ...
Divorce Law. Divorce is a growing epidemic in Canada and the United States. ... The Canadian
constitution allows only the federal government to set divorce law. ...
Case-study in British Family Law: Religious Beliefs and Divorce. Case-study
in British Family Law: Religious Beliefs and Divorce ...
... Divorce: According to Tanzania law, the power of divorce is vested in the courts
of law. This implies that extra-judicial divorce is not allowed. ...
Submitted by mathsc on March 5, 2007
Category: Social Issues
Words: 1135 | Pages: 5
Views: 243
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A major change that has occurred in the Western family is an increased incidence in divorce. Whereas in the past, divorce was a relatively rare occurrence, in recent times it has become quite commonplace. This change is borne out clearly in census figures. For example thirty years ago in Australia, only one marriage in ten ended in divorce; nowadays the figure is more than one in three (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1996: p.45). A consequence of this change has been a substantial increase in the number of single parent families and the attendant problems that this brings (Kilmartin, 1997).
An important issue for sociologists, and indeed for all of society, is why these changes in marital patterns have occurred. In this essay I will seek to critically examine a number of sociological explanations for the 'divorce phenomenon' and also consider the social policy implications that each explanation carries with it. It will be argued that the best explanations are to be found within a broad socio-economic framework.
One type of explanation for rising divorce has focused on changes in laws relating to marriage. For example, Bilton, Bonnett and Jones (1987) argue that increased rates of divorce do not necessarily indicate that families are now more unstable. It is possible, they claim, that there has always been a degree of marital instability. They suggest that changes in the law have been significant, because they have provided unhappily married couples with 'access to a legal solution to pre-existent marital problems' (p.301). Bilton et al. therefore believe that changes in divorce rates can be best explained in terms of changes in the legal system. The problem with this type of explanation however, is that it does not consider why these laws have changed in the first place. It could be argued that reforms to family law, as well as the increased rate of divorce that has accompanied them, are the product of more fundamental changes in...
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