The Importance Of Cohabitation In British Society

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Traditionally, family may be defined as a group of people linked directly by blood relations, wherein the adults take responsibility for their young ones (Giddens, 2001, p.433). However, there has been no legitimate agreement on an exact definition. What is clearer is the definition of family structure. Family structure (what a family consists of) is an integral variable in the constitution of a society. The British society specifically, has been witness to a variety of family structures that have resulted from changes and trends that have occurred in the economy, the political policies and other such disciplines of social sciences. Hence, an interdisciplinary approach must be employed to fully evaluate why, when and how these repercussions occurred. This paper will elaborate on these changes starting from 70 years ago as for over two decades following the Second World War; the concept of the traditional family was challenged continuously. This occurred due to three major causes that were a) workforce becoming increasingly feminised post the war, b) advancement in contraception methods leading to a radical shift in decisions about starting families and c) increase in acceptability of divorce and cohabitation (Jenkins et al., 2008, p.5). This paper will focus on the third cause; thereby expanding on how Giddens’ definition of a traditional family has been challenged over time, using evidence from economic, political and sociology-based resources. Most social science research follows the cause and effect mechanism. This paper will use the same mechanism and following a statistical outline of changes in the family structures in Britain, it will take increased divorce rates as an example of a change and provide an interdisciplinary study. Thereafter, the link between divorce and cohabitation will be highlighted. Furthermore, an exhaustive interdisciplinary study will be presented taking cohabitation as an example of a trend in British family structures. The key characteristics of 21st century families are diversity, modifications and continuity (Williams, 2004, p.14). They are diverse by the virtue of mutated partnering and parenting arrangements (mutated by various modifications). The continuity or what has remained the same or similar is that most of these arrangements still comprise of coupled partners or parents. This is can be deciphered from statistics from between 1971 and 2001 (3 decades) that show that the percentage of ‘married couples’ and ‘cohabiting couples’ was 68% (no distinguished numbers till 1979). However, by 2001 the percentage of married couples was 45% and of cohabiting couples was 8% (Williams, 2004, p.13). In addition to this, there was another kind of family structure that became prominent in the British society that constituted 17% of the total number of families in 1971 and 31% (almost double) in 2001—the lone parent family (Office for National Statistics, 2001). The statistical data illustrates a clear fall in the percentage of married couples as well as partnered couples …show more content…
Now, divorce can be linked with cohabitation using the cause and effect mechanism. According to Axinn and Thornton (1992), cohabitation became popular due to the rising divorce rates. People began to realise the negative economic, social and financial repercussions of divorce. Younger people started using cohabitation as preliminary step to marriage. This led to a rise in the average age of marrying. This was advantageous to a certain extent. The reason being, people who got married at an older stage were less divorce-prone (Ringen, …show more content…
Therefore, it can be interpreted that in most cases, cohabitation is a trial process for marriage and it is clear that from 70 years ago till today, marriage is still the most popular norm. However, marriage is not the most certain and final step in starting a family. Instabilities like divorce have been bringing down the number of married couples drastically over the years; thereby changing family structures in the British society. Trends like cohabitation as opposed to marriage have led to an extension in the definition of family. These phenomena with their social, political and economic causes and effects have challenged Giddens’ definition and concept of a traditional family. The causes and effects are interlinked in various ways and cannot be explained using one field of study only. Hence, an interdisciplinary approach provided a thorough understanding of the changes and trends that have occurred in the British society. In conclusion, it can be said that family structures in the Great Britain are subject to instabilities and will continue to multiply in the upcoming

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