Divorce: A Sociological Analysis

Most people don’t ever think that they will get a divorce but the reality is that almost half of marriages will end in divorce. Divorce is not a decision that is made or taken lightly; its effects on families are damaging and not to mention long lasting. The Oxford Dictionary (2017), describes divorce as “a legal decree dissolving a marriage by a court or other competent body”. When a couple decides to separate numerous aspects of their lives are affected. Divorce affects family dynamics, physically and emotionally health, education, finances, job stability, income potential, drug use and crime. Divorce does not simply affect the lives of families; it affects America as a whole religiously, economically, and it immensely impacts the lives of the children involved.

The family shows both continuity and changes which can be seen by looking at nuclear families and single parent families respectively. Before 1940s, marriage was considered an important part of society and thought to be a social institution essential for order. Divorce and single parent families were considered dreadful, sex outside marriage was not acceptable, it was a moral offense. The tempo of divorces was very low, but this social behavior soon ended in the post war era. By 1960s, this was no longer the case, as women started to work. They became much more independent, laws were changed and increase in divorces and cohabitation rates had shown that marriage was not compulsory in one’s life.

American family has declined drastically due to the high rates of divorce. This factor is being considered one of the biggest issues in the society. According to the current Divorce Rate-U.S.A. statistics point out that the divorce rate in the U.S.A. is the highest in the world, and

Sociologically speaking divorce from structural functionalism point of view is seen as a failure of society as compared to individual faults. The view has a macroscopic lens that sees that society should provide adequate education and guidelines to couples making their marriages suc-cessful. This can be done by effectively communicating with each other, creating harmony and consistency among partners. Symbolic/social interactionism view divorce as an individual deci-sion by two people influenced by their social habits and environment. The view is of microscopic nature because all it comes down to is choices made by an individual deriving from their interac-tions in the society. In most societies divorce is an expensive procedure as it involves

As generations pass by, divorce is becoming more of a social norm than a problem between two individuals. Divorce once was a private household issue but it became widespread only a couple of decades ago. According to the statistics, in the 1950s only 3% of families got divorced and in the 1960s it was already 10%. In the 1980s, 33% of families opted for divorce due to various environmental factors. Recent studies in Canada today, show that the rate of divorce is changing to an extent such that 4 in 10 marriages end in separation. Divorce is a sensitive concept which lies beyond two individuals simply falling out of love as is both the cause and an effect. The many factors that contribute to divorce are extramarital affairs, financial struggles, and the lack of communication.

The effects of divorce on the American culture are immense. Social scientists have been studying these effects for many years now. The studies are continuing to confirm that the climbing rate of divorce in the American culture is hurting the society and also frequently devastating the lives of many American children. There are many areas in which divorce has a negative effect in the life of a child or an adult. Many of these effects also directly correlate to the effect on a society. However, there is hope. Although divorce is being more widely recognized as being harmful to both our culture and to the individuals involved, there are many ways that we as a culture can seek to reduce this harm and attain our goal of being a culture

Chapter fourteen of the Marriage and family textbook by David Knox, covers divorce and remarriage in today’s society. It discusses how the attitudes towards divorce have changed dramatically from how it was viewed by our parents and grandparents. Not only have society’s views changed on divorce but also on the functioning roles of the family and its structure. The author also goes into how the child custody issues have changed and what things affect children who have divorcing parents. He then goes into remarriage for divorced couples and the effect it can have on the children.

Although adults can often act child-like and immature, the narrator in "The Kid's Guide to Divorce" is assumed to be a child. The story features a child and their mom spending some down time together. They cuddle on the couch, watch movies, flip through the channels, and act silly with each other. It is very easy to make the assumption that the narrator is a child because throughout the story they display child-like behavior. Such as, when the narrator ignores the mom after she asks if the popcorn popper is off, when she asks for soda and her mom says no, and when she talks about the school nurse and a puberty movie.

Also, divorce have more impact on the social lives of females than men because females are more mocked of being a divorce females than men. If a divorced man doesn’t get remarried, he would still be viewed as the right man and the female as the person whom caused the divorce. Moreover, if a man cheated, society will justify his actions by saying she was not making him happy that’s way he cheated. On the other hand, if a female cheat, it because she was not a decent female. All these enhance

In the article, The Husband’s Marriage and the Wife’s Marriage by Jessie Bernard, which discuss the research about the effect of marriage between male and female. For man, marriage is a positive act. After marriage, his family can become a motivation for them to work hard. Also, the successful organization of a family is certainly man's position in society. Marriage is good for man, which having a wife to help them to take care of their health. Hence, most divorced and widowed men choose to remarry.

Such perspectives are theories, or a set of logically interrelated statements that attempts to describe, explain, and predict social events. I would like to take a deeper look at the United State’s current rising divorce rate and its affect on our adolescents, from an interactionist perspective. Interactionists viewpoints are based on the assumption that society is the sum of the meaning of the interactions of the individuals and groups. This perspective focuses on behavior or on each person’s interpretation or definition of a given situation. The relation of divorce to this macro-level interactionist theory is that divorce is primarily dependent on humans living in cohesive groups or not, and communicating and its affects on the members involved. Research shows that the wrenching act of divorce and the loss of that original unit and the hope tied to it is often irreplaceable for a child and has a permanent affect of cataclysmic proportions (Preston 12). And children of divorced households, appear to show higher expectations of divorce and to have higher divorce rates later in life, and less desire to have children (“How Might Divorce Affect My Child’s Behavior?” 2000). Thus completing the downward spin of the deterioration in family units and the increase of the divorce rate.

In the last 25 years, divorce has become a major issue in American society. Since the turn of the century, the divorce rate has held steady between 4.0-3.2 divorces per 1000 people per year (National Vital Statistics System, 2015). With this rising divorce rate, more children are living between parents, or in single family homes, and many of these children have been exposed to altercations between parents, as well as rough custody battles and divorce settlements. Traumatic experiences like these are highly likely to stick with children of divorce throughout their life, especially if the child is older at the time of the divorce.

From past to present people all over the world have determined to live together, or “get married”. Marriage can be a beautiful thing, but some couples are unable to maintain their relationship, because they choose divorce as a solution to cope with the problems between husband and wife. Furthermore divorce is definitely on a rise. The effects of divorce can be detrimental to a family, but the causes of divorce can be just as bad. In this essay we will cover one of the main causes of divorce and one of the main effects.

Broken families are on since the beginning of humanity. In fact, divorce, which has been very common in today’s societies, is the major cause that leads to family devastation. However, although, in some cases, divorce is the only solution for a family to live in peace, one must think many times before taking such decision, and that is because of many .

High rates of divorce for American families and the lasting effects these divorces have on all parties affected is one social problem faced by many Americans. One way to analyze this problem is by using structural functionalism, which explains that society is divided into different parts and each part plays a unique role in society. Within this theory, Talcott Parsons believes that one of the ways society is divided up is through our gender and that the traditional roles each gender plays adds stability to a society. Divorce may be tied into these theories and explained by more women entering the workforce and being put into competition with men than ever before. Once the genders are no longer fulfilling their individual spheres, it may cause problems through competition that ultimately lead to unhealthy relationships and end in divorce.