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Co-habitation, when partners do not m arry yet live together as a family, has also increased. In 2006, of
the 17.5 m illion fam ilies in Britain, nearly three m illion of these comprised unm arried couples. What does
this mean to the nuclear family? Firstly, the traditional view of a nuclear family requires m arried parents,
so we can't put these types of family under this umbrella. Statistics show that even if cohabiting couples
have children, they are more likely to separate than th eir m arried equivalents. Lastly, we need to look
at the rise of the DINKS, which stands for Dual Income No Kids. As Clarke and Henwood outline, many
cohabiting couples are choosing a life w ithout children, putting consum er spending firs t.
Lone-parenting is a relatively recent fam ily s tructure which has rapidly grown in the last half
century. In 1972 only one in fourteen children lived in a lone-parent family. When we compare this
w ith today's figure of one in four, we can see that this is a rapid increase. In the past, lone-parenthood
was overw helm ingly the re su lt of a death of a parent. Nowadays however, it is increasingly a choice.
Some sociologists argue that this increase is due to the outlook of w om en. Where wom en once were
w illin g to accept an unhappy or abusive m arriage, now many w ill choose lone-parenthood. Often this
can be ju s t a tra n s ito ry phase before they find a new partner. This view of w om en's a ttitudes and lone
parenting is highly debated, because some figures show that the largest group of lone parents are
m others who have never m a rrie d . You can find counter argum ents fo r these ideas in B u tler and Jones.
One difficulty for single parents is that they are a social group who are much more likely to suffer from
poverty and hardship. They are more likely to live in rented accommodation and have childcare issues.
Lastly, an increasing num ber of people are choosing to live alone. The num ber of people living alone
in B ritain has m ore than doubled in the last tw enty years. In 1990 ju s t over fo ur m illio n people lived
alone. Now this figure has reached 8.5 m illion , an incredibly rapid growth w hich has had enorm ous
effects on the tra d itio n a l nuclear family. This num ber represents a great chunk of the population who
e ithe r by choice or necessity, are outside the tra d itio n a l fam ily unit. Some th in k that these changes
may not help the comm unity. In fact, there are many argum ents th at th is rise in alternative household
structures w ill create a more isolationist and less com m unity-based society, where close bonds which
are usually form ed w ithin the fam ily have no place. Leaving aside w he th er or not the housing even
exists fo r this boom, an im p orta nt factor which m ust be looked at is the disproportionate expense fo r
those living on th e ir ow n. By this I mean, the burden of a ll costs is shouldered by one wage instead of
two, and of course one person is using the energy which could be shared between a group, having a
g reater im pact on the environm ent too.
However, on a m ore positive note, people, especially wom en, are proving ...
Hi, Dad. How are you?
I'm fine, Sally. How's the course going?
It's going w ell, actually. I'm really enjoying my m ath course at the m om ent, m ainly because it ’s not
th a t d iffic u lt compared to the othe r m odules.
Good. And w hat about the tu to rs - w hat are they like?
Well. I’ve got four, and they’re a ll highly know ledgeable, but Professor Jones is my favourite - I really
respond w e ll to the way he teaches.
And are your fe llo w students nice, too?
Yes, I’ve made lots of new frien ds and everyone seems to be very hard-w orking. The course has lots of
group w ork, but to be honest, this isn ’t really the way I like to study - I prefer to study alone.
Oh, w ell, I suppose not everything can be perfect.
I know, Dad, you’re right. In fact, there is one thing I’m a bit concerned about. My sta tistics module.
I th in k I m ight not pass it.
Well, le t’s w ait and see, sh all we - th e re ’s plenty of tim e to improve. Don’t w orry about it yet, OK?
Thanks, Dad, I'll try not to.
Excuse me, can you te ll me where the bank is, please?
It's opposite the cinema, next to the superm arket.
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