The low importance of marriage in eastern Germany - social norms and the role of peoples’ perceptions of the past

Abstract

1. IntroductionIn almost all European countries, marriage rates have been declining since the 1960s and the share of non-marital births been rising for several decades (Perelli-Harris et al. 2010, 2012). This coincides with alternative partnership and living arrangements such as long-term cohabitation, single parenthood, childless marriages, living apart together, 'patchwork' families, and living alone becoming much more widespread (Sobotka and Toulemon 2008). In general, research in western, industrialized countries shown that traditional marriage become one option among many, and people are more often choosing other ways of pursuing their life goals (Beck-Gernsheim 1998, 2002). Research also shows that longer phases of cohabitation are preceding or even substituting for marriage. Faced with multiple choices of lifestyle and living arrangement -, with or without a partner, with or without - individual actors have to actively choose marriage over cohabitation (Thornton, Axinn, and Xie 2007). Many researchers have concluded that marriage can no longer be regarded as a self-evident and unquestioned institution, and that marriage has become less influential in delineating the relationships between men and the transition to adulthood, and the identity for men and women, and it has also become less relevant as a context for sexual expression, living arrangements, and the bearing and rearing of children (ibid.: 4).Eastern Germany, which was formerly the socialist state of the German Democratic Republic, is a special case of partnership change where the decoupling of marriage and childbearing is very advanced. Eastern Germany one of the world's highest percentages of non-marital births: in 2012 over 60% of births in eastern Germany were non-marital (see Section 3, and Nazio and Blossfeld 2003; Konietzka and Kreyenfeld 2002; Klusener and Kreyenfeld 2009; Klusener, Perelli-Harris, and Sanchez Gassen 2013; Kreyenfeld and Konietzka 2008). This extraordinarily high proportion of non-marital births is the reason why this region deserves a closer look.In the following, I will argue that common theoretical explanations for these trends that mainly focus on policies, laws, economics, and broader cultural changes such as value change need to be complemented with an agency approach that embeds individuals in a personal, social, and cultural context (see Section 2). This approach stresses that individuals' actions and decisions are framed by specific social norms. In accordance with the life course perspective, I also want to stress that actors' lives and decisions are interlinked with other peoples' lives: individuals' decisions about partnership formation, marriage, and cohabitation are influenced by the past and present experiences of their parents and significant others. This social, personal, and normative context of agency influences the meaning and decision-making of individual actors.Hence, I want to address the following questions in the case of eastern Germany: 1) what meanings do women and men in eastern Germany currently attach to marriage? 2) how are these meanings influenced by social norms and regional and cultural historical traditions? Addressing these questions will provide insight into how historical, social, and political context shape the social norms of marriage and non-marital childbearing that are relevant to individuals' decisions on marriage and alternative partnership arrangements.One way of studying social norms and the formation of meaning is the qualitative method of focus groups (see Section 4). In my paper I will present results from focus groups with 74 women and men aged 25-40, interviewed in Rostock, a city in the northern part of eastern Germany (see Section 4.1). The focus groups were conducted to elicit general social norms about marriage, cohabitation, and childbearing in order to explore the meaning of marriage in the eastern German context. …