The fundamental transformations taking place in modern Russian society in the socio-economic and political spheres could not but affect the family as the most important social institution. The modern Russian family is characterized by such crisis manifestations as: low level birth rate, an increase in the number of families at risk, single-parent families, dysfunctional families, a constant increase in divorces (according to statistics, every third marriage in Russia ends in divorce, and two-thirds of broken families are families with children), the spread of so-called "civil » marriages. https://privet-rostov.ru various types of office folders.

The family, as a result of market transformations, is currently in a deep crisis. The mechanisms of social adaptation that were characteristic of Soviet society in the changed conditions turned out to be unsuitable. New ones are developed spontaneously and often come down simply to survival mechanisms. Eventually, modern man in the face of increased competition, he ceased to see the main wealth and happiness in the family.

It should be noted that in Russia the slogan of today's youth is "career first, then children." Data sociological research reproductive attitudes among young people clearly illustrate the fact that today there is an obvious downward trend in the planned number of children. So, as the analysis showed, the average desired number of children for women of childbearing age is 1.7, which is even lower than the level required for the reproduction of society (the norm is 2.1 children per woman).

I would like to dwell on one more trend. Studies have shown that a strong transformation of the content of family roles is currently noticeable. The reason for this is the feminization of Russian society, which in turn leads to various role conflicts associated with the mismatch of role expectations of parents, children and spouses. Economic status today increasingly determines the leader in the family. Quite often there are families where women play leading roles, since a woman in modern society is no longer as much economically dependent on a man as she was a few decades ago.

It should be noted that in modern Russian society there is a so-called "cult of youth". According to the prominent sociologist of the early 20th century, Ortega y Gasset, the “mass” person is characterized by such features as the desire to avoid responsibility and affection and selfishness, the desire to always remain young. This is what the majority of Russians aged 16 to 30-35 are striving for (that is, precisely at reproductive age, at the time when they should start a family). Today, people want to prolong their youth by any effort, sparing no effort and expense (neither material nor spiritual) for this. Today, more than ever, fitness clubs, various diets, plastic surgery. The media constantly propagate the image of a “forever young” person. Today, many young people want to first “live for themselves”, and only then start a family. They are much more concerned with finding a variety of entertainment, new sensations than creating a family.

And, finally, the reason for the current crisis of the family as a social institution is, of course, the decline of morality (early sexual relations among young people, neglect of marriage, the spread of sexually transmitted infections). According to research data, adolescents and young people under thirty years of age have a higher percentage of sexually transmitted diseases than the general population. There is an increase in HIV-infected young people. The proportion of ages between fifteen and thirty years is 79% of all HIV-infected men and 80% of women. The growth of drug addiction, tobacco smoking (Russia accounts for about 70% of the entire international market) and alcoholism does not stop.

In addition, the reproductive attitudes of today's youth are quite strongly influenced by the reduction factor. physical health. To date, only 10% of school graduates are absolutely healthy.

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Ministry of Science and Education of the Russian Federation

Moscow State University of Culture and Arts

Faculty of Social and Cultural Activities

Department of Social and Philosophical Sciences

Course work

in the discipline "Social Pedagogy"

« The Crisis of the Modern Family"

Completed by: 2nd year student

correspondence department Zhdannikova N.V.

Scientific adviser: Loseva Lyubov Pavlovna

Moscow 2013

Introduction

1. Theoretical characteristics of the family

1.4 Family life cycle

2.2 The crisis of the institution of the family

2.3 Divorce and domestic violence

2.4 Violation of the reproductive function of the modern family

3 . Diagnosis of interpersonal relationships in the family

3.1 Methods of psychodiagnostics of interpersonal marital relations

3.2 Methods of psychodiagnostics of child-parent relationships

Conclusion

Bibliography

Application

family relationship psychodiagnostics marital

Introduction

family problems and family relations have always been relevant. But, perhaps, a special interest in questions family life appeared in recent years in connection with the crisis state of the modern family. Most of the research is devoted to the analysis of economic, social, pedagogical aspects of family life.

As you know, the first five years of married life are the most difficult, during these years family happiness is fragile. Many mistakes that are made by young people even before marriage and then replicated in the process of living together are largely due to ignorance of the basic problems of family life. Hence the psychological unpreparedness for their discussion and constructive resolution.

The study of the modern family in our time is given quite a lot of attention, both in our country and abroad. Therefore, in psychology, there are different points of view on the phenomenon of the modern family.

Most domestic researchers note that the transition of our country to the conditions of qualitatively new economic relations influenced the formation of a family, because. the family "directly or indirectly reflects all the changes taking place in society, although it has relative independence."

Therefore, studies of the modern family allow us to say that “the representation of the family is increasingly moving away from the unconditionally recognized strict functions set by society, and is increasingly approaching the image of the family as a small group in which functions, roles and values depend on its constituent personalities” .

Course work is devoted to the problems of the modern family, its features, characteristics and functional role structure. IN term paper questions related to the characteristics of the main functions, structure and typology of families are outlined, psychological features contemporary Russian family.

1. Theoretical characteristics of the family

1.1 Definition of family. Functional-role aspect of the modern family

A family is a small group based on marriage or consanguinity, whose members are connected by a common life, mutual moral responsibility and mutual assistance; it develops a set of norms, sanctions and patterns of behavior that regulate the interaction between spouses, parents and children, children among themselves.

The family is a more complex system of relations than marriage, since it usually unites not only spouses, but also their children, as well as other relatives or just people close to spouses.

Marriage is a historically conditioned, sanctioned and regulated by society form of relations between a man and a woman, establishing their rights and obligations in relation to each other, their children, their offspring, and parents.

Today, the family is viewed from two sides. The family is considered one of the four fundamental institutions of society, giving it stability and the ability to replenish the population in each next generation. At the same time, the family acts as a small group - the most cohesive and stable unit of society. Throughout his life, a person enters into many different groups, but only the family remains the group that he never leaves. It is the most important institution of socialization of the rising generations. It is a personal environment for the life and development of children, adolescents and young adults.

The family is an integral part of society and its importance cannot be diminished. No nation, no civilized society could do without a family. The foreseeable future of society is also not conceivable without a family. For every person, the family is the beginning of the beginning. Almost every person associates the concept of happiness, first of all, with the family. And only a healthy, prosperous family has a beneficial effect on a person, the creation of which requires considerable effort and certain personality traits.

The topic of the institution of the family and its problems is one of the most important and relevant, since the family today is in an institutional crisis, cannot cope with its functions and needs support and assistance from both society and the state.

The degree of study of this topic is quite high, as evidenced by the variety of literature on this topic, which deals with family problems. These are journalistic articles used in writing the work of V. M. Zakirova, Candidate of Sociological Sciences, about divorce and domestic violence as a phenomenon of family trouble. Also, an article by Tyurina E.I., candidate of pedagogical sciences, about the causes of the crisis of the modern family - as a social institution, the article attempts to analyze the factors of the crisis of the modern family. An article by Balditsyna E.I., which examines the nature of the relationship between the state and the family in the Soviet period - as social institutions of society. When writing the work, theoretical data were used teaching aids on sociology and psychology of the family, as well as data from Internet resources, directly articles on the topic of family problems and statistical data. There is a lack of legal and regulatory framework.

The family is the first social community (group) in a person's life, thanks to which he joins the values of culture, masters the first social roles, gains experience in social behavior. Social psychologists consider the family as a cell of the social structure of society, acting as a regulator of relations between people. A family is a small social group, which is characterized by certain intra-group processes and phenomena. At the same time, the family is distinguished from other small groups by certain features: marriage or family ties between its members; common life; special moral-psychological, emotional-ethical and legal relations. The family has such features as lifelong membership in a family group (the family is not chosen, a person is born in it); maximum heterogeneous composition of the group; the maximum degree of unofficial contacts in the family and the increased emotional significance of family events. One of the most accurate definitions of a family belongs to N.Ya. Solovyov. According to him, the family is “a small social group of society, the most important form of organization of personal life, based on marital union and family ties, that is, relations between husband and wife, parents and children, brothers and sisters and other relatives living together and leading a common economy".

The most complete and modern version of the classification is offered by E.G. Eidemiller and V.V. Justickis, highlighting the following main functions of the family

educational function - satisfaction of the need for fatherhood and motherhood, the upbringing of children;

household - the formation and expenditure of the family budget, maintaining physical condition families, care for the sick and the elderly;

emotional - stabilization of close emotional relationships of family members, satisfaction of the need for sympathy, respect, recognition, psychological protection;

the function of primary social control is the fulfillment of social norms by family members;

the function of spiritual communication is mutual spiritual enrichment, organization of leisure;

sexual-erotic - satisfaction of the sexual-erotic needs of family members.

The authors note that the inner essence of the function may change with the change in the conditions of the existence of the family. The functions of the family are set by the needs, the subjects of which are society, the family and the individual. The functions of the family are realized in the process of fulfilling family roles and determine, first of all, their content.

