FAMILY LIFE IN BRITAIN
FAMILY LIFE IN BRITAIN
I.CHANGING VALUES AND NORMS OF THE BRITISH FAMILY
The family in Britain is changing .The one typical British family headed by two parents has undergone substantial changes during the twentieth century .In particular there has been a rise in the number of single-person households,which increased from 18 to 19 per cent of all households between 1971 and 2002.By the year 2020 ,it is estimated that there will be more single people than married people.Fifty years ago this would have been socially unaceptable in Britain. In the past ,people got married and stayed married .Divorce was very difficult , expensive and took a long time .Today people’s views on marriage are changing .Many couples ,mostly in their twenties or thirties ,live together (cohabit) without getting married .Only about 60 per cent of these couples will eventually get married. In the past ,people married before they had children ,but now about 40 per cent of children in Britain are born to unmarried (cohabiting) parents.In 2002 ,around a quarter of unmarried people between the ages of 16 and 59 were cohabiting in Great Britain .Cohabiting couples are also starting families without first being married .Before 1960 this was very unusual ,but in 2001 around 23 per cent of births in the UK were to cohabiting couples . People are generally getting married at a later age now and many women do not want to have children immediately.They prefer to concentrate on their jobs and put off having a baby until late thirties . The number of single-parent families is increasing .This is mainly due to more marriages ending in divoce ,but some women are also choosing to have children as lone parents without being married. Starting a family is something that people do all over the world,however, there are some differences among the countries and even in the same
I.CHANGING VALUES AND NORMS OF THE BRITISH FAMILY
The family in Britain is changing .The one typical British family headed by two parents has undergone substantial changes during the twentieth century .In particular there has been a rise in the number of single-person households,which increased from 18 to 19 per cent of all households between 1971 and 2002.By the year 2020 ,it is estimated that there will be more single people than married people.Fifty years ago this would have been socially unaceptable in Britain. In the past ,people got married and stayed married .Divorce was very difficult , expensive and took a long time .Today people’s views on marriage are changing .Many couples ,mostly in their twenties or thirties ,live together (cohabit) without getting married .Only about 60 per cent of these couples will eventually get married. In the past ,people married before they had children ,but now about 40 per cent of children in Britain are born to unmarried (cohabiting) parents.In 2002 ,around a quarter of unmarried people between the ages of 16 and 59 were cohabiting in Great Britain .Cohabiting couples are also starting families without first being married .Before 1960 this was very unusual ,but in 2001 around 23 per cent of births in the UK were to cohabiting couples . People are generally getting married at a later age now and many women do not want to have children immediately.They prefer to concentrate on their jobs and put off having a baby until late thirties . The number of single-parent families is increasing .This is mainly due to more marriages ending in divoce ,but some women are also choosing to have children as lone parents without being married. Starting a family is something that people do all over the world,however, there are some differences among the countries and even in the same