Examine the reasons for the rise in divorce rates (20 marks)

Divorce is defined as the legal dissolution of a marriage by a court or other competent body. There are many proposed reasons as to what has caused a rise in divorce rates over recent years, however, this essay will focus primarily on changing values and attitudes within society, legal changes and the changing position of women in relation to the family.  Firstly, changing values and attitudes in society can be seen a driving force for increasing divorce rates within society. Functionalist sociologist, Fletcher (1966) argues that the higher expectations people place on marriage today is a major cause of rising divorce rates. These higher expectations make couples less willing to tolerate an unhappy marriage, which in turn leads to increasing divorce rates. Moreover, post-modernist Gibson (1994) argues that competition, choice and individualism in modern society means that people are more likely to look for personal satisfaction. Marriage is treated like a product and disregarded if it doesn’t satisfy people’s wants. Once again, this results in a rise in divorce rates as people are getting increasingly quick to give up on their marriage. However, a British Attitudes Survey of 2007 revealed that although people did attach a lot of significance to marriage, it did not suggest that their expectations of marriage had increased.