The distribution of roles and functions in the family is closely related to the concepts of leadership in the family. In this regard, it should be noted that "... now the head of the family is not the head "by law", but the leader, that is, whose psychological influence is recognized voluntarily."

In the modern egalitarian family, the husband is the head in some matters and the wife in others. At the right moments, they change leadership, and no friction arises in connection with this. Such families are characterized by approximately the same level of assessments of the personal properties of husband and wife and high satisfaction with family life. The problem of the distribution of roles between spouses is the basis for dividing families into traditional and egalitarian.

feature modern stage the formation of the family is a significant increase in egalitarian families and, accordingly, a decrease in the number of traditional ones.

In a traditional (patriarchal) family, roles and responsibilities are rigidly distributed according to the norms prescribed by gender roles. This is a family, the head of which is a man - a breadwinner, a breadwinner, a woman in such a family is assigned the role of an educator.

a) there is a traditional division of male and female roles in the sphere of "secondary" functions;

b) a system of norms is expressed that justifies this distribution, the position of responsibility for family functions;

c) the leading role in making family decisions belongs to the husband; the authority of the father is high, exercising social control over the behavior and upbringing of children.

The modernized (egalitarian) family model assumes:

a) the distribution of roles in the domestic sphere, based on the relative equality of the contributions of the spouses to external activities;

b) the position of combining responsibility for the performance of family functions;

c) democratic leadership structure;

d) the "egalitarian concept of family life", the equality of husband and wife in the family and outside it.

An egalitarian marriage is characterized by an even and fair distribution of roles. Some researchers consider the participation of a woman in the financial support of the family as a criterion for the traditionality/egalitarianism of a family. L. Haas discovered that for an egalitarian distribution of roles, it is not so much the fact of the wife's work that matters, but her earnings and the prestige of her occupation.

1.2 Types and types of the modern family

An analysis of literary sources shows that psychologists working with the problems of the modern family attach great importance to its features and distinctive features compared to the traditional family.

Schneider identifies the following features of the modern family:

The family became smaller in number;

The modern family is less stable;

The number of families where the head is the husband has decreased;

The family has become less friendly, because. parents and adult children, brothers and sisters prefer to live separately;

Much large quantity(compared to the recent past) people are not legitimized by relationships, or even live alone.

In accordance with the listed modern features of the family, the following types of it are distinguished.

1. By related structure family can be nuclear(married couple with children) and extAndrennoy(a married couple with children and one of the relatives of the husband or wife).

2. By number of children: noTnaya, single child, small child, large family family.

3. By structure: with one married couple with or without children; with one of the parents of the spouses and other relatives, with two or more married couples with or without children, with one of the parents of the spouses and other relatives or without them.

4. By composition: incomplete family, separate, simple, large family.

5. By geographic feature: urban, rural, remote.

6. By homogeneity social composition: socially Ohomogeneous and not oneOnative families.

7. By family history: newlyweds; young family expecting a baby; family of middle marital age; senior marital age; elderly couples.

8. According to the features of the existing family way of life and organization of family life: the family is “the soulAndon the" ( gives a person communication, moral and material support ); child-centric family; family type of sports team or debatableOclub(they travel a lot, see a lot, know how, know); etc.

10. By nature of the Leisure: family open(communication oriented) and closed(focused on intra-family leisure).

11. By the nature of the distribution of household duties: families traditional And egalitarian.

12. By headship type families can be authoritarian and democraticAndmi.

13. Depending on special conditions for organizing family life: student family and "distant" family (separation due to the specifics of the profession of the spouses).

14. By composition of spouses in a nuclear family: full(includes father, mother and children) and incomplete(one of the parents is missing).

15. By social role characteristics stand out traditional, child-centric and supraathard families.

16. By the nature of communication and emotional relationships in the family marriages are classified into symmetrical, complementary and metacomtribal.

IN symmetrical In a marriage union, both spouses have equal rights, none of them is subordinate to the other. Problems are solved by agreement, exchange or compromise. IN complementary marriage one disposes, gives orders, the other obeys, awaits advice or instructions. IN metacomplementary In a marriage, a leading position is reached by a partner who realizes his own goals by emphasizing his weakness, inexperience, ineptitude and impotence, manipulating his partner.

There are many varieties of family life, where these signs are somewhat smoothed out, and the consequences of improper upbringing are not so clear. But still these Negative consequences There is. One of the most noticeable is the mental loneliness of children in the family. This fact is taken into account in the Richter-Spivakovskaya typology.

1. Outwardly "calm family" is different topics , What events V her flow smoothly. From the outside it may seem that the relations of its members are ordered and coordinated.

But in such family unions, long-term and strongly suppressed negative feelings for each other are hidden. This type of relationship is unfavorable for the development of the child. The child feels helpless, constantly experiencing fear. His life is filled with an unconscious feeling of constant anxiety, the child feels danger, but does not understand its source, lives in constant tension and is unable to ease it.

2. " Volcanic" family: in this family, relationships are changeable and open. Spouses often disperse and converge, scandal, quarrel, in order to soon love tenderly and confess their love for the rest of their lives. Children in such families experience significant emotional overload. Quarrels between parents are a real tragedy for a child.

3. Family -"sanatorium" - typical example of family disharmony. One of the spouses, whose emotional reactions are expressed in increased anxiety in front of the outside world, the demand for love and care, creates a specific limitation, a barrier to new experience. All family members, including children, are gradually drawn into a narrow, limited circle. Spouses spend all the time together and try to keep children near them. Such parental positions lead to excessive overload of the child's nervous system, in which neurotic breakdowns, emotional characteristics such as hypersensitivity, irritability occur.

4. Family-"fortress": at the heart of such unions are ideas about the threat, aggressiveness and cruelty of the surrounding world. The spouses have a pronounced strengthening of the sense of "we". They are, as it were, psychologically arming themselves against the whole world. Love for a child is becoming more and more conditional, a child is loved only when it justifies the requirements placed on it by the family circle.

5. The theater family: such families maintain stability through a specific "theatrical" lifestyle. The focus of such a family is always play and effect. As a rule, one of the spouses in such families experiences an urgent need for recognition, constant attention, and encouragement. The love and care for the child shown to outsiders does not save children from the feeling that parents are not up to them.

6. Family "third wheel". This type of family arises in cases where the need to take on parental roles is unconsciously perceived as an obstacle to marital happiness. This happens when one or both parents are psychologically immature, when they are not prepared to perform parental functions. As a result, a style of relations with the child arises according to the type of hidden rejection. Raising children in such situations leads to the formation of self-doubt, lack of initiative, fixation on weaknesses, children are characterized by painful experiences of their own inferiority with increased dependence on their parents.

7. "Family with an idol": This type is quite common. Relationships between family members lead to the creation of a "family idol". The child turns out to be the center of the family, becomes the object of increased attention and care, inflated expectations of parents.

With such upbringing, children become dependent, activity is lost, motives are weakened. The need for positive evaluations increases, children lack love; clashes with the outside world, communication with peers.

8. Family-"masquerade". Building their lives around differently understood values, serving different gods, parents put the child in a situation of different demands and inconsistent assessments. Inconsistency in the actions of parents, for example, the increased demands of the father with excessive guardianship and forgiveness of the mother, causes the child to be confused and split his self-esteem.

The presented typology of families would be incomplete if it did not include atypical families. Despite the emergence and spread of such families in modern society, scientists almost do not connect their research interests with their study. Therefore, many problems concerning these families are still unknown to the general public. However, such non-traditional marriage unions exist, have their own characteristics, lead their own way of life, which sometimes differs significantly from generally accepted ideas about marriage and family.

1. meeting family: the marriage is registered, but the spouses live separately, each of them has their own housing. Even the appearance of children is not a reason to unite and live in a “common home”. Most often, children stay with their mother or are given to be raised by their next of kin. Such a family gets together either on holidays and weekends, on vacation. The rest of the time, spouses can meet from time to time, without burdening each other with family problems.

2. intermittent the family is characterized by the fact that the marriage is officially concluded, the spouses live together, but consider it acceptable to part for a while and not run a common household.

3. Unregistered marriage(civilian) -- an increasingly spreading form of the family. The reasons for the popularity of extramarital unions are primarily related to the crisis of the modern family, the fall of its social prestige. The traditional distribution of household chores, characteristic of official marriage, is violated in an extramarital union. The form of living together provides each partner with individual freedom, which he can use at any time. This form of cohabitation will continue to spread. This is facilitated by early physical, sexual development, the process of breaking the strict generally accepted framework in the field of sexual morality, the dominance of freedom in establishing extramarital sex. A growing number of young people find it necessary to pass before "real" marriage probation in cohabitation - it is better to get to know each other's character and habits, check your feelings, sexual compatibility.

4. open the family is distinguished by the fact that, openly or secretly, the spouses allow relationships outside of marriage. Some married couples, in search of sexual diversity, by mutual voluntary consent, establish sexual relations with some other, one or more couples (closed and open swinging). Some swingers not only make love together, but organize and spend holidays together, help each other raise children, and solve everyday problems together.

