This paper provides a general overview of trends and patterns in divorce in the present-day western world, focusing especially on the interaction between legal and behavioural aspects of union dissolution. The account is written from a sociological rather than a legal perspective. Its purpose is...

This paper seeks to test whether claims by Wilkinson and Pickett (2010) (W&P) on the negative effects of income inequality on social conditions in rich countries are borne out in the case of the family. The paper examines correlations between 13 family indicators and income inequality across...

Children in lone parent families typically experience not only parental absence but also sibling absence: they are more likely to be sole offspring or to have fewer siblings than children of stable unions. Previous research has looked at these factors separately and suggests that they might work...

Previous research on the impact of immigration on urban socio-spatial inequalities has focused on cities with long immigration histories where successive waves of new arrivals impacted on segregation patterns established by preceding waves, usually in a context where immigrants in each wave were...

This paper seeks to test empirically whether claims by Wilkinson and Pickett (2010) (W&P) on the pervasive negative effects of income inequality on social conditions in rich countries are borne out in the case of the family. It first examines correlations between 13 family indicators and income...

The aim of this country report for Ireland is to present and examine key patterns and trends in the inequality ‘drivers’ on which the project is concentrating, highlight their potential impacts in the social, political and cultural spheres and the available evidence in that regard, and point...