DIVORCE Divorce

Divorce

Introduction

Many believe that divorce occurs more frequently in the modern United States as compared with other societies. However, anthropologists have reported comparable rates of separation and remarriage among hunting and gathering societies and other groups to those in modern-day industrial societies. For example, the highest rates of divorce ever recorded in the first half of the 20th century were in Malaysia and Indonesia, which surpassed the U.S. record rates of 1981. (Amato, 2001)

Depending on the society, ease of divorce varies. Marriage is much easier to dissolve in societies where marriage is more of an individual affair. In other societies where marriage represents a political and social union between families and communities, divorce is more difficult. Considerable bride wealth and replacement marriages work to preserve group alliances and thus decrease divorce rates. A wife among the Shoshone Indians could divorce her husband by merely placing her husband's possessions outside the dwelling, which was considered her property. Divorce is official among the Cewa of East Africa when the husband leaves his wife's village taking along his hoe, axe, and sleeping mat. In the traditional society of Japan, a woman wanting a divorce had to complete two years of service at a special temple while the man could simply write a letter containing three and half lines in order to divorce his wife.

Statistics

The top 10 world divorce rates in 2002 were Sweden, 54.9 percent; Belarus, 52.9 percent; Finland, 51.2 percent; Luxembourg, 47.4 percent; Estonia, 46.7 percent; Australia, 46 percent; United States, 45.8 percent; Denmark, 44.5 percent; Belgium, 44 percent; and Austria, 43.4 percent. The bottom 10 rates were Guatemala, 0.13 percent; Sri Lanka, 0.15 percent; Libya, 0.24 percent; Armenia, 0.3 percent; Mongolia, 0.38 percent; Georgia, 0.40 percent; Bosnia and Herzegovina, 0.40 percent; Chile, 0.42 percent; Mexico, 0.48 percent; and El Salvador, 0.49 percent.

Divorce

(Ross, 1999) posits that the reasons for divorce in any given time period relate to the reasons for marriage. For example, a common reason for divorce in contemporary society is the loss of love, lack of individual fulfillment, or absence of mutual benefit. This has to do with the primary reason for marriage being love and romance.

In Western societies, there is more flexibility with the notion of a failed marriage. Generally, if romance, love, sex, or companionship dies out in a marriage, then couples in contemporary Western society may opt for divorce. However, sometimes for economic reasons, obligations to children, negative public opinion, or simply inertia, couples may maintain “failed” marriages. Among countries across the globe, the United States has one of the highest rates of divorce, although rates have dropped as compared with the 1970s. From historical records of divorce in the United States, there is an increase after wars and a decrease after tough economic times. The high rates of U.S. divorce are thought to be related to the economic independence enjoyed by many women and the cultural ideas of independence and self-actualization which give greater permission for people to abandon marriage if it is not ...