One example of these changes is the raised material aspirations of families, which Hart suggests has put pressure on both spouses to become wage earners. For example, Nicky Hart (cited in Haralambos, 1995) argues that increases in divorce and marital breakdown are the result of economic changes that have affected the family. 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 society.Īnother type of explanation is one that focuses precisely on these broad societal changes. The problem with this type of explanation however, is that it does not consider why these laws have changed in the first place. therefore believe that changes in divorce rates can be best explained in terms of changes in the legal system. 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). It is possible, they claim, that there has always been a degree of marital instability. For example, Bilton, Bonnett and Jones (1987) argue that increased rates of divorce do not necessarily indicate that families are now more unstable. One type of explanation for rising divorce has focused on changes in laws relating to marriage. It will be argued that the best explanations are to be found within a broad socio-economic framework. 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. 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).Īn important issue for sociologists, and indeed for all of society, is why these changes in marital patterns have occurred. 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). This change is borne out clearly in census figures. Whereas in the past, divorce was a relatively rare occurrence, in recent times it has become quite commonplace. A major change that has occurred in the Western family is an increased incidence in divorce.
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