?Sample essay
The remainder of this essay crafting tutorial is determined by a short sample 'divorce essay' (about 1,000 words).
To extensive all with the associated tasks, it is easiest should you have the sample essay in front of you.
A major change that has occurred inside the Western family is undoubtedly an increased incidence in divorce. Whereas inside past, divorce was a relatively rare occurrence, in recent times it has become very commonplace. This change is borne out clearly in census figures. For example thirty years ago in Australia, only one particular marriage in ten ended in divorce; nowadays the figure is a lot more than an individual in three (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1996: p.45). A consequence of this change have been a substantial increase inside the quantity of one parent families additionally, the attendant problems that this brings (Kilmartin, 1997).
An important issue for sociologists, and indeed for all of society, is why these changes in marital patterns have occurred. Within this essay I will seek to critically examine numerous sociological explanations with the 'divorce phenomenon' and also consider the social policy implications that every single explanation carries with it. It will be argued that the prime explanations are to be found in a broad socio-economic framework.
Just one type of explanation for rising divorce has focused on changes in laws relating to marriage. For example, Bilton, Bonnett and Jones (1987) argue that increased rates of divorce do not necessarily indicate that families are now a bit more unstable. It is quite possible, they claim, that there has always been a degree of marital instability. They suggest that changes from the law have been significant, given that they have provided unhappily married couples with 'accessibility to your legal resolution to pre-existent marital problems' (p.301). Bilton et al. therefore believe that changes in divorce rates is usually most reliable explained in terms of changes from the legal plan. The problem with this type of explanation however, is usually that it does not consider why these laws have changed within the first of all position. It could be argued that reforms to family law, at the same time given that the increased rate of divorce that has accompanied them, are the product of a whole lot more fundamental changes in society.
Another type of explanation is 1 that focuses precisely on these broad societal changes. For example, Nicky Hart (cited in Haralambos, 1995) argues that increases in divorce and marital breakdown are the result of economic changes that have affected the family. A particular example of these changes is the raised material aspirations of families, which Hart suggests has put pressure on the two spouses to become wage earners. Women as a result have been forced to become equally homemakers and economic providers. According to Hart, the contradiction of these two roles has lead to conflict and this is the main cause of marital breakdown. It would appear that Hart's explanation cannot account for all cases of divorce - for example, marital breakdown is liable to occur in families where only the husband is working. Nevertheless, her strategy, which is to relate changes in family relations to broader social forces, would seem to be to be additional probing than an individual that looks only at legislative change.
The two explanations described higher than have very different implications for social policy, primarily in relation to how the problem of increasing marital instability may be dealt with. Bilton et al. (1995) offer a legal explanation and hence would see the solutions also being determined on this domain. If rises in divorce are thought to be the consequence of liberal divorce laws, the obvious way to stem this rise is to make them less obtainable. This strategy, a single imagines, would lead to the reduction in divorce statistics; however, it cannot really be held up as a genuine alternative to the problems of marital stress and breakdown in society. Indeed it would appear to be a option directed a lot more at symptoms than addressing fundamental causes. Furthermore, the expertise of social workers, working on the area of family welfare suggests that restricting a couple's accessibility to divorce would in some cases serve only to exacerbate present marital problems (Johnson, 1981). In those cases where violence is involved, the consequences could be tragic. Apart from all this, returning to way more restrictive divorce laws appears to be a alternative modest favoured by Australians. (Harrison, 1990).
Hart (cited in Haralambos, 1995), composing from the Marxist-feminist position, traces marital conflict to changes inside capitalist economic method and their resultant effect to the roles of men and women. It is difficult to know however, how these an analysis may possibly be translated into practical social policies. This is considering the fact that the Hart program would appear to require while in the very first put a radical restructuring on the economic structure. Whilst this may be desirable for some, it isn't achievable around the current political climate. Hart is right however, to suggest that substantially marital conflict is often linked in some way to the economic circumstances of families. This is borne out in a great deal of statistical surveys which exhibit consistently that rates of divorce are higher among socially disadvantaged families (McDonald, 1993). This situation suggests then that social policies might need to be geared to providing help and security for these styles of families. It is tiny cause for optimism however, that in recent years governments of all persuasions have demonstrated an increasing reluctance to fund social welfare programs of this kind.
It is difficult to offer a comprehensive explanation with the growing trend of marital breakdown; and it is even a good deal more difficult to get a hold of solutions which may ameliorate the problems created by it. Clearly though, as I have argued in such a essay, essentially the most useful answers are to be found not inside a narrow legal framework, but within just a broader socio-economic one particular.
Finally, it is worth pointing out that, whilst we may appear to be living within a time of increased family instability, research suggests that historically, instability may have been the norm rather than the exception. As Bell and Zajdow (1997) point out, with the past, one parent and step families have been added very common than is assumed - although the disruptive influence then was not divorce, but the premature death of an individual or both of those parents. This situation suggests that in studying the contemporary family, a particular needs to employ a historical perspective, such as the possibility of browsing to the past in searching for ways of dealing with problems inside of the current.
References
Australian Bureau of Statistics (1996). Divorces, Australia. Canberra: Australian Government Printing Support.
Bell, R. and G. Zajdow (1997) Family and household. In R. Jureidini, S. Kenny and M. Poole (eds). Sociology: Australian Connections. St Leonards. NSW: Allen and Unwin
Bilton, T. K. Bonnett and P. Jones (1987). Introductory Sociology. 2nd edition. London: MacMillan.
Haralambos, M. (1995). Sociology: Themes and Perspectives. 3rd edition. London: Bell and Hyman.
Harrison, M. (1995). Grounds for divorce. Family Matters. No 42 pp 34-35.
Johnson, V. (1981). The Last Resort: A Women's Refuge. Ringwood: Penguin.
Kilmartin, C. (1997). Children divorce and one-parent families. Family Matters. No. 48. ( In existence On-line )
McDonald, P. (1993). Family Trends and Structure in Australia. Australian Family Briefings No 3. Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies. au.grademiners.com/essay-writer