A Survey of Polish Studies on the Family Sociological Knowledge of the Contemporary Polish Family

Abstract

The present paper constitutes an attempt to sum up the sociological knowledge of the family in Poland, in the years 1945-73. It is founded upon a survey of sociological studies on the family conducted in this country.

The analysis of changes within the contemporary family permits to discern the basic trends as well as check the findings of sociologists from other countries against the Polish background.

The following phenomena seem to prevail:

— emergence of the new notions of marriage;
— growing popularity of the single family of small size, and different methods of its planning;
— existence of the ‘large dispersed family’ where close contacts between the relatives are maintained, side by side with the single family;
— limitation, disappearance, but also intensification of the family functions;
— evolution of the roles of husband and wife resulting from their professional work;
— new status of parents and children following from the democratic from of rule.

The survey reveals the existence of several external and internal forces which both disintegrate and integrate the family.