5. Muslim family - polygamy legalized by religion. The husband is the sole master of all household members, obedience to him is obligatory for all members of this family - from young to old. He single-handedly makes decisions and determines the future fate of aging wives and growing children.

6. " Swedish A family is a family group that includes several representatives of not only female, but also male. Legally, relations in such a family can be formalized only between partners of one couple, but this does not prevent all men and women included in the family union from considering themselves spouses of each other, maintaining a common household, and having a common family budget. Children are also considered common.

7. Homosexual the family consists of marriage partners with the so-called "non-traditional" sexual orientation. If this is a purely male or purely female marriage couple, within such a family there is a division of partners into “husbands” and “wives” and a corresponding distribution of family roles and responsibilities.

8. Limited time marriage: the creation of a family union is considered as a kind of a kind of deal. If the spouses, after a certain period of time, which they agreed upon earlier, do not declare their desire to extend the “contract”, they are automatically considered complete strangers to each other. The group of atypical families of this plan includes mixed families formed by divorced parents and their remarried partners; families who are raising adopted detei; families raising other people's children; extended community-type families; families with nedeespOown parents; families with chronically ill and disabled childrenladies.

In addition to the structural and functional characteristics that reflect the state of the family as a whole, the individual characteristics of its members are also important for socio-pedagogical activities. These include socio-demographic, physiological, psychological, pathological habits of adult family members, as well as the characteristics of the child: age, level of physical, mental, speech development according to the age of the child; interests, abilities; educational institution which he visits; success in communication and learning; the presence of behavioral deviations, pathological habits, speech and mental disorders.

The combination of individual characteristics of family members with its structural and functional parameters develops into a complex characteristic - the status of the family. Scientists have shown that a family can have at least 4 statuses: socio-economic, socio-psychological, socio-cultural and situational-role. The listed statuses characterize the state of the family, its position in a certain sphere of life at a particular moment in time, i.e., they represent a cut of a certain state of the family in the continuous process of its adaptation in society. The structure of the social adaptation of the family is shown in the diagram:

The first component of the social adaptation of the family is the financial situation of the family. To assess the material well-being of a family, which consists of financial and property security, several quantitative and qualitative criteria are needed: the level of family income, its housing conditions, the objective environment, as well as the socio-demographic characteristics of its members, which constitutes the socio-economic status of the family.

If the family income level, as well as the quality of housing conditions, are below the established norms (subsistence level, etc.), as a result of which the family cannot satisfy the most urgent needs for food, clothing, housing, then such a family is considered poor, its socio-economic status is low. If the material well-being of the family meets the minimum social standards, i.e. the family copes with meeting the basic needs of life support, but experiences a shortage of material resources to meet leisure, educational and other social needs, then such a family is considered low-income, its social economic status is medium.

A high level of income and the quality of housing conditions (2 or more times higher than social norms), which allows not only to satisfy the basic needs of life support, but also to enjoy various types services, indicates that the family is financially secure, has a high socio-economic status.

The second component of the family's social adaptation is its psychological climate - a more or less stable emotional mood that develops as a result of the moods of family members, their emotional experiences, relationships to each other, to other people, to work, to surrounding events. To know and be able to assess the state of the psychological climate of the family, or in other words, its socio-psychological status, it is advisable to divide all relationships into separate areas according to the principle of the subjects participating in them: marital, child-parental and relations with the immediate environment.

As indicators of the state of the psychological climate of the family, the following are distinguished: the degree of emotional comfort, the level of anxiety, the degree of mutual understanding, respect, support, help, empathy and mutual influence; place of leisure (in the family or outside it), the openness of the family in relationships with the immediate environment.

Favorable are relations built on the principles of equality and cooperation, respect for the rights of the individual, characterized by mutual affection, emotional closeness, satisfaction of each family member with the quality of these relations; in this case, the socio-psychological status of the family is assessed as high.

The psychological climate in the family is unfavorable when there are chronic difficulties and conflicts in one or more areas of family relationships; family members experience constant anxiety, emotional discomfort; alienation prevails in relationships. All this prevents the family from fulfilling one of its main functions - psychotherapeutic, that is, relieving stress and fatigue, replenishing the physical and mental strength of each family member. In this situation, the socio-psychological climate is low. Moreover, unfavorable relationships can transform into crisis ones, characterized by complete misunderstanding, hostility towards each other, outbreaks of violence (mental, physical, sexual), and a desire to break the binding ties. Examples of crisis relationships: divorce, child running away from home, termination of relations with relatives.

The intermediate state of the family, when unfavorable tendencies are still weakly expressed, are not of a chronic nature, is regarded as satisfactory, in this case the socio-psychological status of the family is considered average.

The third component of the family's social adaptation structure is sociocultural adaptation. Determining the general culture of the family, it is necessary to take into account the level of education of its adult members, since it is recognized as one of the determining factors in the upbringing of children, as well as the direct everyday and behavioral culture of family members.

The level of family culture is considered high if the family copes with the role of the guardian of customs and traditions (preserved family holidays, supported by oral folk art); has a wide range of interests, developed spiritual needs; in the family, life is rationally organized, leisure is diverse, and joint forms of leisure and household activities predominate; the family is focused on the comprehensive (aesthetic, physical, emotional, labor) upbringing of the child and supports healthy lifestyle life.

If the spiritual needs of the family are not developed, the range of interests is limited, life is not organized, there is no cultural, leisure and entertainment uniting the family. labor activity, the moral regulation of the behavior of family members is weak (violent methods of regulation prevail); the family leads a dysfunctional (unhealthy, immoral) lifestyle, then its level of culture is low.

In the case when a family does not have a complete set of characteristics that indicate a high level of culture, but is aware of the gaps in its cultural level and is active in the direction of its increase, we can talk about the average sociocultural status of the family.

The state of the psychological climate of the family and its cultural level are indicators that mutually influence each other, since a favorable psychological climate serves as a reliable basis moral education children, their high emotional culture.

The fourth indicator is situational-role adaptation, which is associated with the attitude towards the child in the family. In the case of a constructive attitude towards the child, a high culture and activity of the family in solving the problems of the child, its situational-role status is high; if in relation to the child there is an accentuation on his problems, then - the average. In the case of ignoring the child's problems and even more negative attitudes towards him, which, as a rule, are combined with a low culture and activity of the family, the situational-role status is low.

Based on the analysis of the structural and functional characteristics of the family, as well as the individual characteristics of its members, it is possible to determine its structural and functional type and, at the same time, draw a conclusion about the level of social adaptation of the family in society.

1.3 Psychological factors for the well-being of the modern family

Researchers of the modern family distinguish several factors of marital well-being:

Psychobiological compatibility is the main factor influencing well-being in the family. It includes mutual respect, mutual attraction, readiness of spouses for family life, duty and responsibility, self-control and flexibility, etc. Frequent divorces in modern families can be explained by the unwillingness of spouses to marry, the inability of men to bear responsibility for the family;

Education. Numerous studies indicate that higher education does not always increase the level of stability of family relations. But most researchers are inclined to believe that the level of intelligence of partners should not differ significantly. Marriage can exist in a patriarchal or close to it form, if the husband has a higher education than the wife, but if the intelligence and education of the wife is higher than that of the husband, this is a problematic marriage;

labor stability. There is an opinion that people who often change jobs are distinguished by their inability to establish long-term relationships, which affects not only work, but also family relationships;

Age. The most optimal period for marriage is considered to be the age of a girl - 20 years, boys - 24 years. Early marriage implies unpreparedness for married life, lack of life experience to create a family. A later marriage entails a longer process of adaptation of the spouses to each other, because. character and way of life are already more formed;

Dating duration. A short period of courtship cannot show future spouses in different life situations. With a short acquaintance, the spouses run the risk of recognizing each other, already being married, where all the qualities that have not been seen until this moment are manifested.

All these factors determine psychological compatibility or incompatibility in the family.

Psychological compatibility incompatibility is determined by the following criteria:

The emotional side of marital relations, the degree of affection;

The similarity of the ideas of the spouses about themselves, about the partner, about the world as a whole;

The similarity of communication models of partners and behavioral features;

Sexual and psychophysiological compatibility of partners;

The general cultural level, the degree of mental and social maturity of the spouses, the coincidence of value systems.

1.4 Family life cycle

The life cycle of a family is the history of the life of the family, its length in time, its own dynamics; family life, reflecting the repetition, regularity of family events.

1. premarital courtship period. The main objectives of this stage are to achieve partial psychological and material independence from parental family, gaining experience in communicating with the other sex, choosing a marriage partner, gaining experience in emotional and business interaction with him.

2. Marriage and phase without children. At this stage, the couple must establish what has changed in their social status and determine the external and internal boundaries of the family: which of the acquaintances of the husband or wife will be admitted to the family; to what extent spouses are allowed to stay outside the family without a partner; the extent to which interference in marriage by the parents of the spouses is permissible.

During this period, the couple needs to conduct a huge number of negotiations and establish many agreements on a variety of things. Social, emotional, sexual and other problems may arise. In the conditions of modern Russian reality, many newlyweds do not immediately decide on the birth of their first child; Increasingly, there are cases when couples do not register, preferring the so-called civil marriage to the legal registration of relations.

