Transformations radicales du mariage, de la cohabitation et de la procréation en Europe Centrale et Orientale: De nouvelles perspectives à partir de la conception idéationnelle du développement

Abstract

In Central and Eastern Europe following the political transformations of the late 1980s and early 1990s there were dramatic declines in marriage and childbearing, significant increases in nonmarital cohabitation and childbearing, and a movement from reliance on abortion to a reliance on contraception for fertility limitation. Although many explanations have been offered for these trends, we offer new explanations based on ideational influences and the intersection of these ideational influences with structural factors. We focus on the political, economic, social, and cultural histories of the region, with particular emphasis on how countries in the region have interacted with and been influenced by Western European and North American countries. Our explanations emphasize the role of developmental models in guiding change in the region, suggesting that developmental idealism influenced family and demographic changes following the political transformations. Developmental idealism provides beliefs that modern family systems help to produce modern political and economic accomplishments and helps to establish the importance of freedom and equality as human rights in both the public and private spheres. The disintegration of the governments and the fall of the iron curtain in the late 1980s and early 1990s brought new understanding about social, economic, and family circumstances in the West, increasing consumption aspirations and expectations which clashed with both old economic realities and the dramatic declines in economic circumstances. In addition, the dissolution of the former governments removed or weakened systems supporting the bearing and rearing of children, and, the legitimacy of the former governments and their programs was largely destroyed, removing government support for old norms and patterns of behavior. In addition, the attacks of previous decades on the religious institutions in the region had in many places left these institutions weak. During this period many openly reached out to embrace the values, living standards, and economic, political, and familial systems of the West. And, the thirst for freedom—and its considerable expansion—operated in personal and familial as well as political and economic realms. These dramatic changes combined together to produce the many changes occurring in family and demographic behavior.

Deadline for Parenthood: Fertility Postponement and Age Norms in Poland

“…Scholars universally agree that the impact of ideational factors needs to be carefully considered when analysing reproductive behaviours. Especially in the post-socialist context, values and beliefs may interact with economic and political changes in numerous ways (Thornton and Philipov 2009). …”

Through Civil War, Food Crisis and Drought: Trends in Fertility and Nuptiality in Post-Soviet Tajikistan

“…There are a number of studies examining recent marital and fertility changes in Central and Eastern Europe (for example, Conrad et al 1996;Kučera et al 2000;Macura 2000;Kohler and Kohler 2002;Sobotka 2002;Philipov and Dorbritz 2003;Sobotka 2004;Perelli-Harris 2005;Kotowska et al 2008;Sobotka et al 2008;Zakharov 2008;Thornton and Philipov 2009). However, the post-Soviet republics of Central Asia have been relatively neglected in the demographic literature (Gentile 2005).…”

Changing household patterns of young couples in low- and middle-income countries

“…The same applies to women with completed primary level education, although only after they reached a certain age, an outcome that is worth exploring in more detail in the future. The fact that in-union women with completed primary school education are more likely to live in a nuclear household than those without may be because education helps one to find a job (Coontz 2000), while it also provides access to new values and beliefs which influence family and demographic behaviour (Thornton and Philipov 2009). Thus, in the context of educational expansion, increasing female labour force participation but persistent international differences, it may be worth exploring both the economic and ideational factors behind the choice of household by young couples in a similar manner as recently international fertility change was studied (Thornton et al 2010).…”

“…The power of the dimension of education originates in its efficiency as a principle of differentiation within social structures (Bourdieu 2006) but also represents the access to new values and beliefs, such as those prevalent in the presumably more developed West (Thornton & Philipov 2009). It is likely that both these structural and ideational elements of education would influence, apart from values, and beliefs also family and demographic behaviour, including the propensity for young couples to coreside with parents or other family members.…”