On the normative foundations of marriage and cohabitation: Results from group discussions in eastern and western Germany

BACKGROUND Since the 1960s the inclination to get married has been declining in almost all western industrialised countries. Partnership arrangements have become more diverse and the share of cohabiting couples and nonmarital births has been increasing. Yet there are substantial regional differences in marriage and childbearing patterns, and the differences between eastern and western Germany are especially striking. We assume those differences can be partially explained by social norms and different attitudes towards marriage, cohabitation, and childbearing. OBJECTIVE We explore the views and values young people in eastern and western Germany hold about marriage, cohabitation, and childbearing and how those views relate to individual life experiences. We also examine different social norms and contexts in both parts of the country. METHODS We analyse data from qualitative focus group interviews conducted in in Rostock (eastern Germany) and Lübeck (western Germany) with women and men aged 25−40. RESULTS Our findings indicate that there are normative differences between eastern and western Germans in their attitudes towards partnership, marriage, and family formation that can be traced back to the social and political conditions prior to German unification in 1990. The harmonisation of family laws and policies across Germany after 1990 did not automatically lead to a convergence in the norms and behaviours of the people living in these two regions. 1 Thünen Institute of Rural Studies, Germany. E-Mail: andreas.klaerner@thuenen.de. 2 University of Rostock, Germany. E-Mail: andre.knabe@uni-rostock.de. Klärner & Knabe: On the normative foundations of marriage and cohabitation 1638 http://www.demographic-research.org 1. The decline in the inclination to marry and the rise in nonmarital births Marriage rates have been declining and rates of nonmarital births have been rising in almost all western industrialised countries since the 1960s (Kiernan 2004; Perelli-Harris et al. 2012). Increasingly, phases of nonmarital cohabitation are playing a larger role not only in the biographies of individuals but also in the institutionalisation process of partnerships (Treas, Lui, and Gubernskaya 2014). Both Heuveline and Timberlake (2004) and Holland (2013) have shown that the function and meaning of cohabitation and marriage have become more diverse and pluralised. These trends have been accompanied by increasing social acceptance of nonmarital childbearing and unconventional lifestyles and family forms, including single-parent families, ‘living apart together’ partnerships, married couples who are child-free by choice, ‘patchwork families’, same-sex partnerships with children, and heterosexual nonmarital cohabiting unions with children (Sobotka and Toulemon 2008). While this general trend towards an emergence of diverse partnership forms and a decline in the importance placed on marriage has been observed in all westernEuropean-influenced countries, substantial regional differences in marriage patterns remain (Kalmijn 2007; Perelli-Harris and Lyons-Amos 2015). These differences are especially clear when we look at the share of births that are nonmarital. According to data from Eurostat, the percentage of live births in the European Union that occurred outside of marriage ranged between 7.6% (Greece) and 57.6% (Slovenia) in 2012, while the average share for the 28 countries of the European Union was 40.2%. When we take a closer look we can see that in international comparisons the differences between eastern and western Germany are especially striking. In 2012 28.4% of all births in western Germany were nonmarital, whereas in eastern Germany the share was 58.8% (Data from the German Federal Institute for Population Research; own calculation). This gap is remarkable, because although the two parts of Germany had separate economic and political systems between 1945 and 1990, the eastern and western regions of the country have been subject to the same legal framework since 1990. Thus, it appears that factors other than the legal framework are affecting the nonmarital birth rate, particularly differences in values and norms regarding marriage and family formation (Bernardi, Klärner, and von der Lippe 2008, Arránz Becker, Lois, and Nauck 2010; Klärner and Keim 2011; Klüsener and Goldstein 2014). Following Giddens’ (2013) theory of structuration, we assume that marital behaviour is influenced by structures (law, tradition, norms and values, social change) that are reproduced and transformed in everyday life. Action, e.g., the decision whether or not to marry, occurs and becomes rational within these structural contexts of Demographic Research: Volume 36, Article 53 http://www.demographic-research.org 1639 everyday life. In order to understand the multiple dimensions of these rationalities, we want to ask how people translate contextual and macrostructural changes (interpreted in the light of traditionalised norms and values) into action. In our article we address the following questions: 1) Which norms and values regarding marriage and cohabitation are most prevalent in eastern and western Germany? 