3. Young family with small children. This stage is characterized by the separation of roles associated with fatherhood and motherhood, their coordination, material support for new family living conditions, adaptation to great physical and mental stress, insufficient opportunity to be alone, etc.

A couple may not be ready for children, and the birth of an unwanted child can complicate the problems of parenting. A number of important questions at this stage are related to who will care for the child. New roles of mother and father emerge; their parents become grandparents. For many, this is a difficult transition. The material supply falls on the husband, so he "frees" himself from caring for the child. On this basis, conflicts can arise due to the wife's overload with household chores and the husband's desire to "rest" outside the family. Marriages can begin to break down as the wife's demands for child care increase and the husband feels that his wife and child are interfering with his work and career. With regard to a young Russian family, some of them have a need to separate from older generation in others, on the contrary, all worries are transferred to grandparents.

4. Family from schoolnicknames. The time a child enters school is often accompanied by a crisis in the family. The conflict between the parents becomes more obvious, as the product of their educational activities is the object of public review.

5. Family middle age that children leave. Usually this phase of family development corresponds to the mid-life crisis of the spouses. Often during this period of life, the husband realizes that he can no longer rise higher up the career ladder, and in his youth he dreamed of something completely different. This disappointment can splash out on the whole family and especially on the wife. Children should feel like adults, they have long-term relationships, marriage (marriage) is possible.

6. Aging family. At this stage, older family members retire or work takes up only part of their time. There is a financial shift: old people receive less money than young people, so they often become financially dependent on children.

At this stage, marital relations are resumed, new content is given to family functions. Retirement can make the problem of being alone with each other even more acute.

7. The last phase of the family life cycle. One of the spouses may die, and then the survivor must adapt to life alone. Often he is forced to seek new connections with his family. In this case, the single spouse is forced to change his lifestyle and involuntarily accept the lifestyle that is offered to him by his children.

In the process of development of family marital relations psychologists identify periods of “recession in relations”, which are characterized by an increase in feelings of dissatisfaction with each other, and spouses show differences of opinion. Such periods are called "crisis situations in marriage." Under Withemain crisis the value conflict of the individual and society regarding the birth and socialization of children is understood, resulting in the failure to fulfill the reproductive and socialization functions of the family, accompanied by the weakening of the family as a union of relatives, the union of parents and children, the union of spouses, the weakening of the trinity of kinship - parenthood - matrimony due to the disappearance of family production, joint activities of parents and children.

2. The main problems of the modern family in Russia

2.1 Patterns of development of family relations

At the heart of the family crisis are certain patterns of development of intra-family relations. In a crisis situation, you must be patient, avoid rash decisions and actions.

There are several such periods, or recessions, in relationships that not all families successfully overcome:

* the first days after marriage;

* after about two to three months of married life;

* after six months of marriage;

* after the first anniversary of marriage;

* after the birth of the first child;

* in the interval of three to five years;

* after seven - eight years of marriage;

* with 12 years of family experience;

* after 20 --- 25 years of family life.

The above periods of family crises are considered conditionally, because they are not experienced by all families. There are two natural critical periods in the development of marital relations. It is during these periods that divorces and remarriages are most frequent. It is impossible to avoid such crises, but it is possible and necessary to consciously manage them, their course in the interests of further strengthening the family.

1. The critical crisis period between 3 and 7 years, with a positive set of circumstances, lasts about a year. Romantic relationships, the growth of disagreements in everyday life, the growth of negative emotions, the feeling of dissatisfaction, silent protest, the feeling of being deceived, reproaches disappear. Psychologists recommend limiting conversations about marital relationships, avoiding discussion of practical problems. Talk about professional interests. Spouses must independently look for a way out, the intervention of third parties can aggravate the situation.

2. crisis period between 13-23 years. It is less deep, but longer in time than the first. It coincides with the age of the "mid-life crisis". There is a heavy pressure of time, a feeling that a person will not have time to do everything planned. The social environment evaluates a person by what he has achieved. The result of the crisis is the development of a new image of one's "I", a rethinking of life goals. This crisis is a difficult test for the family.

2.2 The crisis of the institution of the family

The family has always been an institution of primary socialization. The processes taking place with the family and in the family are undoubtedly reflected in the process of becoming a person. Conflicts arising in the family between parents and children, younger and older, conflicts between the "old" generation and the "new" complicate the process of upbringing and socialization of the younger generation.

Socialization is the process of familiarization with the values and norms accepted in society and its subsystems. In the broadest sense of the word, socialization lasts a lifetime. In a narrow sense, it is limited to the period of a person growing up to adulthood. Family socialization is understood in two ways: as, on the one hand, preparation for future family roles and, on the other hand, as the influence exerted by the family on the formation of a socially competent, mature personality. The family has a socializing effect on the individual through normative and informational influence. It is the family that is the primary source of socialization, and it is the family that, first of all, makes it possible for the individual to form as a socially competent person.

The problems of the modern family are among the most important and urgent. Its significance is determined by the fact that, firstly, the family is one of the main social institutions of society, and secondly, that this institution is currently experiencing a deep crisis.

Still, there is more than enough reason to worry about the family. The family is indeed in crisis. And the cause of this crisis, if viewed in a broad sense, is the general global social changes, the growth of population mobility, urbanization, secularization and others, which lead to the loosening of "family foundations". These and a number of other factors led to the fall of the family as a social institution of society, a change in its place in value orientations. It is known that during the years of Soviet power the social status of the family was relatively low, although the state had a significant impact on family relations.

During the reform years there was a sharp decline in this status. economic, social, moral foundations families, which has accelerated the process of devaluation of the family lifestyle, lifelong marriage, having few children, the growth of the prestige of single-bachelor independence, etc.

Over the past one and a half to two decades, there has been a serious reduction in the number of marriages. In recent years, the number of divorces has increased by the number of registered marriages. So about two divorces for three marriages.

Causes of the crisis of the modern family as a social institution.

The family is a personal environment for the life and development of a person from development to death. This special environment for the child is the first social institution that has a whole range of means of influence aimed at introducing the individual to the social whole.

Among people, the struggle of heterogeneous and multidirectional interests does not subside, the disunity of cultures and traditions is great, ideals and values also do not coincide, the level of satisfaction of needs differs sharply. Meanwhile, the security of the family is inextricably linked with its needs. Needs - this is the need for something necessary for the life of a person, his family and society as a whole. Satisfaction of needs is determined by numerous factors, including socio-economic ones. The socio-economic circumstances of the current stage of social development determine the use of social protection of the population, indicators of the physiological minimum, and not indicators of the subsistence minimum. The unthinkable wealth of the unjust handful of oligarchs demonstrates the redistribution of property that has taken place, which leads to the fact that over 70% of the population have incomes below the subsistence level. The continuing lag in the growth of money incomes from the growth in consumer prices causes a deterioration in the financial situation of the majority of the population of Russian society. The distribution of poverty due to socio-economic difficulties is the cause of the crisis of the modern family.

All segments of the population belonging to the category of the poor are now living very hard, but it is especially hard for families with children. The birth rate has fallen catastrophically, it is estimated that the population consisting of two-child families loses a third of its size in about 30 years. For simple reproduction, it is necessary that half of the families have 3 children. The attitude that it is too expensive to grow one is a consequence of the crisis in the livelihoods of the majority of the population. There is a catastrophic decrease in the number of families with minor children in their composition, with an average per capita income exceeding living wage. It has already been proven that the level of poverty is due to an increase in the number of children in the family. Thus, the main reason for the crisis of the modern Russian family lies in a sharp drop in the quality of life of the population. The quality of life of a family is the most reliable indicator of its well-being.

The crisis of the family is unfolding against the backdrop of global social announcements of the 20th and 21st centuries, which entail the loosening of the “family structure”, the intensification of divorces and the breakdown of marriages, an increase in the number of single-parent families, the widespread use of abortions and extramarital relations, and the increase in domestic violence.

The unequal position of the family institution among other social institutions led to the devaluation of the family lifestyle, lifelong marriage, an increase in the prestige of single-bachelor independence and small families in various countries and strata of society.

At the end of the 1990s, the catastrophic decline of the family way of life showed that having a family with several children ceased to be one of the indicators of human well-being. The birth of children began to be seen as a "hindrance" on the path to happiness and success in life, the achievement of an acceptable standard of living. According to a number of sociological and demographic studies, ensuring the status of parenthood and reducing the value of children makes it possible to consider any living conditions not sufficient even for the appearance of a second child in the family.

Over the past three decades, the average family size has been 3.2 people in cities and 3.3 in rural areas, which is due to an increase in the number of small families, an increase in the number of young families, due to a decrease in the age of marriage, a tendency to separate young families from parental families, an increase in share of single-parent families as a result of divorce, death of one of the spouses and the birth of children single.

