Strategies of marital behavior of three generations of citizens (based on a Perm case study)

Abstract

The article systematizes the theoretical approaches to the marriage analysis in the Western and domestic sociological literature. The authors stress that the marital behavior should be viewed through the prism of its structure and understanding of the relationships of its structural elements. The authors explore specific strategies of marital behavior of older generation (‘we need to live according to social norms»), middle-aged adults («emotional balance», «to bear a relationship to human») and the young generation («to make each other better»). The study shows that today the length marital behavior stages is declining, the attitudes towards wedding customs and traditions are changing, the motives to enter into marriage are getting more personalized. Practical recommendations to strengthen the institutions of family and marriage and to reduce the impacts of the negative trends are proposed.