2) How are these norms and values negotiated? and 3) What are the underlying (historical) behavioural rationales for these attitudes? Our analysis is based on qualitative focus group interviews with a total of 137 participants. We conducted these interviews in 2012/2013 in the eastern Germany city of Rostock and in the western German city of Lübeck. In the following we first provide an overview of the theoretical discussions surrounding societal value changes and the institution of marriage, and then present research results on the differences between the norms and values of family formation in eastern and western Germany. We then introduce the methods used in conducting our group discussions, and describe our sample. Next, we present the results of our analysis of the discussion groups. Finally, we place our findings in the context of international and German debates. 2. Theoretical considerations: Values, norms, and social change In our analysis of the meaning of norms and values for the different regional and cultural dynamics in the rise of nonmarital unions, we refer to Anthony Giddens’ theory of structuration (2013). According to this theory the general values in a specific society are relatively long-lasting phenomena, but the behavioural norms associated with these values − such as those that regulate marriage − must prove to be useful in practice, and are constantly being reproduced, updated, and modified through behaviour. Unlike in normative paradigms, in which values and norms are seen as the basis for behaviour, Giddens prefers to use more flexible terms like ‘routines’ and ‘regularities’, because ‘agency’ and ‘structure’ are closely interrelated. In this context, Giddens refers to his concept of the duality of structure: agency is influenced by − and dependent on − structure (like values and norms), but structures grow and change out of agency (which is based on former structures, and so on). Our conception of norms and values is based on this perspective, and allows us to explain not just the reproduction of structures but also their transformation. Whereas, according to Giddens, the reproduction of societal structures occurs largely through the unquestioned copying of traditional behavioural patterns (practical consciousness), modification processes may occur when there are conflicts between conventional and alternative behaviours. Such conflicts can cause individuals to reflect Klärner & Knabe: On the normative foundations of marriage and cohabitation 1640 http://www.demographic-research.org upon traditional models (discursive consciousness). The borderline between types of consciousness is fluid. An individual may become irritated when a planned or unintentional change affects the social environment − as a result of, for example, a change in the legal or institutional conditions. The individual is challenged to adapt his/her behaviour to those conditions, and thus to deviate from his/her familiar behavioural pattern. At such moments, questions are asked regarding the degree to which these norms remain useful and practical and whether a new set of actions is needed. The individual is therefore forced to reflect upon his/her modes of behaviour, and to consider modifying them accordingly. It is not difficult to see how this process could be applicable to Germany, as the societal and political conditions that influence individual decisions changed abruptly in 1989/90. These revolutionary changes had the greatest impact in eastern Germany (the former German Democratic Republic (GDR)), but they also influenced society and the social order in western Germany (the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG)). Against this background, we first investigate the roles that values and norms generally play with regard to demographic behaviour. We then take a closer look at the marriage and cohabitation norms and values that emerged under the specific conditions of the political and social systems of the GDR and the FRG. We assess the relevance of these political and socioeconomic norms and values, and examine updates and modifications as conditions continue to change. 3. Value changes and the institution of marriage The role played by values and norms in the differences between and changes in a variety of demographic behaviours was emphasised by the theory of societal value change (Inglehart 1977), which led to the development of the theory of the so-called Second Demographic Transition (SDT; van de Kaa 1987). The SDT posits that a change in norms and values is triggered by a series of societal modernisation processes, and that this transition is in turn associated with a range of overlapping processes, including a sub-replacement-level birth rate, the spread of a variety of nonmarital forms of living and partnership arrangements, and the dissol