Family Values of the Population of Bashkortostan Against the Background of Other Russian Regions: Between Tradition and Modernity

Abstract

The article discusses the values and attitudes in the field of family and marriage, common among the population of 17–49 years. The survey was conducted in 2020 in 10 regions of the Russian Federation, including the Republic of Bashkortostan. The institutions of marriage and the family, and the values on which they are based, have undergone significant changes in recent decades. Their transformations are interpreted as a departure from the so-called traditional attitudes and behaviours and the transition to modern modernization or postmodernization. It is concluded that the population of the Republic has, on average, more traditional family and marriage attitudes and values than the population of the Russian regions that participated in the study. They manifest themselves in the chosen scenarios of marriage, in its motivation, in the ideas of a happy family. It cannot be argued that this is happening at the expense of the rural population, that it is definitely more conservative than the urban population. Although many views of the villagers are more traditional (attitude to the marriage contract, same-sex marriage and some others). The opinion of urban residents on many issues is often polarized, they are clearly divided into supporters of traditional values and modern ones. The polarity of opinions may explain the presence among them of recent immigrants from the village, who have not fully accepted the new values for themselves. Older groups – 30–49 years old, 40–49 years old on some issues, as well as women – are distinguished by great traditionalism. Among representatives of the youngest group, 17–29 years old, who have already entered or will enter the age of active marriage in the next few years, traditionalism is noticeably reduced.