📜 Legislation
In some societies the law now gives cohabiting couples some of the rights of married couples, for example over housing or children. This makes living together feel safer.
Changing Family Life » Cohabitation and Other Alternatives to Marriage
What you'll learn this session
Study time: 30 minutes
Cambridge spec: 4.3.3, 4.3.4
- What cohabitation is and how the same factors explain why it has grown
- What singlehood, lone parenthood and civil partnerships are
- Why each alternative to marriage has grown in some societies
- How to write a clear exam answer on alternatives to marriage
🔒 Unlock Full Course Content
Sign up to access the complete lesson and track your progress!
Unlock This CourseMarriage is no longer the only choice
In the past, in many societies, most adults were expected to marry, and living with a partner without marriage was frowned upon. Today there are more ways to arrange a personal life. The spec lists four alternatives to marriage: cohabitation, singlehood, lone parents and civil partnerships.
The last lesson, Why Marriage and Divorce Patterns Are Changing, explained six factors in detail. This lesson uses them again, briefly, to explain cohabitation, and then looks at each alternative in turn.
Key terms:
- Cohabitation: a couple living together in a long-term relationship without being married.
- Singlehood: being single, that is, not being in a long-term couple relationship, whether by choice or not.
- Civil partnership: a legal union between two people that gives them rights and responsibilities similar to marriage, but is not called marriage.
Cohabitation
Moving in, no ring needed: cohabitation means a couple living together in a long-term relationship without being married
Cohabitation has grown in many societies. Many couples now live together before marriage, and some never marry at all. The factors from the last lesson help explain this.
💬 Attitudes and values
Living together is seen as normal. The stigma has gone in many societies, so couples do not feel pressure to marry first.
⛪ Secularisation
As religion loses influence, fewer people believe that couples must wait until marriage to live together.
👩 Female empowerment
Women with their own jobs and income do not need marriage for financial security, so they can choose to live with a partner instead.
- Cultural expectations: where expectations about marriage are weaker, cohabitation is more accepted. Where marriage is tied to family honour or religion, it stays rare.
- The role of the internet: meeting partners online widens people's choice, and relationships can start and develop quickly, so more couples move in together without marrying.
Cohabitation is not the same everywhere, so always write "in some societies".
Singlehood
More people in some societies are choosing to stay single, at least for a long time. This links to the single person household you met in an earlier lesson, Alternatives to the Family and Types of Marriage.
Reasons why singlehood has grown:
- Career and education: people, especially women, put study and work first.
- Independence: women with their own income do not need a partner for money.
- Attitudes: there is less stigma about being single, and less pressure to find a partner.
- Divorce: some people become single again after a marriage ends and choose not to partner again.
Not everyone is single by choice. Some people are single because they have not found a partner, or because a partner has died. Longer life expectancy means more older people live alone after a partner dies.
Lone parents
One parent, one busy morning: lone-parent families have grown with divorce and less stigma about raising a child alone
You met the lone-parent family as a structure in the lesson Family Structures. Here we ask why this alternative has grown in some societies:
- Divorce and separation: when relationships end, one parent usually becomes the main carer.
- Less stigma: having a child outside marriage is more accepted than it was in the past.
- Female empowerment: more women can support a child through their own work, and some choose to raise a child alone.
- Welfare support: in some societies, state benefits and services make it more possible to raise a child alone.
Most lone-parent families are headed by mothers, though some are headed by fathers.
Civil partnerships
A civil partnership is a legal relationship, set up by law, that gives a couple many of the same rights as married people, such as rights over property, pensions and inheritance. It is registered, not just a private arrangement, which makes it different from cohabitation.
🌈 Same-sex couples
In several societies, civil partnerships were first created so that same-sex couples could have legal recognition when they could not marry. Changing attitudes and new laws made this possible.
👫 Opposite-sex couples
In some societies, civil partnerships are now open to opposite-sex couples too. Some couples want legal protection but do not want the religious or traditional meaning of marriage.
In some societies civil partnerships have grown, helped by legislation and more tolerant attitudes. They show that some people want legal security without always choosing traditional marriage.
Worked example
Question: Explain one reason why cohabitation has increased in some societies.
Answer: One reason is changing societal attitudes. In the past, couples who lived together without marrying were looked down on (1). Today, in many societies, this is seen as normal (1), so couples feel free to live together without getting married (1).
Common mistakes
Saying cohabitation and civil partnership are the same thing: a civil partnership is a legal, registered union and cohabitation is not. Describing the alternatives without giving any reasons for their growth. Saying every society has the same trends: use "in some societies". Repeating the whole of the last lesson: just apply each factor to the alternative in the question.
Exam-style question
(a) Define the term cohabitation. [2 marks]
(b) Give two alternatives to marriage. [2 marks]
(c) Explain three reasons why cohabitation has become more common in some societies. [6 marks]
Model answer
(a) Cohabitation is when a couple live together in a long-term relationship (1) without being married (1).
(b) Singlehood (1). Civil partnerships (1). (Lone parents or cohabitation would also be accepted.)
(c) First, changing attitudes: living together without marrying is no longer stigmatised in many societies (1), so couples feel free to do it (1). Second, secularisation: as religion loses influence, fewer people believe couples should wait for marriage before living together (1), so more couples cohabit (1). Third, female empowerment: women with their own income do not need marriage for financial security (1), so more are happy to live with a partner without marrying (1).
Exam tip
In part (b), give only the name of the alternative. Two marks for two names, so do not waste time explaining them. Save the explanation for part (c).