Culture of Relations in Peasant Family in Stavropol Province (the end of 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries)

Abstract

The article reveals the specific features of relations among peasants in the late 19th  and early 20th centuries. The traditional isolation of family life characterized by preservation of patriarchal customs according to which orders of seniors were the law for all had a great impact on family formation in rural areas. The purpose of this paper is to study the nature of family relationship among the rural population of Stavropol province developed under the influence of capitalist relations. The authors emphasize the topics of domestic relations and women’s status in the family. In general, family life of villagers in Stavropol province reflects common domestic formation of Russia’s peasantry, but as a consequence of historical conditions and types of economic relations, peasant family and matrimony have gained here specific features which are characteristic only of this area. The family refl ected some common features of the community it belonged to, reflected the properties of its social organization and structure. It was founded on the joint activities in the family - the community of people connected with bonds of wedlock, though every nation has got its own history of family life building. A modern family is a result of a long-term evolution and conservation of family traditions. It is possible to understand today’s collisions in a family only through knowledge of its historical features. Roots of all social institutes stem from a family.