Matrimonial values of youth in Russian megalopolis: gender aspect (by example of Novosibirsk)

The author of the article examines thetransformation of family relations in Russian society at the turn of the 20th-21st centuries through the prism of deformation of genderstandards and gender roles. A retrospective analysis of gender relations in the Russian family at the extent of the 20th century and therationale for the smoothing factors of gender asymmetries is presented in it. The involvement of women in manufacturing, as well as thesexual revolution, are major factors of transformation of gender standards and marital and family purposes in the society. Basing on theanalysis of some concepts of modern social scientists the author draws conclusions about how the contemporary youth understand themeaning of marriage'.The relationship of the new gender standards with the emergence of alternative types of marriage are revealed:guest marriage, twine marriage ( when husband and wife live in different countries), cohabitation. The author has attempted to elicit thepoint of view on new marriage and family relations, in which marriage has given way to partnership in the official and everydaydiscourses. Young people are the future social community, thus, the development of the family in the future depends on their worldoutlook and values. That is why the investigation of marriage and family relations exactly among young people is highly topical. Theauthor cites the results of the survey of students in secondary specialized educational institutions (technical schools and colleges) inNovosibirsk conducted in May 2011. The sampling size was 415 people, including 193 boys and 222 girls. Quota sampling, formed onthe basis of gender criterion, revealed the general and the particular in marriage and family aims of boys and girls. The results of thequestionnaire survey showed that today's young people are carriers of the traditional system of family values. Most respondents (bothboys and girls) chose traditional (official) form as a priority kind of marriage. Some differences emerged in relation to religiousmarriages. Girls are adherents to this kind of marriage. According to the results of investigation the author concludes the loss of thevalue of informal marriage among young people, especially among girls. This form does not work in contemporary Russian society.Reconstruction of the gender order in the late 1990s brought new trends in family and marriage relationships, affecting change inreproductive behavior and family patterns. At the same time new forms of gender relations do not completely deny the old ones, andpartly base on them, representing a synthesis of the social experience of the two epochs.

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