...Examine the reasons for changes in divorce rate since 1970 Since the 1960’s divorce rate began to increase dramatically but the biggest rise in divorce rate was in 1972 when it doubled and was 120,000. The divorce rate continued to rise and in 1993 reached its peak at 180,000. There has been explanations for the rise in divorce which are: secularisation, changes in law, divorce had become cheaper and also changing attitudes in society especially with women as they had begun to receive more rights. By the times divorce had become a lot more socially acceptable. In the 19th Century divorce was extremely difficult to obtain, more so for women. Eventually in 1923 grounds were equalised for men and women, but this was followed by a sharp rise in the number of divorce petitions from women. Again in 1972, the grounds widened to ‘irretrievable breakdown’ which made divorce easier to obtain and produced a doubling of the divorce rate overnight. The introduction of legal aid for divorce cases in 1949 lowered the cost of divorce. With each change in the law divorce rates have risen. The new right are against the introduction of new laws which make marriage easier as it breaks up the idea of a traditional family which they support. It lead to a trend in single parent households. There were many laws which helped divorce become a lot cheaper and easier to obtain, the most significant law put in place in examining the reasons for changes in divorce rate is the law which was passed in 1971...
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...Examine the reasons for the changes of divorce rates since 1969 In 1969 the idea of an ‘irretrievable breakdown’ was introduces meaning that divorce could be given on these grounds and without having to find blame. In 1971 this idea became law meaning that couples could divorce on the ground of ‘irretrievable breakdown’. As there was no need to find blame it became to easier to become divorced meaning more people who wanted to divorce who wanted to divorce before the law came into action but didn’t due to the long hassling process, were now divorcing increasing the divorce rates. Also during the time of 1971 and 1975 two new laws came into play making women more equal in society. Both the equal pay act and the sex discrimination act gave women more freedom and independence. As a result of these two new laws, a very sharp increase was witnessed in women filing for divorce as they had greater independence and financial stability as they were working and thus earning their own money as well being able to get help from the welfare state. As divorce rates increased the stigma attached to divorce decreased. Pre 1969 to be divorced was seen to be shameful and it was frowned upon. But as society advanced so did the thoughts of people. But today’s society is very influenced by the media and the media like to portray the idea of a ‘prince charming’ and ‘romantic love’ which people live their live by. So when marriages do not live up to expectations and standards set by the outside...
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...burden’ to describe the woman’s role in the family today. Item 2B Government policies and laws include tax and benefit policies as well as legislation such as relating to divorce and marriage. Sociologists have different views on the impact of these policies and laws on families. For example, feminists argue that social policies assume that the ideal family is a patriarchal nuclear family, and that government policies and laws therefore favour this sort of family. On the other hand, the New Right argue that the benefit system undermines traditional nuclear families by actively encouraging lone parents. 0 6 Explain what is meant by the ‘dual burden’ (Item 2A). (2 marks) 0 7 Explain the difference between the expressive role and the instrumental role (Item 2A). (4 marks) 0 8 Suggest three ways in which the differences between children and adults are becoming less clear in society today. (6 marks) 0 9 Examine the reasons for, and the effects of, changes in family size over the past 100 years or so. (24 marks) 1 0 Using material from Item 2B and elsewhere, assess sociological views of the impact of government policies and laws on family life. Item 2A Over the past 40 years or so, there has been a decline in the number of first marriages in the United Kingdom. One of the reasons for this decline is the change in the role of women in society. In order to develop their careers, women may be rejecting the notion of marriage altogether and remaining single. Over the same period...
