Sociological View Of Divorce

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.

in divorce. There is a lot of stress on all the people involved. The man has

Throughout history, divorce has remained a controversial topic. Perceptions of divorce have drastically changed essentially because the value of marriage has changed. Marriage was once seen as a practical necessity and an irrevocable commitment. The view of marriage caused divorce to be perceived as a stigma. Divorce in earlier generations was not granted by the court system unless there were extenuating circumstances (Evolution). For example, if the woman in the marriage was unable to conceive children the divorce would be granted to the man. This remained the standard practice until the 1970’s with the introduction of “no-fault divorces” (Croteau).

In the topic of divorce, it seems as if the functionalist perspective explains it well. Most of the people get a divorce because they are unhappy within the marriage. If the couple continued to be married it could cause more problems such as affairs, theft, depression, etc., therefore ruining the society’s stability. Both individuals would be happier and there would be fewer dysfunctional families. Through the functionalist perspective, the idea of divorce is

Divorce is viewed differently by many people. Sometimes this is due to experiences, what others have said, or looking at studies that are not always accurate. However, not everyone can have the same views about marriage ending in divorce. In the article, “No Easy Answers: Why the Popular View of Divorce Is Wrong” by Constance Ahrons she shows her view on divorce. Ahrons believes that divorce does not have long-lasting damaging effects on children (65). Divorce can affect children in the family but the way the decisions are made is what will change the way the kids are influenced.

The Smith family is African American that lives in Saint Louis, Missouri. The family consists of two middle-aged parents having two daughters. The daughters’ names are Aliyah and Sarah. Sarah, the oldest is in eighth grade, and attends a very good middle school. Aliyah the youngest, attends the fourth grade at a good elementary school. . In this household both parents work. The mother is a nurse at Barnes hospital, while the father is a computer technician at a company. After many issues the parents eventually divorced about three years back. The father re-married last year to a young woman that has a four-year-old son. Overall, the family social-economic developments are that they are very well off living in a safe suburban neighborhood.

Fagan, Patrick F. and Robert Rector. "The Effects of Divorce on America." World & I, vol. 15, no. 10, Oct. 2000, p. 56. EBSCOhost, fortwayne.libproxy.ivytech.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com.fortwayne.libproxy.ivytech.edu.allstate.libproxy.ivytech.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=3628746&site=ehost-live&scope=site. Accessed 24 March 2017. Fagan and Rector discuss the many issues divorce can have on a child. They argue that when it comes to divorce, there are primarily negative outcomes for the child involved. Children who are victims of a divorced family have an increased chance to abuse drugs and become involved in crime. These children also have a higher rate of living in poverty, being undereducated, and becoming psychologically

How divorce has shaped the culture and affected the future of our children. Divorce has become more acceptable and common in our culture. A divorce not only involves the parents, children are included too. The family structure varies across America and couples divorce for different reasons such as abuse in the home, infidelity, addiction issues, religion, and the list can continue. When a couple decides to use divorce to solve any marital conflicts there are questions, emotional issues, financially concerns and etc. that will arise during the process. I will explore and collect information pertaining to the concerns and questions of divorce and children of divorce.

Thus far, the information I have learned this week has truly altered the way I view the world around me, and has caused me to reanalyze different experiences from my past. For example, as stated in the textbook, “4 out of every 10 marriages… will eventually end in divorce,” (Newman, p.7). When my parents announced their divorce, I blamed myself, as most young kids do. At the time, all my close friends had parents who were still together. This made me feel like an outcast, and for years I refused to tell anyone that my parents were divorced. To this day I still struggle with it and I would always think about what my siblings and I could have done differently. Using a sociological imagination allows me to look at the bigger picture and realize that divorce is very common and nobody in my family is to blame.

A simple search on the Internet for ‘quotes about divorce’ will bring up thousands of images of little sayings about how to move on after divorce or little jeers at the subject at hand. What is most striking about the thousands of images is the fact that there are thousands of them. Divorce has become a massive part of American culture.

Marriage is a gourds approved mating arrangements, usually marked by some type of ritual. America tends to have a free spirit when it comes to marriages. People marry for love and occasionally money, but it is not an arranged or forced ritual. It is highly regarded and meant to be special. Anything as common as marriage though will have trends.

Most people argue that the family is in ‘crisis’. They point to the rapidly increasing divorce rate, cohabitation, illegitimacy and number of single parent families.

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.