Russia is currently experiencing the fourth period of population decline. Unlike the three previous ones, it is not associated with any catastrophic events, but is the result of "internal" evolutionary changes in the reproduction of the population, which are a direct consequence of the crisis of the family as a social institution.

Childlessness and having few children have long been fairly common in most of Russia. Not only the number of such families is growing, but also their share in the family structure.

The crisis of the family and the reproduction of the population is a value crisis of the social order, for which momentary interests are higher than the interests of its own self-preservation. Another factor in the crisis of the family is the attitude towards women as labor force. This is due to the fact that family members have become more enslaved and less group-bound, i.e. the family as a whole - has become conditional. This is also due to the increase in the number of women in the labor market, for example, the economic unity of husbands and wives has weakened. This leads to a general weakening of marital unions. Bonds are destroyed not only between spouses, but also between parents and children. It is also associated with a weakening of the reproductive function. Perhaps the family today has fewer children than before because they want to do more for each child. Reducing the amount of time parents spend with their children, increasing the amount of time a child is alone and outside, quantifies inefficiency. family socialization children. Accordingly, this leads to the disintegration of the integrity of the family.

Modern society erodes family values, corrodes them, ultimately endangering its own existence. Namely, this fundamental contradiction of an industrial society, which, on the one hand, cannot exist without a family, without population reproduction, and on the other hand, does not have immanent mechanisms for the realization of this existential need, determines the need for family and demographic policy.

2.3 Divorce and domestic violence

The large number of divorces cannot but disturb the public. It is no exaggeration to say that there is a catastrophic increase in divorce rates. The main reasons for divorces are alcohol abuse, household disorder of the spouses, adultery, the problem of distribution of household duties, psychological incompatibility. The increase in divorces has led to a significant increase in the number of children left without a parent.

According to Roskomstat, in the first half of 2013 the number of registered marriages and divorces increased compared to the same period in 2012.

Trends in the decline and growth in the number of births quite consistently repeat changes in the number of registered marriages, although they are formed against the background of a relatively high proportion of births to women who are not in a registered marriage, and a periodic increase in the number of registered divorces13.

The decrease in the number of births in the 1990s occurred simultaneously with a significant decrease in the number of registered marriages against the background of a decline in the demographic wave (the relatively small generations born in the second half of the 1960s and the first half of the 1970s reached the age of the greatest marriage and reproductive activity). The number of registered marriages fell to a minimum value - 849 thousand - in 1998, and subsequently grew, rising to 1316 thousand in 2011. Deviations from the growth trend were noted only in 2004 and 2008. In general, during the period 1998-2011, the number of marriages increased by 55%. However, fewer marriages were registered in 2012 than in 2011 (1213.6 against 1316.0 thousand). In the first half of 2013, the number of registered marriages turned out to be 14.4 thousand more than in the same period of 2012 (481.9 against 467.5 thousand).

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Essay on discipline "Sociology"

The main causes of the crisis of the modern family

Introduction
Causes of the crisis
Consequences of the crisis
Conclusion
Application

Introduction

What is family? The most general definition of this term is: a family is a social group whose members are connected by ties of kinship, marriage or adoption and live together, cooperating economically and taking care of children. Contemporary sociologist Anthony Giddens has given a broader definition: a family is a unit of society, consisting of people who support each other socially, economically or psychologically, or identify each other as a supportive unit.

As a social institution, the family performs the following functions:

* Reproductive

* Economic and economic

* Recreational

* Social control

* Status

* Educational

All these functions are socially significant, they show that the family plays a big role in the life of society and the state, so it is so important to track emerging problems and find solutions.

The family in sociology is considered not only as a social institution, but also as a small social group. What are its distinguishing features in the latter capacity? Firstly, the family is a special kind of union between spouses, characterized by a spiritual community, deep trusting ties. Secondly, in the family there are trusting relationships between parents and children, which is why the family is called a typical primary group: these relationships play a major role in shaping the nature and ideals of the individual; they form a sense of integrity, the desire of family members to fully share its inherent views and values. Thirdly, the family is formed in a special way: on the basis of mutual sympathy, spiritual closeness, love.

IN modern world Much is said about the fact that the family as a cell of society, as a social institution, is in deep crisis. Not only sociologists speak about it, but also economists, philosophers, psychologists.

The crisis manifests itself in the following:

1. General decrease in the number of families

2. Small children. The latest census data show that the Russian family has an average of 3-2 people. The family structure is dominated by one-child families - 56%, two-child families - 35%, families with many children - 8% have been preserved due to the traditional mentality of high birth rates in the southern republics.

3. Decline in the birth rate, natural population decline.

Until 2009, the population of Russia was declining by several hundred thousand people annually. In 2009, the natural decline in the population of Russia (248.9 thousand people) was 99% compensated by the migration gain (247.4 thousand people), as a result of which the population decline practically stopped. In 2010, the trend of reducing mortality and increasing the birth rate in Russia continued. However, in 2011, the increase in the birth rate was only 0.2%.

4. A sharp rejuvenation of marriages. The lower limit of the legal age of marriage has reached 16 years, and the average age of marriage is 19-21 years

5. High divorce rate. According to statistics, today every second marriage breaks up. Statistics also show that 40% of young families under the age of 24 break up a year or two after marriage. So, at present, according to official data, more than 20% of families are incomplete, and in such megacities as Moscow and St. Petersburg, this figure exceeded 30%.

6. A large number of abortions.

Thus, we can really say that the modern family is in crisis.

Causes of the crisis

There are several approaches to determining the causes of the crisis.

Sociological (adaptive) approach: the family is considered as an unchanging reality that exists in changing external conditions; family crisis - the result of adverse external influences; overcoming this crisis is seen in the creation of optimal (most favorable) conditions for the functioning of the family. Thus, the main causes of the crisis are external factors - economic, political, social, ideological and even biological. This approach is most clearly described in the structural-functional family model developed by T. Parsons and his colleagues. In accordance with this model, the family was considered as a social institution: a) harmoniously included in society; b) the main task is to serve the society; c) being a static formation, and not the result of the interaction of individuals. This approach refers to the crisis of the family in general negatively; it is seen as the result of negative external influences. In order to neutralize the crisis, it is enough just to remove external negative factors.

External factors include:

Lack of own housing

Low wages, unemployment

Low standard of living in general, lack of life prospects

Unstable political situation in the country

In my opinion, when identifying the causes of a family crisis, one cannot rely only on this approach, because, in addition to external ones, there are also internal factors. The family is, first of all, the interaction of individuals. Each person is unique, and their interaction creates conflicts that often have a stronger negative impact on the family as a unit of society than any political or economic factor.

Very often, these internal conflicts arise due to the dissatisfaction of the needs of the spouses. The well-known psychologist V.A. Sysenko identifies the following main causes of conflicts:

· Conflicts based on unsatisfied need for the value and significance of one's "I", humiliation of dignity on the part of a partner.

· Conflicts based on unsatisfied sexual needs of one or both spouses.

· Conflicts that have as their source the needs of spouses in positive emotions; lack of tenderness, care, attention and understanding.

· Conflicts on the basis of addiction of one of the spouses to alcohol, gambling, which leads to uneconomical and inefficient spending of family funds.

· Financial disagreements arising from the exaggerated needs of one of the spouses, different approaches to the family budget and the contribution of each of the partners to the material support of the family.

· Conflicts based on the need for mutual assistance, cooperation and cooperation.

Conflicts related to the division of labor in the family and housekeeping

· Conflicts associated with different approaches to raising children.

On my own behalf, I can add that usually one of the reasons for all these disagreements and conflicts is the haste of marriage, when people are forced to marry or get married without knowing each other to the end. Begins living together, and the spouses suddenly turn out to be completely strangers; they are simply not able to withstand the so-called "grinding" of characters. Marriage breaks up, the family is destroyed, which in no way can positively affect society.

The ecological approach is the exact opposite vision of this issue. The family is considered as a fairly autonomous subsystem in the system of relationships "society - family - individual", and the family itself is also a complex system of internal relationships. This approach seems more logical to me. The family, as a developing system, is influenced by changing social conditions, in a large and real ever-changing world.

The scientist, doctor and educator Vladimir Bazarny believes that the crisis of the modern family is not due to objective reasons, but because of a spiritual split: “Ask prosperous, healthy, respectable young people of 30-35 years old living in stable Germany: why don’t they It is unlikely that you will hear something intelligible in response: you can’t take seriously the arguments about a career, about the pleasures of a free life, about seeing the world, saving up money. Young people have no housing - only a corner in a tent, a vague idea of where and when they can work stably, but there is no doubt that they will have children at the time allotted by nature. ", deprivation only rallied and tempered family groups. And today, both the poor and the rich are moaning and crying from marital torment. We have violence, hundreds of thousands of social orphans, homeless children, drunkenness, drug addiction. And while explaining this family misfortune, we go over and over all the factors material life. And the factor of spiritual life is not taken into account. Meanwhile, the spiritual abyss is growing from generation to generation."