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...Examine changes in the patterns of childbearing and childrearing in the UK since the 1970s Since the 1970s, there has been less of a need to have as many children because many things have changed since the war. The 1970s rise in lone motherhood was largely a consequence of increasing divorce rates. Many of the traditional ideas on how children should be made and brought up have changed or evolved into new concepts that might have been a taboos or stigmatised in the 70s. The reason for and the result of these patterns range widely. Infant mortality rate lowered a lot of births in the UK because more births were successful and more children were surviving to childhood and adulthood. This caused more parents to have less children so they can focus their love and attention on the children they have. When the IMR was high in the UK, the parent would have many children for work purpose and they would not care if the one child died because they could just replace that one. Children were used for mostly work and to get money, but since the act that stopped children working under a age, children were then becoming the child centre of the home, the parents would see their child more and the child would then need the mother or father to help the when they are at home, this lead to lower IMR. Childbearing is having children and one of the greatest changes is the growing rate of children being born outside of marriage. Over four in ten children are now born outside of marriage...
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...Name: SCLY 1: Families and Households Revision Notes 2011-12 By the end of this unit you should be able to * answer any question on families and households ! Key definitions: A family is usually a group of people related by marriage or blood. A household is a person living alone or a group of people living together who may or may not be related. Theories of the family From the specification: The relationship of the family to the social structure and social change * Functionalist views: the importance of the nuclear family, the universality of the family, changing functions, how the nuclear family ‘fits’ modern society. * Marxist views: the family as part of the ideological state apparatus, as an agent of social control. * Feminist views: patriarchy; liberal, radical and Marxist feminism. Consensus/Positive views of the family | Conflict/critical views of the family | * Functionalist theories: the family performs positive functions for individuals and society * New Right theories: the family is the cornerstone of society, but it is under threat | * Marxist theories: the family provides important functions for capitalism * Feminist theories: the family reinforces gender inequality and patriarchy | Functionalist theories GP Murdock | Evaluation | Murdock argues that the family is a universal institution (it exists everywhere) that performs four major functions: * Stable satisfaction of the sex drive with the same partner, preventing the...
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...Times, but argued that being brought up by her grandmother had been good for her. There are exceptions, but in general the odds are stacked against South Africa’s young people succeeding. Only 68% of candidates passed their matric in 2010 and to pass a subject they only had to get 30% right anyway. Of those who enrolled in university in 2002, more than half dropped out. One in two young people who want a job cannot find one, and a third of 15-24 year olds are not in education, employment or training. In other words, they have nothing to do. More than a third of the country’s prisoners are aged 18-25, whereas this age group accounts for only about 15% of the total population. Nearly 50 000 schoolgirls fell pregnant in 2007, a 151% increase since 2003. Drugs and alcohol seem to be easily accessible to many young people. Nearly a third of 12-24 year olds said they had easy access to marijuana and 8% had easy...
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...Sociology Revision What is the family? “The family are a close group of people, usually related not always. Who support each other and at some point in their lives tend to live in the same household.” There is no correct definition on the family, Sociologists do not agree on a definition, broadly there are two types of definition; • Exclusive definitions – These focus on the specific relationships within the family unit i.e. marriage • Inclusive definitions – These focus on the functions of the unit e.g. support. The Cereal Packet Family A popular image of the family in Britain in the late twentieth century has been described as the cereal packet family. The ‘happy family’ image gives the impression that most people live in a typical family and these images reinforce the dominant ideology of the traditional nuclear family. Functionalists Roles of the Family – Parsons The Functionalist Talcott Parsons sees two main functions that the family performs these are: • The primary socialisation of children Parson argues that every individual must internalise the norms and values of society. He said it is the family that moulds the child’s personality to fit the needs of society, producing children who are committed to shared norms and values and who have a strong sense of belonging to society • The stabilisation of adult personalities Adults need emotional security, which is given by partners in a marriage, and they also need a source...
