The Value-Oriented Meaning of the Family and Its Contemporary Transformations

Abstract

1. Values as a theme of sociological reflections There is no social life, understood both in its individual and collective dimensions, beyond the sphere of axiology. We always remain entangled within the world of values. Values belong to the order of culture. Culture is a cult of values 2. The axiological crisis and directions of axiological transformations Studies concerning axiological systems and their transformations may be considered to constitute a comfortable vantage point for investigating the courses of changes affecting societies and cultures. In this context, one may postulate that the condition of Polish society can be characterized as facing a period of important cultural transformations, an age marked by a specific “turning point” in history. The condition of contemporary, inherently globalized society may be defined in terms of axiological warpedness. 3. Family as a value, and family‑related values When the situation of axiological warpedness is observed, the traditional family is shedding its privileged status in structures of social world. It is observed as the de‑legitimization of its meaningfulness as a primary group, social institution, and an environment in which one’s social personality matures. Moreover, a belief is being disseminated according to which the traditionally conceived family is no longer viewed as a salient social institution. On the contrary, it is frequently seen as something dispensable. When approached from an axiological perspective, the directions of family‑related transformations can be summarized by enumerating two main tendencies: — The transformation leading from the family conceived as an institution, through the family as a community (communio personarum), to alternative forms of family and marriage. — The transformation from the great family, through the nuclear family, to the culture of single persons. Regardless of a polity, families face a task of protecting their status in established forms of culture and social structure, as well as safeguarding their rights with reference to obligations held by state or self‑government institutions towards it. The future of every society depends upon the condition of family. The aforementioned demographic data clearly prove the thesis. State‑wide, region‑wide or district‑wide social relationships and their role in reinforcing families are not indifferent to this matter. A debate on the condition of family is, at the same time, a dispute concerning the fate of a polity, nation or society.