British Family 1 курс ВПО

"There is no such thing as society," Mrs. Thatcher once said. "Only individual men and women, and families." Many people disagree with her, but there remains a strong feeling that the immediate or 'nuclear' family is the basic unit of society, and that traditional family values remain the main­stay of national life.

The nuclear family is usually pictured as a married couple, with two children, ideally a girl and a boy, and perhaps their grandmother, or 'granny', in the background. As a picture of the way most British live, this becomes increasingly unrealistic each year. If the picture includes the traditional idea of the man going out to work while the wife stays at home, it is probably true of less than 10 per cent of the country. Even without such a limited definition, only 42 per cent of the population live in nuclear family house­holds, and even within this group a considerable proportion of parents are in their second marriage with children from a previous marriage. In fact, it is expected that by the year 2000 only half the children born in Britain will grow up in a conven­tional family with parents already married when they were born and remaining married after they have grown up.

Social attitudes and behaviour are undoubtedly changing. The number of people living alone has risen significantly. The British are clearly becoming a more solitary nation in their living habits. There is an increasing proportion of men and women living together before marriage. By the year 2000 it is estimated that most couples will live together before marrying. Others living together, or 'cohabiting', never do get married. In 1979 only 3 per cent of all women between the ages of 18 and 49 were cohabitating, but ten years later the level had risen to over 8 per cent.

This does not mean that there are fewer mar­riages in Britain. Marriages are as popular as ever, with 400,000 weddings yearly. In fact, more than one in three first marriages ends in divorce, one quarter of first marriages failing in the first five years.

What happens to those who do not marry? Only one in seven women aged between 25 and 29 was still single in 1979, compared with one in three by the end of the 1980s. Some, undoubtedly, choose to cohabit, but other women prefer a measure of independence, either by cohabiting or by living alone, which they fear they will lose by marriage. The preference of pursuit of career rather than marriage was characteristic of the 1980s. Personal development must also partly explain the growing divorce rate. Sometimes the husband's difficulty in adapting to the new situation puts a strain on the marriage.

One inevitable consequence of the climbing divorce rate has been the rise of single parent families. These families often experience isolation and poverty. Single parent families have been increasing. The great majority of single parents are women. Children, of course, are the main victims. One in three children under the age of five has divorced parents. Forty per cent of children experience the divorce of their parents before the age of eighteen.

There has also been an increase in babies born outside marriage. Once described as 'illegitimate' (a perma­nent punishment for the innocent baby), they are now described officially as 'non-marital'. Unfortunately, even cohabitation is no indication of a long-term stable environment for children. Statistics show that cohabiting parents are three times more likely to split up than married parents.

Is Britain really in moral decline? It would be safer to say that moral values are changing, with less attention on traditional definitions of immorality, and greater emphasis on personal morality.

Discussion

1 One in three marriages in Britain ends in divorce. What effects might this have on society and children? How easy do you think it should be to them to divorce?

2 What are the advantages and disadvantages of an extended family system? Is there the same problem with old people living alone in your country?

3 In your view what are the most important aspects which keep families together.

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 1302