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...Sociology Revision What is the family? “The family are a close group of people, usually related not always. Who support each other and at some point in their lives tend to live in the same household.” There is no correct definition on the family, Sociologists do not agree on a definition, broadly there are two types of definition; • Exclusive definitions – These focus on the specific relationships within the family unit i.e. marriage • Inclusive definitions – These focus on the functions of the unit e.g. support. The Cereal Packet Family A popular image of the family in Britain in the late twentieth century has been described as the cereal packet family. The ‘happy family’ image gives the impression that most people live in a typical family and these images reinforce the dominant ideology of the traditional nuclear family. Functionalists Roles of the Family – Parsons The Functionalist Talcott Parsons sees two main functions that the family performs these are: • The primary socialisation of children Parson argues that every individual must internalise the norms and values of society. He said it is the family that moulds the child’s personality to fit the needs of society, producing children who are committed to shared norms and values and who have a strong sense of belonging to society • The stabilisation of adult personalities Adults need emotional security, which is given by partners in a marriage, and they also need a source...
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...Presumable they are still able to at least feed themselves, and this is already far better than the situation in some developing countries. However, when we investigate and compare poverty in both places after drawing up a definition, one would find poverty in cities not as easy as they presume. The definition of poverty has been a long debate between scholars of social policies. Not only does it reflect the real situation of the poverty, it also affects the making of welfare policies in Hong Kong. Traditionally the expenditure and the income approaches are used to define poverty. Here, the two approaches would be used to show how poor and how many the poor are respectively. In 1993, the Legislation Council invited Professor MacPherson to examine the poverty...
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...A Report to the Nation Maggie Gallagher, Principal Investigator The Age of Unwed Mothers Is Teen Pregnancy the Problem? Institute for American Values This report comes from the Marriage Project of the Institute for American Values. Maggie Gallagher, the principal investigator, is an affiliate scholar at the Institute and the director of its Marriage Project. The Institute is grateful to Amara Bachu, Douglas J. Besharov, Norval Glenn, Dana Mack, Steven L. Nock, and Maris Vinovskis for their scholarly and editorial suggestions, and to the William H. Donner Foundation for its generous financial support of this initiative. The contributions of other supporters are also greatly appreciated. On the cover: Maternity (1950) by Milton Avery. Oil on canvas, 32 X 46 inches. Collection of Sally M. Avery. ©1999, Milton Avery Trust/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, NY. © 1999, Institute for American Values. All rights reserved. No reproduction of the materials contained herein is permitted without the written permission of the Institute for American Values. ISBN 0-9659841-5-X Institute for American Values 1841 Broadway, Suite 211 New York, NY 10023 Tel: (212) 246-3942 Fax: (212) 541-6665 info@americanvalues.org www.americanvalues.org The Age of Unwed Mothers Is Teen Pregnancy the Problem? Executive Summary Why have three decades of intensive national effort to reduce teen pregnancy not been more successful? Largely because for three decades, we have framed...
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...Working Paper 46 November 2008 138 Union Street, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6 www.queensu.ca/sps Peter Hicksi Social Policy in Canada – Looking Back, Looking Ahead This paper discusses recent policy trends, the changing role of the various actors in the system, international comparisons and a range of other social policy topics. The immediate purpose of the paper is to examine the reasons why social policy analysts need to look into the future, and to explore ways of managing the inevitably large risks associated with such future-looking exercises. The underlying purpose, however, is simply to introduce a range of important Canadian social policy topic to students and others who are interested in social policy, but without much previous background in the areaii. The first part of the paper was taken directly from a 1994 presentationi that was intended to provide outside social policy experts (from Latin America in this case) with an overview of the Canadian social policy landscape, particularly of recent trends and possible future directions, mainly from a federal government perspective. At that time, major reform of social security policies was being discussed and I tried to give our visitors some flavour of the background to that reform, with particular emphasis on the i Peter Hicks was with the department of Human Resources Development Canada at the time of the 1994 paper which forms the basis of Part I of the present paper. The following year he left the Government...