In general, strong changes are now taking place in the social structure of society as a whole, and, perhaps, the crisis of the family is a reaction to these changes. The social differentiation of society becomes more and more complicated, the primary groups lose their unique features; the role of man as an individual increases. Everyone in the family becomes focused primarily on himself, his interests, his opinion, which runs counter to the very concept of family relations. Everyone "pulls the blanket over himself", and it is from here, in my opinion, that most family conflicts stem.

The family as a social institution is in the process of adapting to modern realities, it is learning to exist in a new, changed world, trying to preserve and convey all the values and advantages of family relations, while adjusting to people and their lifestyle of the 21st century. This is what gives rise to conflict, and, as a result, a crisis. Two opposing concepts - the past and the present, the social orientation of the old family and the "inward" orientation of the new family, fight each other.

In Russia now, unfortunately, the so-called "maternal" families predominate. Why does it happen that husbands leave, abandon their children? Because they themselves were brought up in the same family - only by their mother, and very rarely with such upbringing it is possible to get a person who is ready to take responsibility for himself and his children. They get married, can't stand it, leave, and now their children are growing up without a father. This is how a model of behavior is assimilated and inherited: for a girl - that she must be strong and pull everything on herself, one cannot rely on a man. Thus, she acquires purely "male" character traits that will manifest themselves in her future family relationships. For a boy, a strong mother, a strong woman, becomes the norm; someone grows up with the understanding that this should not be the case, and someone repeats the fate of his father, and, alas, the majority of such people. family social small children birth rate

It has been proven that women are more resilient in stressful situations; a huge number of families broke up in the 90s, during a period of economic hard times, when even strong men unable to bear the burden of supporting a family. The fruits of this are already creating their families, or are about to create them, and there is no other model for them than the single family.

Consequences of the crisis

The attitude towards the crisis as something negative prevails. However, is this really so, where does everything that happens to modern families lead to?

The breakdown of marriage, family, cannot but negatively affect the mental health of children. As a result, this leads to an increase in child and adolescent crime, drug addiction; the loss of authority by parents and teachers, the growth of conflict in the school; the expansion of neglect, the growth in the number of homeless children. In the future - neglect of marriage, denial of the values of previous generations, the early start of sexual life.

More globally, such manifestations of the crisis as abortion negatively affect the health of the population; a number of girls are still dying from an unprofessional procedure. It also leads to a high probability of infertility in the future.

The excess of deaths over births, or a very low natural increase on a national scale, leads to the extinction of the population, as well as to its aging.

Thus, according to the forecast in the report of the United Nations Development Program published in early October 2009, Russia will lose 11 million people by 2025.

Population aging will lead to economic problems in the future: to support a large number of elderly people with a relative minority able-bodied population a strong increase in taxes will be required, which is very problematic in our country.

Conclusion

On the basis of the studied material and my own opinion, both external and internal factors can be attributed to the main causes of the family crisis. The main external factors are economic and political, internal - conflicts and relationship problems. Also a big role is played by the reorientation of the members of the modern family to their own "I", that is, the reassessment of values. Some researchers characterize this phenomenon as a "spiritual fall". Material rather than spiritual values come to the fore, family relations are no longer in the first place. "Floating" leadership in the family, shifting roles leads to single, "maternal" families, and in complete families - to problems due to role conflicts of spouses.

· Spiritual fall

30 people took part in the survey. About 32% believe that the main reason is a spiritual fall, and another 34% are economic problems. Only two respondents offered their options: insincerity of feelings, and reassessment of values (which in our case is meant by spiritual fall).

Based on the results of this survey, the following conclusion can be drawn: despite the fact that people continue to see the economic aspect as decisive in family problems, they come to understand that the value aspect is also important.

A correct understanding of the causes of the crisis is necessary for its full resolution. It is impossible to leave everything as it is and not try to find a way out of the impasse in which the family is now located - the "health" of the whole society as a whole is closely connected with the "health" of the family.

List of used literature

Diligentsky G.G. Socio-political psychology. M., 1994

Bekembaeva E.V. The crisis of the modern family and the problems of education. http://www.rae.ru/forum2011/pdf/1062.pdf

Orlov A.B. The evolution of interpersonal relationships in the family: main approaches, orientations and trends. Master, 1996

Schneider L.B. Psychology of family relations. Lecture course. - M.: April-Press, EKSMO-Press, 2000.

Application

· Spiritual fall

· Economic problems (poverty, unemployment, lack of housing)

High standard of living, satiety

Disadvantages of raising future wives/husbands

30 people took part in the survey.

34% of respondents named economic problems as the main reason, 32% - spiritual decline. High standard of living, satiety - 15%, and lack of education - 18%. Thus, the external factor - economic and internal - value-oriented - received almost the same number of votes. This proves that both are important. Quite a large number of votes - 15% - received the option "high standard of living, satiety." It is rather characteristic of Western countries, but, obviously, it has also been developed in Russia. The deficiencies of upbringing also received sufficient support; however, the last two factors can by no means be considered decisive.

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The modern family is going through a difficult stage of evolution, its social status is declining. Every year, family reproduction is reduced by 15-20%. The number of divorces is steadily increasing. The duration of family life is reduced: every third marriage breaks up in less than five years. The key reason for the impoverishment of Russian families is seen in the social consequences of economic reforms. It is on the family, first of all, that inflation, the reduction in the rate of production, the growth of non-payments, and female unemployment are reflected. In fact, many families were deprived of all previous guarantees: the guaranteed right to work, to free medical care, to rest, leisure and even travel (due to exorbitant transport costs), without receiving any new ones. The family's right to life was under threat (in areas of interethnic conflicts). In many cases, the family does not withstand the onslaught of market ideology, which detonates its disintegration. The most pressing problems of the modern family include the following.

1. housing problem. If in previous years it was quite possible for young families to purchase a cooperative apartment (with the help of their parents, of course), to receive a state-owned apartment or room, to rent a living space before receiving their own housing, then with the transition to the formation of a housing market, to acquire it independently, with the help of parents or enterprises can only a small number of young people. Therefore, a decrease in the number of people entering into marriage is quite natural. In addition, there is a direct correlation between the deterioration of housing conditions and the aggravation of family conflicts (although there is no inverse correlation: improving housing and material conditions does not at all lead to strengthening the family).

2. Financial and economic problem. The financial and economic difficulties experienced by the entire population are especially affecting the poor, families with many children, and families with children. If the family budget is spent on food, then the purchase of durable items (clothes, shoes, household appliances) becomes impossible.

3. The problem of employment and unemployment, on the one hand, and women's problem employment and double workload, with another. Double workload of women, i.e. their participation in social work and their predominant fulfillment of duties for household services at home and family is not a new problem. Work for a woman is a place where you can show your abilities, it is also a sphere of communication in which a woman is often treated with more respect than at home. For most women, the desire to hold on to work is an economic compulsion, born of socio-economic instability, uncertainty about the future. Domestic workloads are due, on the one hand, to patriarchal traditions, and, on the other hand, to the underdevelopment of industrial services for our everyday life. During the transition to a market economy, a woman became a victim of her family and motherhood duties and, as disadvantageous due to her benefits related to childbearing, holidays, etc., she becomes the first client of the labor exchange, where over 80% are women.

4. The problem of family planning. For thousands of years, biological productivity, which has become a tradition, enshrined in religious dogmas and attitudes, has determined the number of children in a family. In addition, children were an insurance factor providing "charity", feeding their parents in old age. Today, the focus on having many children is a thing of the past, and the trend towards having few or even childlessness can be considered stable. Demographic depression is characterized by extremely high rates: up to 30% per year, which leads to depopulation, i.e. excess of deaths over births. A number of others follow from the global problem (family planning): the problem of unwanted children, which is not only moral and psychological, but also social; the birth of children from underage mothers.

5. Domestic violence. Most of the murders in our country (not counting the victims of military and ethnic conflicts) occur on family and domestic grounds. The number of children who have become victims of parental abuse is on the rise.

Despite the presence of different points of view on the crisis of the family, all researchers are unanimous in their opinion about its presence in modern Russian society. The components of this crisis can be considered the following signs: a drop in the birth rate; mass childlessness; depopulation of the nation; an increase in the number of divorces; increase in the number of incomplete families; children born out of wedlock; widespread informal marriages (cohabitation); alternative forms of marriage and family relations (“concubinage”, family-commune, “swing”, “group marriages”), legalization of same-sex relationships; growth of individuals living apart (loneliness).

The decline in the birth rate in Russia began in the late 1960s. Modern fertility parameters are half that required to replace generations: on average, there are 1.2 births per woman, while 2.15 are necessary for simple reproduction of the population. In a number of regions located in the central part of Russia, the total fertility rate is about one birth per woman.

The nature of fertility in Russian Federation It is determined by the mass spread of small families (1-2 children), the convergence of the fertility parameters of the urban and rural population, the postponement of the birth of the first child, and the growth of out-of-wedlock births.

