Philosophy / 2. Social philosophy

Yaroslavtseva T.A.

Donetsk National University of Economics and Trade after M. Tugan-Baranovsky

Problems of modern Ukrainian family

Problems of family are very relevant in today's society, because we often forget about the place that occupies family in the lives of everyone. Among western scholars the thought that modern family is in the deep crisis is widespread, moreover, almost in all developed societies. Among them there are societies overtaken by the crisis as ours and quite successful in economic terms Europe and the USA, countries in Asia and Latin America.

The aim of our work is to analyze and study the development of Ukrainian family.

The crisis of modern family manifests itself in such facts of family life: decreasing the birth child, increasing the number of divorces, growing number of single parent families and children born out of wedlock; increase in childless families, late marriages, and growing number of couples without marriage registration.

What are the reasons of this phenomenon? The point is that as an initial element of society, the family reflects the same contradiction inherent in the society. Modern family has come under the influence of few global worldwide trends. The scientists point out the growing role of women in economic, cultural and political spheres of social life (these factors awake their desire for greater independence, they review the structure of traditional family relations of equality with men in decision-making), the formation of two centers of the life – work and home (formerly professional activities and household existed in unity); evolution of the views of society on sexual morality; global trends of the late 20^th century, related to the informatization of society, new areas of development, personal growth potential [1].

All these trends are connected mainly with the transition of many modern societies to «industrial» and «post-industrial» stage of development. Some researchers even believe that at this stage the majority of social functions of the family disappear. With the development of urban life and the constant decline of the part of countries’ population, it has become more difficult to characterize family as an economic unit of the society.

The role of family in the process of human reproduction is also changing. The births out of wedlock are growing (nearly every fifth child born in Ukraine are now out of wedlock). In urban areas there are fewer children than in rural areas where the presence of more labor in the family has always been the key to greater efficiency of its economy. The level of women education and the informatization of the society influence the number of children in the family as well as urbanization and related ecology. The development of information production requires a correspondence between modern technology and the ability of people to work: its general culture, information, intellectual abilities, professionalism, health, interest in work, capacity for rapid adaptation, the ability to make independent decisions. The person in the information society will be engaged in higher levels of education, awareness, health, good shape (statistics show that every decade people are increasingly spending their time training on keeping fit and healthy). To increase employee quality under the living conditions and facilities, which include level of education and culture, housing, nutrition, services and health care, recreational opportunities, should be established. In other words, the demand for quality of life has been constantly increasing. These demands put the family in terms of restricting the number of children in the family, because the large number of them leads to lower quality of life of its members (20% of Ukrainian families did not want to have them) [2].

In addition, a modern man is less educated in the family than he/she was in the past, when the representatives of the dominant classes and the ordinary people received home education. Even at the beginning of the century the majority of the population of the Russian Empire either had no education at all, or studied for 2-4 years in primary and parochial schools. Almost all the knowledge, which was useful in life and country youth and people from lower levels of the urban population received from parents. In modern world there are a lot of agencies and social institutions that assume the functions of education of young generation. Among them there are: kindergarten and school, the system of vocational education, higher educational institutions, community organizations, local governments and the media. American scientists have calculated that their students spend more time on TV than on the communication with parents, thus we can talk about reducing and reproducing social and family functions.

The loss of social value of family has led to the fact that the basis for marriage is gradually becoming only the intimate sphere. Therefore, characteristic feature of the modern family is the autonomy of its members. The higher level of cultural and civilization development of society, the more each member of this society regards himself as an individual, the greater the need for separation is. In a family the autonomy points out in that the interests of both members of a marriage is much wider than purely family and circle of meaningful dialogue for them beyond its borders. Family actively responds to the growing autonomy of its members. The new forms of family structures appear: marriage contracts for a certain time, marriage with three-year probation (no birth), "civil marriage" (marriage with the concern of the parties, but without registration) "Distance marriages” (separated spouses with occasional meetings)," "concubinage" (when a family broke up and its members have their own lives, but children are brought up together) [1].

Some scientists are already talking about the decline of the nuclear family and its disappearance, whereas the majority believes that family will remain in society in the future but it will lose its aura of "holiness", "integrity" and "unity" for a person.

Literature

1. Антонов А.И., Медков В.М. Социология семьи. М.: Инфра-М, 2007. – 640 с.

2. Буров С.Н. Брачно-семейные отношения. - М.: Экзамен, 2006. – 127 c.

3. Гребенников И.В. Основы семейной жизни. - М.: Просвещение, 2005. 450 с.