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...92 Singapore Academy of Law Journal (2012) 24 SAcLJ UNILATERAL CONVERSION OF A CHILD’S RELIGION AND PARENTAL RIGHTS IN MALAYSIA The issue of unilateral conversion of a child to Islam by one parent who has embraced Islam and the subsequent tussle over the custody of the child between the disputing parents in the civil court and the Syariah Court has of late ignited controversy in Malaysia. This article seeks to examine the extent of the non-Muslim parent’s right to determine the child’s religion, the impact of the unilateral conversion of the child to Islam on the parents’ custodial right in a family dispute and how the existing legal and judicial systems in Malaysia can be strategically used to achieve one’s aim. KUEK Chee Ying LLB (Hons) (University of Malaya), LLM (University of Malaya); Lecturer, Faculty of Business and Law, Multimedia University. TAY Eng Siang LLB (Hons) (University of Malaya), LLM (Distinction) (University of Malaya); Lecturer, Faculty of Business and Law, Multimedia University. I. Introduction 1 1 Malaysia is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country. The Federal Constitution of Malaysia guarantees freedom of religion where every person is granted the right to profess and practise, and, subject to 2 3 certain restrictions, to propagate his or her religion. Though not 1 2 According to the Population and Housing Census 2010, the total population of Malaysia was 28.3 million, of which about 91.8% were...
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...Patriarchy is best defined as control by men. The opposite is matriarchy which means women are in charge and the head of families. Obviously, the culture of the United States and most other countries is patriarchal. Men have the power and control the women. If you don't believe that consider the basics of how our society functions. Women constantly must fight for their rights and sometimes they struggle just to survive without the power and domination of men threatening them. Whether an individual woman wants to conquer patriarchy will come from her desire to be independent and defined outside the context of men. Look to most world leaders to see how powerful patriarchy is. Women are certainly as capable as men to be President of the United States, yet they are not and probably won't be any time soon. Men have been in that role for so long that our country probably does not believe it is possible. Consider who is typically at the head of a company or leaders in local governments. While certainly more women are fulfilling these roles, it is a constant struggle for the ones who are able to achieve that success with men having much more power just by their biological nature. Men have not had to fight for their place in society like women have. It has been an expectation that they will become leaders because that is what patriarchy is about. Much of patriarchy also has its roots in Christianity. Religions which believe the Bible or other religious text often follow it faithfully...
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...CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1.1 INTRODUCTION Governments of all political leanings show an interest in their housing sectors, since housing touches people's lives directly. In socialist countries, governments take care of everything including housing. However, capitalist governments are also keen to improve their housing sectors. For instance, both Conservative and Labour governments in the United Kingdom have concentrated on housing at times of closely fought elections demonstrating how important politics has been to public housing investment. In the UK both Conservative and Labour parties attempt to draw as many voters as possible towards them at election time through highlighting this priority. However, despite this political attention to providing housing particularly in third world countries, several problems still face many countries such as providing infrastructures, education, and health care services and Jordan is one of these countries. One of the most important difficulties in Jordan is housing, which manifests itself in a shortage of housing as a result of insufficient finance where the expenditure ratio on housing in development plans decreased from 25.7% in 1970 to 9.1% in 1992 (General Committee of Planning, 1997). In addition, the General Council of Planning report highlights that there are also finance difficulties faced by the housing sector (General Council of Planning, 2002). This research deals with the housing problem in Jordan in general, and discusses...
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...Glossary of Sociological Terms |11-Plus Exam |Examination introduced with the 1944 Education Act, sat by all pupils in the state sector| | |at the age of 11. If they passed they went to the selective Grammar School, or if they | | |failed to the Secondary Modern School. This exam still exists in some counties such as | | |Kent and also in Northern Ireland. | |12-Plus Exam |Exam made available only to a minority of 'high-flyers' in Secondary Modern schools, | | |offering a late chance to go to Grammar School at the age of 12. | |'30-30-40 society' |A term associated with Will Hutton to describe an increasingly insecure and polarised | | |society. The bottom 30 per cent is socially excluded by poverty from the rest of society.| | |The next 30 per cent live in fear and insecurity of falling into poverty. Only the top 40| | |per cent feel secure and confident. ...
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