Family Breakdown | Sociology Bri

Cohabitation. The dirty word for living in sin…if you’re of a New Right or functionalist persuasion.

For others, it’s an alternative to tradition and expectation…it’s freedom from patriarchy…it’s simply a test bed for the eventual tying of the knot.Whatever your stance on it, you have to accept it has increased over the last 20 years or so and continues to divide and test emotions. Figures from ONS suggest that 2012 saw the figure for cohabitation reach almost 6m in the UK, double the figure of 1996.

The reason I’m writing about this is because I read an article the other day that claims a £50 million, 20 year state sponsored research concludes that there is more family breakdown within cohabiting families than married families. OK – is there any surprise in this revelation? Possibly to those more liberal minded?

What’s more, cohabiting couples with children under the age of 16 are now responsible for the largest number of family breakdowns; approximately 4 times more than married couples.

What I found particularly of note, was it claims to dispel any myth that low income and low education are closely linked to family breakdown, stating:

It is frequently said that low income and poor education are the main reasons behind family breakdown. But, if anything, the average income and level in education has improved since the 1980s while family breakdown has doubled

So what is it then?

Those studying SCLY1 Family & Household would of course be expected to discuss secularisation, feminist movement, changes in laws, attitudes and expectations, easier access to the contraceptive pill etc. and what all of these have produced or at least, made more achievable, is the element of choice; choosing one’s own desired path rather than an ascribed one.

However, and I purposefully adopt a New Right stance here (I’m personally pluralistic!), what is the possible result of all this? The persistent married tax relief argument by the Tories is an indication that marriage is good for families and children, cohabitation is not. What will spring forth are wild un-socialised oiks that have no contributory value to society. Therefore cohabiting couples (along with all other non-married family types) are the reason why society is as dysfunctional as it is today!

Okay, I’m being rather tongue in cheek but another article by the Daily Mail I came across refers to how one of Britain’s most senior family Judges Sir Paul Coleridge, places Britain’s social anarchy firmly at the feet of the breakdown of family and marriage.

And here is the crux: individualism. That product of post modernism and the social changes of the last 50 years or so.

So, what is the real reason for family breakdown? Perhaps it is something as simple as it’s all about me!