Сімейні конфлікти та шляхи їхнього розв’язання наприкінці ХІХ – на початку ХХ ст. (за матеріалами преси підросійської України)

Abstract

The purpose of the research is to analyze the features of coverage on the pages of the press of Sub-Russian Ukraine at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries family conflicts and the ways of their resolution proposed by the state and the public. The research methodology is based on such general scientific principles as historicism, objectivity, systematicity, as well as on the use of general scientific (analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, classification and typology, comparison and abstraction, generalization and systematization) and special (historical-genetic, historical and comparative, analogy) methods. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the fact that for the first time in domestic historical science, coverage of family conflicts by the press at that time is considered; the ways of their solution are focused on; the importance of mass media for the formation of the concept of a new family, free from patriarchal norms, in which separate cohabitation of spouses, premarital sexual relations and divorce is a common phenomenon, is demonstrated. Conclusions. Family conflicts were an everyday phenomenon of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as evidenced by numerous informative and analytical publications in the press of Sub-Russian Ukraine of that time. Most often, the causes of conflicts were of a romantic nature (jealousy, adultery), often they occurred when one of the spouses was intoxicated, in a state of affect and nervous excitement, and were accompanied by the use of household items (knives, axes) and firearms, chemical and poisonous substances (sulphuric and carbolic acids, arsenic). Physical violence by a man against a woman was a common phenomenon in the Russian Empire during the period of modernization. The reasons for this can be considered the patriarchal system of society; significant influence of the church, which condemned the separate residence of men and women; complexity of the divorce procedure; low level of literacy of people from the poor strata of society; availability of alcohol and weapons. A part of court cases, which were accompanied by the murder of one of the spouses, ended with an acquittal by the jurors. Local press commentators were often on the side of those acquitted by the court, which testifies to the fact that the progress towards achieving gender equality and the emancipation of women, albeit slowly, was taking place, and the patriarchal foundations of society were gradually being destroyed in the direction of democratization. Some saw in this the collapse of the family as a social institution. Probably, we should talk about the natural transformation of the family, which was a natural phenomenon in accordance with the changes in the economy and culture, one of the catalysts of which was the press.