Marriage and Family in Life Projects of Contemporary Youth

Abstract

Contemporary culture is dominated by the conviction that an incessant and multidirectional change is necessary, that identity is lost for the sake of transformation and extreme network decentralization. It is believed that the specificity of contemporary cultural transformations lies in the fast pace of changes, unprecedented in the history of mankind, as well as the multidirectionality of their axiological references and symbolic interpretations, for which I use a metaphor of axiological warpedness. We are experiencing a crisis of the family as a sustainable social group and as an institution. The so-called alternative forms of marriage and family are becoming widely accepted by the society. Despite the fact that both a successful marriage, family, having children and personal happiness are still values that are strongly emphasized by young Poles, there is a tendency to expose the category of personal happiness more strongly, and a successful marriage as a declared value does not necessarily involve the expectation of having children. Every fifth young Pole claims that marriage is an outdated institution. It is common in youth circles to accept informal relationships as “a check out,” or simply as a way of life. Marriage appears in the images of young people as an institution that adapts more to the individual, egocentric needs and expectations of the partners rather than to the functions and roles expected by society. An imaginary family should deepen intimacy, self-knowledge, self-development and self-fulfillment. The trivialization of divorces enables the perceived deficits in this area to find quick solutions in making divorce decisions. Pro-family movements centred around the Catholic Church or pro-life movements legitimized by Christian axiology, to a large extent gathering also young people, create socio-cultural conditions for restoring the family’s privileged place in Polish society. The preservation and creative development of Polish cultural and religious identity largely depend on the family’s ability to interpret and integrate national and religious values into everyday life.