Small children, as a well-established, developing and diversified social phenomenon, has crossed all boundaries: national, regional, class, professional. It took root in society, became not an accidental and not a temporary process, but a regularity. The increase in the number of small and childless families is a reflection of the instability of the family, the decline in its status. Modern society provides a person with many different opportunities for self-realization of the individual, which constitute a serious alternative to the need to have children. Although, undoubtedly, a low standard of living serves as a brake on the birth rate, but the reason lies not only in this. The crisis of the family is not a problem of wealth and poverty, it is a common misfortune of the entire modern civilization, a misfortune that has resulted in devaluation family values. In the system of these values, regardless of material well-being, the human "I" was self-determined in any way, but not through parenthood. We are dealing with something that has never happened in the history of mankind: having few children was forced. Now the anti-children, anti-family trend is mainly associated with the life philosophy of the younger generation, which does not want (or is afraid!) to have children due to the lack of real prospects for their professional and social self-determination. There was no place for a person in this system of values, his destiny is the hypertrophied social function of the worker. There is no man, there is no woman with her special responsible role of reproduction and education of the younger generation, but there are workers, creators, politicians. Unfortunately, people transferred these impersonal relationships to the family, thus depreciating one of its most important functions. And that is why now not only familists, but also representatives of other “human sciences” sciences state with alarm: “... We are on the threshold, no matter how scary this word sounds, depopulation, when the death rate is higher than the birth rate. Until we say that the crisis of the family is not just a crisis of its material possibilities, not only for this reason spouses refuse to have children, but that this is a crisis of the value system generated by the costs of industrial production, until this problem is realized in such staging, until its resolution will be invented. All the same, it will be necessary to allow it, since the anti-child, anti-family direction of development is inhumane, which means it is non-progressive, unpromising ... There is no humane alternative to the family.

Low birth rate is one of the causes of depopulation. Depopulation - a steady excess of the number of deaths over the number of births - has affected, to varying degrees, almost the entire territory of the Russian Federation and almost all ethnic groups.

Marriage destabilization is one of the most important demographic problems, quantitatively expressed in the unfavorable ratio of registered and dissolved marriages. The level of divorce in Russia continuously increased in the 50s, 60s and 70s of the XX century.

Currently, more than 50% of marriages end in breakup.

Divorce is the most obvious, but not the only evidence of the destruction of family relations, since it only formalizes their actual situation. Not all families with dysfunctional relationships make the decision to divorce, either due to fear of the procedure and consequences of divorce, or because of psychological inertia, or due to the belief that "children should have two parents, regardless of the relationship between them." At the same time, the family is formally preserved, but its basic functions are violated.

The downward trend in marriage rates, which intensified towards the end of the 1990s, was due to several factors.

Firstly, partnership cohabitation is increasingly spreading among young people.

Secondly, the registration of marriages takes place today more and more at a later age.

And, thirdly, the general deterioration of the economic situation, the growth of unemployment, especially among young people, the decline in living standards - all this slows down marriage.

The number of incomplete families (as a result of divorce, widowhood, the birth of a child by an unmarried woman, etc.) is 20% with a predominance of single-parent families in which the child is raised by one mother (approximately 14 such families per mother). incomplete family in which the child is raised by one father).

Against the background of a general decline in the birth rate and an increase in the number of incomplete families, there is an intensive increase in children born out of wedlock among all those born. Until 1985, their share fluctuated around

10%, and then began to grow rapidly, and in 2000 it reached 28%. Today, the parents of almost every fifth child in our country are not married. This is partly due to the weakening of moral standards and more liberal attitudes towards illegitimate children, sometimes this can be seen as an indicator of the spread of de facto marital relations. The growth of illegitimate births among underage mothers is great. The increased out-of-wedlock birth rate at the youngest ages is mainly a consequence of a low contraceptive culture at the beginning of sexual life.

Both our and foreign experience shows that among the illegitimate children of underage mothers, the number of unplanned and unwanted children is especially high. Therefore, indicators of maternal and infant mortality, neonatal pathology, and mothers' abandonment of children are increasing. Among the problems of incomplete families, the problem of its functioning as an institution for the upbringing and socialization of children is especially acute. Being born out of wedlock lowers the child's chances of having a full family in the future: "purely" female, as well as "purely" male upbringing of children leads to the formation of a distorted behavior. Another important difficulty of this type of families is their economic insolvency. The vast majority of single-parent families have the characteristics of being poor and dependent on benefits.

The next social characteristic that requires society's attention to an incomplete family with minor children is related to the quality of the latter's health. Pediatricians who study the level of children's health come to a disappointing conclusion: children from single-parent families are much more likely than children from complete families to suffer from acute and chronic diseases that occur in a more severe form. Thus, the specific way of life of a family with one parent significantly affects the well-being of an incomplete family. Nevertheless, the number of children born out of wedlock is growing from year to year, which, over time, exacerbates the problem of single-parent families.

Researchers, starting from the second half of the 80s, began to ascertain the liberalization of public opinion regarding cohabitation. In the public consciousness, the name “civil marriage” is increasingly attached to such unions, although this term arose in a completely different context - as a marriage union registered with state bodies, an alternative to church marriage.

The attitude of society towards “civil marriages” is becoming more and more loyal. Between 1980 and 2000, their number increased sixfold. Young couples are increasingly refusing official marriage registration, the prevalence of legally unregistered marriages led to the fact that in 2000 every fourth child was born out of wedlock.

Social practice is expanding in society, when for many young people marriage is preceded by cohabitation, which can be considered as a temporary, but in most cases an indispensable step towards the legal consolidation of emotionally and psychologically justified relationships. Traditional marriage is being replaced by the so-called “trial marriage” (cohabitation, extramarital union), most often at the age of 18–25. Analyzing the reasons for the growth of extramarital unions, some experts attribute this fact primarily to the crisis of the modern family, the fall of its social prestige. Many young people are frightened by the prospect of taking responsibility for another person, as well as for children who sooner or later appear in the family. They should not be blamed for this, because today's youth achieve economic independence later. On the other hand, early physical development causes the need for sexual intercourse. Of course, sexual potency, the need to satisfy the sexual instinct, has always existed, but earlier this was largely prevented by strict social norms. Now freedom of premarital sex is dominating. Therefore, a couple living together without legal registration of relations, with greater ease than in the conditions of a legal marriage, can terminate their relationship if something does not suit the partner. Psychological factors also play an important role in the growth of extramarital unions. An increasing number of young people (and even their parents) consider it necessary to go through a trial period in cohabitation before a "real" marriage - to get to know each other's character and habits better, to test their feelings, sexual compatibility. But it should be noted that most often the initiator of the "trial marriage" is a man. The modern woman, as before, is more interested in creating a family and suffers more from her absence, although marital obligations bind her first of all, and provide benefits to a man.

Interesting data on this subject are reported by objective statistics. Married man differs from a bachelor in better physical and mental health, he is less likely to get sick, he is less likely to get hit by a car, become an alcoholic, commit suicide, he is more successful in professional activities, lives longer. A married woman differs from her unmarried peers, especially those under the age of 30, in health, her career advancement is hampered by the birth and upbringing of children, household duties, and opportunities for extra-family leisure are limited.

It turns out that marriage is more in the interests of a man, nevertheless, he sees “quarrels” in the family, and she sees “happiness”.

The position of a woman in a “trial marriage” is no different from that in a registered one: it is she who bears the main burden of housekeeping. Men, on the other hand, more often feel like a guest in an unofficial marriage, who is honored and respected every day and every hour, and at the same time no one expects, much less requires, his participation in domestic work. Everything depends on his personal desire, that is, he enjoys all the advantages of a married man, but with the only difference that he has no duties and is not responsible for the economic well-being of the family. Family problems are solved on the basis of mutual agreement. Therefore, "trial marriage" should not be regarded as a new stage in the development of intersexual relations, but as a crisis state of the modern family.

The phenomenon of the diversity of family models by both foreign and domestic researchers is associated with profound social changes that have global and national characteristics and are expressed in a change in value paradigms.

In the twentieth century along with the monogamous type of family, a number of types of non-traditional models have become widespread. The emergence of such forms in science is explained by the complexity of the formation of modern and postmodern types of families. As an example, we will give several forms presented in the English-language literature.

"Regularly separated" marriage is a model, the essence of which is that the husband and wife at a certain stage in the development of an individual family prefer to live separately for a sufficiently long period of time. Spouses choose a certain degree of spatial isolation from each other in order to prevent the routinization of life and domestic collisions and thereby achieve maximum satisfaction of individual needs and create the ground for creative expression.

The next unconventional form is an "open" marriage. Some people do not accept divorce as The best decision problems that have arisen in the family, so they are looking for opportunities to “open” marriage. "Open" marriage means taking steps towards full equality and independence of spouses in the intellectual and professional fields. In such a marriage, the husband and wife are independent partners. One extreme form of "sexual open marriage" is the so-called "swinging". Here, extramarital sexual contacts are openly practiced by both spouses, often at the same time and in the same place.

Alternative marriages are also “concubinage” (in which there is some participation of the “father” in the future fate of his child and his mother - with unregistered relationships, i.e. marriage “de facto”, although the man has an official family), and also all varieties of bigamy.

