Cohabitation - Involves an unmarried couple in a sexual relationship living
together
Cohabitation can have different meanings for the couples involved:
informal arrangement: this means the couple spend a lot of time together and sharing
accommodation, but within what is seen as a causal relationship
An alternative/substitute to marriage: no legal commitments or patriarchal dimensions (that
feminists identify are associated with marriage)
As a preparation or trial marriage
Reasons for the decline in marriage and the rise in cohabitation:
The changing role of women: growing economic independence has given them more freedom
of choice for their relationships. Women now pursue their own careers more willingly as their
success in education has overtaken that of males. Women’s expectations of life and marriage
has increased, and they now no longer want to fulfil a traditional role of housewife-
motherhood. There is now a longer wait for marriage as women no longer need the financial
support marriage provides. Cohabitation also avoids the potential complexity and bitterness of
legally unravelling finance, housing and other possessions, and disputes over the custody of
children, often involved in marriage breakdowns.
Growing secularization: cohabitation is now more about individual and practical choices than
sacred, spiritual unions. Evidence for this lies in the fact that less than a third of marriages today
involve a religious ceremony (though this is partly because many are second marriages arising
from divorce, and many churches won’t marry divorced people).
Changing social attitudes and reduced social stigma: young people are more likely to cohabit
than older people. This may have something to do with the concept of older people more often
thinking that ‘living together outside of marriage is always wrong’. The young tend to be more
easy-going when it comes to cohabitation.
The rising divorce rate: this may deter people from what they see, and they may not want to
marry as they risk the marriage not lasting.
Reducing risk: Beck (1992) suggests we are living in what he calls a ‘risk society’. Individuals are
less controlled by traditional structures and institutions like the family, and there is less loyalty
and commitment demanded by the social norms of marriage and family life e.g. a whole range
of socially acceptable alternatives to the traditional nuclear family are now available. Individuals
face risk as a result because they are constantly forced to reflect on their lives, weigh up choices,
and make decisions, such as whether to get married or cohabit or live alone, or what sort of
family or other relationship they wish to live in, rather than relying on what was once seen as
traditional and socially acceptable.
Statistics
in 1989 only 44% of people agreed that pre- marital sex is wrong but in 2012 65% of people
agreed
Robert Chester argues that cohabiting is a part of the marriage process e.g according to
Ernestina coast (2006) 75% of cohabiting couples say they want to marry each other.
In 2007 of stated that cohabiting couples in the uk is the fast-growing family type reaching 2.3
million in 2025
30% of births now in the Uk belong to cohabiting couples
Births/ fertility rate
Birth Rate – number of live births per 1000 of the population.
The birth rate declined in 1901 to 29% whereas in 2012 it was 13%.
General Fertility Rate – number of lives births per 1000 women of childbearing age per year.
Total Fertility Rate – the average number of children women will have during their childbearing years
together
Cohabitation can have different meanings for the couples involved:
informal arrangement: this means the couple spend a lot of time together and sharing
accommodation, but within what is seen as a causal relationship
An alternative/substitute to marriage: no legal commitments or patriarchal dimensions (that
feminists identify are associated with marriage)
As a preparation or trial marriage
Reasons for the decline in marriage and the rise in cohabitation:
The changing role of women: growing economic independence has given them more freedom
of choice for their relationships. Women now pursue their own careers more willingly as their
success in education has overtaken that of males. Women’s expectations of life and marriage
has increased, and they now no longer want to fulfil a traditional role of housewife-
motherhood. There is now a longer wait for marriage as women no longer need the financial
support marriage provides. Cohabitation also avoids the potential complexity and bitterness of
legally unravelling finance, housing and other possessions, and disputes over the custody of
children, often involved in marriage breakdowns.
Growing secularization: cohabitation is now more about individual and practical choices than
sacred, spiritual unions. Evidence for this lies in the fact that less than a third of marriages today
involve a religious ceremony (though this is partly because many are second marriages arising
from divorce, and many churches won’t marry divorced people).
Changing social attitudes and reduced social stigma: young people are more likely to cohabit
than older people. This may have something to do with the concept of older people more often
thinking that ‘living together outside of marriage is always wrong’. The young tend to be more
easy-going when it comes to cohabitation.
The rising divorce rate: this may deter people from what they see, and they may not want to
marry as they risk the marriage not lasting.
Reducing risk: Beck (1992) suggests we are living in what he calls a ‘risk society’. Individuals are
less controlled by traditional structures and institutions like the family, and there is less loyalty
and commitment demanded by the social norms of marriage and family life e.g. a whole range
of socially acceptable alternatives to the traditional nuclear family are now available. Individuals
face risk as a result because they are constantly forced to reflect on their lives, weigh up choices,
and make decisions, such as whether to get married or cohabit or live alone, or what sort of
family or other relationship they wish to live in, rather than relying on what was once seen as
traditional and socially acceptable.
Statistics
in 1989 only 44% of people agreed that pre- marital sex is wrong but in 2012 65% of people
agreed
Robert Chester argues that cohabiting is a part of the marriage process e.g according to
Ernestina coast (2006) 75% of cohabiting couples say they want to marry each other.
In 2007 of stated that cohabiting couples in the uk is the fast-growing family type reaching 2.3
million in 2025
30% of births now in the Uk belong to cohabiting couples
Births/ fertility rate
Birth Rate – number of live births per 1000 of the population.
The birth rate declined in 1901 to 29% whereas in 2012 it was 13%.
General Fertility Rate – number of lives births per 1000 women of childbearing age per year.
Total Fertility Rate – the average number of children women will have during their childbearing years
