The Influence Of Divorce In Australian Culture

Marriage and family are crucial structures in most societies. While the two institutions have historically been firmly associated in Australian culture, their affiliation is becoming more complex. Sociologists understand marriage as a legally recognized social agreement between two individuals, traditionally based on a sexual relationship and indicating a lastingness of the union. Currently, other disparities on the description of marriage might include whether spouses are of opposite sexes or the same sex, and how one of the customary expectations of marriage is understood today.
A major social trend in the current western families is the large occurrence of divorce and marital breakdowns. Divorce is the legal dissolution of a marriage. Thirty years ago in Australia, only one marriage in ten concluded in divorce; nowadays the figure is more than one in three (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2012). A consequence of this change has been an extensive increase in the number of
Historically, the dominance men had over women from social and economic pressure was once reflected as natural and rights (Macionis & Plummer, 2012). This incongruence is the cornerstone of conflict theory, which would place men in the power-class, and women in a lesser-class. These roles, conversely, are changing. Due to the social recession, the ratio of men to women in the workplace has started to shift. For instance, women comprise 46.0 per cent of all employees in Australia (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2016). As a proportion of all employees, 24.7 per cent are women working full-time and 21.3 per cent are women working part-time (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2016). Conflict theorist outlook would thus conclude a decline in marriage signal that women are creating advancement in the historical struggle with