Trends And Future Prospects Of Marriage In Russia

Abstract

Social transformations led to a crisis of marriage and family relations, manifested in the destruction of the moral foundations of the family as well as loss of vital family and marriage values. The mentioned trends are the reasons for decline in Russian population. The tendencies of the marriage of modern Russia are manifested in the increase in the number of unregistered marriages, the mass marriage refusal, and the change in boundaries of a marriage age. The paper presents the results of a survey of residents of the Urals Federal District, reflecting the depreciation of family and marriage values. The value of "family well-being" retains the leading position in the hierarchy of values of respondents. But the value of the traditional marriage form, registered by the state, lost its institutional role. The authors concluded the need to revive the value of the registered marriage, which is the basis for the creation of a family and the birth of children. They pointed out the need to strengthen the state influence on the process of formation of value orientations of the family and the individual. The authors noted the existence of at least two theories about the prospects of the institution of marriage. According to the first one, the relationship between the sexes will change in accordance with the social transformations; therefore, the model of marriage will undergo further changes. The second theory takes into account the property relations and rights of spouses and children. It indicates the long-term nature of registered marriage.

Keywords: Familymarriagevaluesmarriage formscrisis of family and marriage

Introduction

The demographic crisis that befell Russia at the turn of the century poses a difficult task for sociologists to find ways to influence the process of population reproduction. The situation is worsen by the fact that the current demographic situation in the country is due, on the one hand, to the inevitable evolutionary changes that involve the replacement of types of reproduction, and, on the other hand, to cardinal social and economic as well as political transformations. The change in the administrative and controlled system of governing the country to a democratic one inevitably implies the replacement of the paradigm for managing the processes of population reproduction (Khairullina, 2010; Savinov, Kasymova, 2011; Osipova, 2014; Sinitsa, 2017).

The demographic crisis in Russia, unlike the developed countries of the West, is manifested in a decline in the birth rate against the background of a continuing high mortality rate. If the indicated trends continue, the population of Russia will decrease to a critical level by 2050 to 111.7 million people, according to the UN forecasts (Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat, World Population Prospects, 2005). This threatens to increase the migration flows necessary to ensure the normal functioning of the main social and economic institutions (Castles, Miller, 1993), which in turn will lead to increased social tension, national conflicts, and the loss of the national identity of the Russian population (Deleva, 2010).

Problem Statement

The trend of marriage rates is so that the number of officially registered marriages in Russia will start soon to decrease steadily. People refuse massively to officially register their marriage, and the boundaries of marriageable age change. There will be even more people who have no experience of living as a couple. This, in turn, will negatively affect the childbirth figures and reproduction of the population.

Issues for Discussion

Issues for discussion are actualized by the interdependence of demographic processes such as marriage and fertility. The fertility dynamics is determined by the dynamics of marriage by 90% (Sinelnikov, 2015).

Research purpose

The purpose of the research is studying the problem of devaluation of family and marriage values. The results are presented in the paper.

Research objectives:

• identifying the values hierarchy of respondents and determining the positions of family and marriage values there;

• finding out the preferable form of marriage among respondents;

• revealing the opinion of the population regarding the acceptability of unregistered marriage..

Research methods

The survey of the Ural Federal District population in the context of the subjects of Federation, including Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, Kurgan and Tyumen regions, as well as the Yamal-Nenets and Khanty-Mansiysk autonomous District (Table 3 ).

Findings

Almost one third of respondents were within registered marriage (35.4%). Another third was planning to enter a registered marriage (33.7%) (Figure 1 ). An analysis of the marital status of the respondents showed that the majority of unmarried people still had experience in family life: thus, 73.2% of all unmarried women were divorced, and another 9.4% lost their spouse (widowers, widows).

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According to the data presented in Fig. 2 , one could draw a conclusion about the priority of family well-being in the values system of respondents. The fact is noteworthy that the family well-being of respondents was mostly supplemented by interesting work and health. Love was pushed to the fourth position. Probably, this distribution of values is justified by social instability, where Russia has been staying for a long time. In this connection, the need for a safe existence is associated among Russians with family, work and health.

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As for the preferred forms of family organization, the most respondents preferred to legitimize their relationship in one or another way. Thus, 36.2% of respondents preferred the marriage registration in Civil Registry Offices. Another 21.7% of respondents spoke in favor of church wedding, which could also be attributed to the traditional forms of marriage registry.

The results of the survey showed that Russian society was tolerant of relatively informal forms of the family. One-fifth of respondents preferred an unregistered marriage to marriage registry (20.2%). A fairly high percentage (15.6%) showed that it was regardless which form of marriage to prefer. Another 6.3% found it difficult to answer this question (Figure 3 ).

If one considers the gender distribution of answers to this question, according to the results of the study, women prefer more traditional forms of marriage, such as registry in the Civil Registry Office and church wedding (63.8% versus 50.9% for men), which can be associated with greater social and economic security of a woman within a registered marriage than within an unregistered one (Figure 3 ).

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The majority of respondents (66.9%) believed that a registered marriage is more lasting than unregistered one.

Researching gender differences in answers of respondents, it could be noted that women's confidence in the reliability of registered marriage was more indicated. Such form of the family was considered to be close-knit by 72.7% of surveyed women and only 60% of men. It seems that the difference is quite substantial – more than 10% (Figure 4).

The authors believe that such significant difference was due to the legal peculiarities of the marriage and family institution in Russia. In divorce cases, a woman has a priority position both in matters of child custody and in matters of property division. It is typical in Russian society, which makes a man more vulnerable in a marriage.

The data obtained during the research were not proved by statistical data reflecting the real marital status of citizens (Figure 1 ). So, in 2010 only 5.6% of civil marriages were registered, according to Russian Federal State Statistics Service. Such low (in comparison with the results of the study) indicator could be explained by a different formulation of the question. So in the author's research, the attitude of respondents to unregistered marriages in general was studied, both in relation to a possible event in the future and a happened one. Statistical data reflected only quantitative (accomplished) indicators displayed the marital status of the population.

Ambiguous attitude of spouses to unregistered marriage was proved by the results of censuses of 2002, 2010, according to which the number of married women exceeded the number of married men (in 2010 - by 363 people and in 2002 - by 1.400 people).

There was some concern that the increasing number of women who did not have a clear position on the forms of family life organization (they answered, either "regardless" - 14.2%, or "difficult to answer" - 5.7%).

At the same time, a woman has been traditionally the basis of marriage and family relations. Its gender role presupposes a focus on strengthening and preserving the family as an independent microsocial structure, with certain spiritual and moral values. Such significant proportion of women who do not see themselves in this role (19.9%), serves as an indicator of the destruction of the institution of the family.

Conclusion

Summing up, the authors note that, on the one hand, the value of "family well-being" retains the leading position in the hierarchy of values of respondents. But, on the other hand, the value of the traditional form of marriage, registered by the state, lost its institutional role.

There are several theories about the future of the institution of marriage. Some experts are inclined to believe that the relationship between the sexes will change in accordance with the changes in society, and, therefore, marriage is not the last model. The others are convinced that a registered marriage will never become obsolete since the property relations and rights of the child depend on it.

Taking into account the results of the author's research, it is obvious that the special role of the state should, among other things, be given to systemic influence on the process of formation of value orientations of the family and personality with a shift in emphasis towards a culture of creation, strengthening of family values and the institution of marriage.

For the state today, it is very important to maintain official marriage. This is necessary to change the demographic situation in the country, which today has become a problem not only for Russia, but, for example, for Europe. The traditional family must be supported taking into account that children are born mostly in wedlock.

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