The unmarried couple in post-communist Romania: a qualitative sociological approach

Abstract

Over the last few decades, ‘new’ contemporary couple relationships have been at the heart of international research on the cultural meanings and reference values that organize life couple nowadays. What is the situation in Romania? After the fall of the communist regime, the rise and development of new forms of couple relationships (other than the legitimate nuclear family that was widely accepted during the former political regime) have become more and more visible. During the transition to a market economy and pluralistic democracy, the development of living together outside marriage and the progressive spread of democratic values, as well as the slow but deep redefinition of the institution of marriage, have been obvious. Yet there have been insufficient efforts in tracking and reporting these transformations. This article presents some results of the first qualitative sociological investigation dedicated to cohabiting unmarried couples in post-communist Romania. In order to have a greater understanding of cohabitation at a macro level, it first focuses on the way cohabitation is presented in the Romanian demographic literature. Second, the analysis is followed by a micro-level study based on qualitative field research conducted in Bucharest with young people living as part of cohabiting opposite-sex couples.