21.06.2004
Same-sex couples and ‘unmarrieds with children’: Class, culture and economics still play a big part in our personal lives.
There is little support for the 'post-modern' view that we can all now choose individual fulfilment in our personal lives. New research looking at numbers of same-sex couples and people who are 'unmarried with children'– indications, many argue, of a new 'individualised' society – shows that supposedly individualised choices are in fact constrained by social class, the local economy and local culture.
Simon Duncan and Darren Smith (senior lecturer in Human Geography at the University of Brighton), have mapped data on these two kinds of partnership gathered in the 2001 Census and the Key Population and Vital Statistics. The analysis, reported in ESRC’s (Economic and Social Research Council) new publication 'Seven Ages of Man and Woman' as part of Social Science week, shows that:
Reported same-sex couples are a rarity throughout most of Britain. Across most of the country, less than a third of 1%, below 0.3%, of couples define themselves as same-sex and, in many areas, there are almost no same-sex couples.
Brighton and Hove remains the gayest town in Britain, where as many as 2.67% of all couples define themselves as same-sex. Only Islington, with 2.26%, approaches this figure, although much of the rest of inner London shows 1-2%. Manchester, the 'gay capital of the north', Edinburgh and Glasgow also top 1%.
Outside the large cities, relatively 'high' proportions – more than 0.5% – are found in university towns like Cambridge, Oxford, Stirling and Exeter. Some seaside towns have also traditionally harboured people seeking a different way of life: Blackpool, Bournemouth, Eastbourne, Hastings and Torbay stand out.
If, as many claim, gay couples are playing a pioneering role in a new 'individualised' lifestyle, then their influence must be very small and limited to only a few areas. How much influence can even the 1,700 same-sex couples in Brighton and Hove, however trendy, exert on the 46,000 apparently straight couples who live there?
In contrast, unmarried cohabiting parenthood is nationally pervasive and quite common. The average is 31% of all parents and even the lowest scoring areas record 12%. In the very highest, like Hull, Blaenau Gwent, Scunthorpe and Dundee, around half of births to all couples are to unmarried parents.
The geography of same-sex couples seems linked to a geography of 'alternative culture'; the geography of unmarried parents is linked much more to social class and the local economy. Places where unmarried cohabiting parenting is more common are Britain's poorest areas with the highest proportions of working class families.
Some of the areas with the very highest rates are notorious for the economic breakdown of once thriving working class industries. The ex-coal and steel areas of South Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire are prime examples, devastated by economic restructuring and now officially disadvantaged regions within the EU.
Meanwhile, the most prosperous areas with high numbers of middle-class families stick to marriage when having children. Vast swathes of the south-east, the leafy shires of the Midlands and the North remain largely traditional in family life.
'Alternative' places like Brighton, Manchester and West Cornwall have high scores for both same-sex partnerships and unmarried parents. They combine advantaged 'individualisation by choice' and disadvantaged ‘individualisation by lack of choice’.
Some poor working class areas record far higher rates of married births than expected. These are areas with large Muslim populations, like Bradford, Leicester and Tower Hamlets, and the Western Isles, dominated by extreme Presbyterianism.
For further information:
Meet all the researchers at a press briefing, 18 June 2004, 9 to 10.30 am,
Ironmongers Hall, Shaftsbury Place, EC2Y 8AA
Or contact Iain Stewart, Lesley Lilley or Becky Gammon at ESRC, on 01793 413032/413119/413122.
Social Science Week 2004 takes place across the UK from 21-25 June. The week is about highlighting research from the UK’s social scientists and how this can contribute to better policymaking and, ultimately, a better society. It is an initiative from the Economic and Social Research Council. For a programme of events: www.esrc.ac.uk/socialscienceweek
The data: the third age
The 2001 Census – a count of all people and households – is the
most complete source of information about the population of Britain, and is
undertaken every ten years. The most recent census was held on Sunday 29 April
2001. The census is unique since it counts all people at the same time. Since
the same core questions are asked and the information is recorded in the same
way, the census enables comparisons between different areas and social groups.
www.statistics.gov.uk/census2001
The Key Population and Vital Statistics provide quarterly and annual statistics
for population, births, deaths and migration down to the level of local government
and health areas in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product.asp?vlnk=539
Contact: Marketing and Communications, University of Brighton, 01273 643022