One of the most acute problems of marriage and family at the turn of the millennium is the legalization of same-sex cohabitation, equating them with legally registered marriages.

Finally, another sign of the instability of the family lifestyle is the belief that loneliness is an attractive and comfortable lifestyle. To one degree or another, loneliness was also inherent in various societies and peoples in the past. But if in the past it was the result of the action of objective factors that almost did not depend on the person himself (the death of men in the war, the death of one of the spouses from epidemics and diseases), now it also depends on the individual himself. Many become lonely consciously, that is, people consciously do not want to get married. Since World War II, the number of people living apart has increased dramatically. In previous generations, loneliness was perceived as a fate in general, people experiencing it were treated with understanding. However, conscious loneliness was condemned by society. Nowadays there is a different view. Undoubtedly, the public consciousness no longer forms a negative attitude towards him: society is quite tolerant of the lonely, perhaps even indifferent. We believe that these changes are due to some extent to the process of changing emphasis in the system "society - family - personality". But in reality, this means that it is not so important for society today whether a person is a family person or not. Other indicators are becoming more significant: professional, educational, etc.

Opinions and attitudes in this area depend on nationality, the degree of urbanization of the settlement, age, and some other factors. At the same time, it is clear that directly or indirectly, the prerequisites for loneliness are created: economic, social, moral and psychological. All benefits and benefits are distributed in accordance with the achievements of a person in professional activities. Loneliness becomes a phenomenon organically inherent in society, and not accidental and not temporary. The traditions and customs with which our ancestors fought against it are almost forgotten.

Another undoubted factor negatively affecting the stability of marriage, primarily abroad, but already penetrating into the minds of Russians, is the influence of the feminist worldview. In Russia, the spread of feminist ideas occurs not only for internal reasons, but also under the influence of foreign theories - through international conferences, grants from foreign foundations, through the media and various publications. For example, introductory remarks to the works of prominent feminists being translated into Russian give a generally positive assessment of them; in a number of translated sociology textbooks, material on family and marriage is presented as part of gender sociology. For the Russian reader, it is of particular interest to consider "anti-Semeinism" in American feminism from the standpoint of familistics, the pro-family perception of these views.

The disappearance of social necessity in a large family and in a high birth rate caused a contraceptive and, along with it, a sexual revolution, the collapse of a thousand-year-old system of social norms for a family lifestyle. The spread of a small family, the growth of divorces and cohabitations, socialization pathology, illegitimate births, etc. strengthened the new system of thoughts, where the family was associated with everything “old” and “obsolete”, and its decay products - with everything “new” and “advanced” ". In the situation of the value crisis of the family style of behavior and the indifference of public opinion towards the family, feminism appeared as an obvious ideological and theoretical justification for what was happening. In feminism, the inequality of the family among the institutions that exploit it is replaced by inequality and the exploitation of women, while the social problem of the decline of the family is removed, and the problem of gender relations is brought to the fore.

Crushing criticism of the family is inherent not only in radical feminism, which made itself fully known in the United States in the 70s, but also in other areas of modern feminist theory, the differences between which have been smoothed out in the last decade on the basis of a general rejection of the family.

The ideology of feminism was formed under the influence of the ideas of the Enlightenment about the natural rights of every person and thanks to the contribution of prominent figures in the women's movement: Mary Wollstonecraft, Francis Wright, Sarah Grimke, Elizabeth Stanton and Suzanne Anthony. At the first stage of the formation of American feminism, liberal feminists gradually leaned towards radicalism, considering women as an oppressed class, and all social institutions as attributes of patriarchy. In the 19th century emphasis was placed on the difference between men and women, purely feminine qualities were singled out, while the leading idea was the desire to concentrate all control in the hands of " strong women". In fact, it was the idea of mother right, very fashionable then among anthropologists. There was an opinion among liberal or cultural feminists that the call for "matriarchy" (dominance of women) was a response to the enslavement of women in the West in the 19th century.

Within the cultural feminism of the XIX century. Elizabeth Stanton took a radical stance, rejecting religion and the Ten Commandments, allegedly invented by men to deprive women of their rights. Matilda Gage went further than E. Stanton, equating patriarchy with the horrors of war, prostitution and the enslavement of women. Victoria Woodhull became the first woman to address the US Congress on women's rights, linking them to shocking views on free love. W. Woodhull defended the abolition of marriage as a system of official prostitution and rape.

Cultural feminists also championed the right to abortion: Emma Goddman was arrested in 1916 for distributing abortion literature, and Margaret Sanger advocated better living conditions through the legalization of abortion and advocated population slowdown.

The anti-family theory of feminism comes from the idea of individual freedom, cultivating the desire for freedom that is not limited by anything - even the requirement of individual responsibility for the negative consequences of any unauthorized actions. Each individual of the female gender is free to do as he likes, because the responsibility for this is shifted to society and the state. From the point of view of feminism, the traditional sociology of the family is guilty of the sociocultural recognition of the separation of the sexes, of substantiating the socialization of children according to their physiological constitution, i.e. in forced heterogeneous education. In the context of postmodernist soul-searching, the feminist denial of human nature and relevant human culture transcends all known forms of nihilism.

So, the crisis of the modern Russian family, unfortunately, is an undoubted fact. In addition, it takes place against the backdrop of a large-scale social crisis in the country, which makes it especially acute and dramatic. In addition, it is associated not only with socio-economic, but also with a number of psychological reasons that have appeared in people against the backdrop of social devastation.

The family has ceased to be a condition for survival in society, since every adult has the opportunity to become economically independent and therefore shows more concern for his personal growth than for family well-being. Most members of society have a pronounced orientation towards meeting the basic needs of life not in the family, but outside it. Now it is much more important to make a career than to become a good family man.

In recent years, an increasing number of young men are involved in deviant activity and criminal environment, or are involved in military operations that are taking place on the territory of Russia. All this, of course, is connected with a lifestyle that denies the family, so young people of marriageable age are in no hurry to create it, or simply do not have time to do it.

The crisis of the modern family is to some extent connected with the decline in the role of men as a stabilizing factor within it. The leading position continues to be occupied by a woman with her high level of emotionality, which often leads to a thoughtless breaking of marriage ties on her initiative. Mass culture that cultivates sexuality without love also played a negative role in this: in particular, advertising, beauty contests and other similar entertainment events that orient a man to assess a woman in terms of sexual attractiveness, and not love and motherhood. All sorts of sexual services have appeared, ranging from special salons to computer sex for intellectuals, which is incompatible with family life. In addition, the mass media (press, radio, television) obsessively promotes the ideas of hypersexuality, leading to frequent changes of sexual partners. Naturally, the implementation of such ideas into practice does not contribute to the strengthening of marriage, leads to the depreciation of spiritual and moral values and feelings of love.

In Russian society, there has been a sharp decline in the role of traditionally significant family ties within the family and, first of all, between parents and children. Parents brought up under the conditions of the Soviet regime turned out to be unadapted to the dramatically changed social relations, they were confused in front of an unusual and incomprehensible reality for them. Therefore, children no longer perceive them as carriers of wisdom, a certain life experience that could be borrowed. In turn, children who have not received a good upbringing do not know how to educate their children. Unwittingly or unwittingly, difficult life situations make the family another “annoying factor”, so the husband and wife, as well as other members of the family group, being in a chronic stressful state for several years, strive to find peace at least for a while. AND possible option The way out in this case is either the destruction of the family, or the refusal to create it.

Thus, modern Russian society and social work faces an urgent task - to help a family in crisis, which is in a rather difficult socio-economic situation, which is aggravated by the ever more widespread decline in the values of the familistic way of life.

Tasks for independent work

1. Suggest your definition of the concepts of "family" and "marriage".

2. Draw a family tree for your family.

3. Tell us about the family as a social institution, using five groups of common features of social institutions:

- attitudes and patterns of behavior;

- cultural symbols;

- utilitarian cultural traits;

– oral and written codes of conduct;

- ideology.

4. Make a table "Typical norms of traditional and modern family"

The sphere of family life and extra-family activities of spouses

Typical Norms

traditional family

Typical Norms

modern family

5. Using the chart below, describe the life cycle of a family. What typical problems does the family face at each stage?

Stages of the family cycle
Stage of childlessness, preparenthood	reproductive parenthood	socialized parenthood	ancestry
family events
Marriage	Birth of the first child	Birth of the last child	Separation from parents birth of the first

6. Outline the work: Sorokina P.a. The crisis of the modern family // Bulletin of the Moscow University. Ser. 18. Sociology and political science. - 997. - № 3. Do you agree with the sociologist's opinion? Justify your answer.

Write an essay on the topic: "The values of family and marriage in modern society."

Using the table below, describe the features of alternative lifestyles in today's society.

Traditional marriage and family relations	Alternative forms of marriage and family relations
Legitimate (legal)	Loneliness Unregistered cohabitation
Mandatory presence of children	Deliberately childless marriage
stable	Divorce, remarriage
Sexual fidelity of partners	swinging
Heterosexuality	Homosexuality
Dyadic	group marriage