HISTORICAL ASPECTS OF THE FAMILY FORMING AND MATRIMONIAL RELATIONS IN THE SOCIO-CULTURAL SPACE

Abstract

The article deals with transformation processes and historical way of the family forming; it is found the main aspects of the formation and development of matrimonial relations; it is analyzed current trends in the development of Ukrainian family. Much attention is given to the consideration of family types, structure and matrimonial relations. The family is the most ancient social institution that passed through a difficult historical and socio-cultural ways of formation and development. From ancient times, philosophers, sociologists, culturologists and demographers studied analysis of various aspects of its functioning, social potential and ways of its implementation, depending on a system of social factors,. Scientific works on the history of marriage and family appeared recently in comparison. By the mid-19th century dominated religious and dogmatic views on marriage and family, which was seen as something immutable, founded an expression in identifying the patriarchal and bourgeois family. That fact that along with a monogamous family existed eastern polygamy (polygyny) or Indo-tibetan polyandry, historians studying family simply ignored.

The beginning of a systematic, actually scientific study of the family put Engels' work "Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State" (1884), which traced the changing of family and marriage in the past, it is shown that in the historical process three forms of marriage changed one another: in the age of savagery – group (tribal) marriage, during the period of barbarism – the pair marriage, at the time of civilization forming – monogamy. Above mentioned work of Engels has a scientific and historical value up till now.

In science for a long time, in fact till the 60ies of the 19th century, the family was considered as the most original and the oldest form of ancient society, from which subsequently arose kin, tribe, nation. Engels proved that this formula does not reflect the true state of affairs, having studied the results of research and scientific work "Ancient Society" (1877) by L. Morhan, using the writings of a number of other scholars on the history of ancient society, he gave a new explanation of the historical forms of family and marriage. Engels paid a special attention to the evolution of family forms, its development from group forms to monogamy.

Family is a socially sanctioned, a relatively stable group of people united by blood relationship, marriage or adoption of children, whose members live together and economically linked with each other. The family is both a small social group and a social institution. Family has always been and left a major element of society, that’s why, type, structure and its shape depend on the national peculiarities of the people. In any society, there are times when it breaks down, it is broken all ties, and only family remains a place where is preserved the "social genotype", which conveys the social memory to the future. The family came into being much earlier than the appearance of such social institutions as religion, government, education.

Ukrainian people for centuries created a unique culture that reflects its manifold life, values that were produced by the nation: honoring of the family, worship of the memory of ancestors, careful treatment of the child and the people in years. All of this is impossible without a deep knowledge of the folk traditions, moral norms and customary law of its people. Studying scientific sources on the formation of matrimonial relations, we can assert that in prehistoric times dominated the relationship of so-called promiscuity (disordered sexual relations). Later there emerged endogamy, at this time sexual relations joined the representatives of the same genus. Gradually, endogamy develops into exogamy what constitutes systematic sexual relations between people of different kins. Initial form of exogamous marriage was group marriage. Over time, group family and marriage became transformed into the pair family that combines the two persons – a man and a woman. Pair marriage had three varieties: dislocal, matrilocal and patrylocal marriage. From the pair marriage, society moves towards monogamy and polygamy.

In Ukraine a monogamous family exists from the time of settlement of its territory, evidenced by historical and archaeological materials . This is the most common form of family up till now. Type of monogamous family is defined by the number of married couples and blood related members in the family. On this basis the Ukrainian families can be divided into simple (complete, incomplete), complex and extended family.

Among the socio-cultural characteristics of families, from which depends the effectiveness of its educational activity, scholars have identified: the presence of the family as the only whole collective of adherents which is distinguished by high emotionality, psychological unity, love, sincerity, trust, sensitivity; positively mild family atmosphere that helps to make a pedagogical influence of parents; a clear system of educational influence, culture and spirituality, purposeful and concrete application of specific methods of education. Family fulfils very important social and ethnocultural functions connecting it with all spheres of human activity.

Summing up the study of the historical aspects of family formation and matrimonial relations in the socio-cultural space, we can affirm that the family as the basis of society has gone through not easy way of its functioning and

development, from promiscuity to a monogamous relationship. The current state of Ukrainian society demonstrates the changes of types, forms, conditions and ways of lifestyle of the family. The process of evolution of family forms are directly related to social processes and political system that impose their imprints on the formation, settling, development of family and matrimonial relations.