Meanings and attitudes attached to cohabitation in Poland: Qualitative analysis of the slow diffusion of cohabitation among the young generation – Monika Mynarska and Laura Bernardi

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In this paper, Monika Mynarska and Laura Bernardi are trying to understand why the number of non-marital cohabitation is much lower in Poland than anywhere else in Europe, where it strongly increased for the past thirty years. They report that even though people choosing cohabitation used to suffer a negative societal image, the acceptance of this phenomenon has increased within the Polish society. What is more, the observation can be made that the young Polish are more liberal than their elders. One would say that Inglehart's value-shift theory may be helpful to understand such statistics.

The authors stress a strong correlation between the societal perception of cohabitation and the meanings associated to it. They first describe four stages of cohabitation's societal perception. At the first stage, cohabitation is seen as deviant; at the second, it is considered as a pre-marital stage; at the third stage, cohabitation is seen as an acceptable alternative to marriage, and eventually becomes a marriage equivalent in the fourth stage. According to them, attitudinal changes toward perception are favored by the rise of individualistic values and the de-normalization that it triggers in the society.

Extraits

[...] Meanings and attitudes attached to cohabitation in Poland: Qualitative analysis of the slow diffusion of cohabitation among the young generation Monika Mynarska and Laura Bernardi In this paper, Monika Mynarska and Laura Bernardi are trying to understand why the number of non-marital cohabitation is much lower in Poland than anywhere else in Europe, where it strongly increased for the past thirty years. They report that even though people choosing cohabitation used to suffer a negative societal image, the acceptance of this phenomenon has increased within the Polish society. [...]

[...] First, the authors argue that the need for self- realization led to a rise in the expectations about the quality of the relationship, leading the young to use cohabitation as a testing period before committing in marriage. What is more, it would also lead to a desire of independence and thus make young people more reluctant to become formally committed in marriage. The argument of the secularization of the society is used as well albeit flawed as the authors acknowledge it; the wedding ceremony still keeps an important social role. [...]

[...] The second one is religion, which is actually very important in Poland, one of the most catholic state in Europe of the populations declares to be catholic). The third one is social perception; the difference of perception between marriage and cohabitation in the Polish society leads the couples living in one or the other situation to be considered in a very different way. Finally, child- bearing is the fourth one. Social pressure is actually much stronger for childbearing without marriage than with cohabitation. [...]

[...] On the other hand, some other respondent see marriage a testing period before marriage, which is meant to be contemporary before marriage and childbearing. Nonetheless, they are very reluctant toward endless cohabitation. It is then seen either as a trial or a step forward. The conclusion of this study is that Polish would be inclined to cohabitate only if the outcome of cohabitation is marriage. There are actually four element of comparison between marriage and cohabitation in the Polish minds. [...]