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This paper examines the proposition advanced by some commentators that divorce petitioning in England and Wales fluctuates in accordance with the changing real value of legal aid. Direct evidence, from divorce figures and details of legal aid provision, is examined and shown not to fit the hypothesis. Indirect evidence drawn from Magistrates' Court proceedings and income provision by the National Assistance Board also fails to support the proposition. It is concluded that the proposition is false, and that increased divorce petitioning reflects more fundamental social changes than amendments to legal aid provision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first section of the paper criticizes the concept of inconsistency between status ranks as an explanation of variations in attitudes and behaviour between different groups. The second section argues that the concept of relative deprivation may, if appropriately qualified, prove more useful and suggests a possible application of it to the topic of attitudes towards immigrants. The third section presents some findings from a sample survey carried out in England and Wales in 1962 which furnish a limited test of two proposed hypotheses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]