Refer to statistical data to illustrate you answer.
This essay will examine what links, if any, can be found between divorce and class. Many of the arguments used will be the direct result of analysing statistical data, which is included in the relevant places in the essay and in an appendix. "Divorce figures are reliable, because marriage can be dissolved only by public processes". [1] Class in this case refers to the division of society based mainly upon economic inequalities. In modern society the groups mainly recognised are; the upper class, the middle class, the working class and the underclass. Divorce is in legal terms the dissolution or end of a marriage. Firstly we will examine the ways in which divorce is positively affected by class, then the reasons it is not will be addressed. Possible future trends in marriage, divorce and class will be looked at, and there will also be a brief explanation of how the different sociological perspectives relate to divorce. A conclusion based upon the issues raised will end this essay.
Table 1. Age, class and divorce (1979) Social class of husband Divorce rate per Thousand husbands, Age 20-29 Divorce rate per Thousand husbands, Age 50-59 Professional 10 Too few cases to Estimate a rate Skilled non-manual 19 10 Unskilled manual 55 9 Table 2. UK Marriage/Divorce Statistics (1994) Marriages 331,200 Divorces 173,600 Probability of Divorce 41% One way that class affects divorce is in the increasing legal ease of obtaining a divorce, and the fact that even the poorest people in our industrialised society can, through Legal Aid' now financially afford to undertake divorce proceedings. The No Fault' divorce laws that were passed in 1969, and came into affect in Britain in 1971, made divorce easier in law and these measures were further consolidated in 1996. These changes made a huge impact, leading to a big increase in the number of poor lower class people...