From singlehood to marriage: the change of the status and transition of identity

Abstract

Betrothal or marriage may be treated as a kind of a social institution and is described in categories of patterns associated with performing the role of a fiancé, wife or husband. Engagement and marriage also determine new periods in life and can be viewed through a prism of individual experiences of individuals. In the postmodern society identities are no longer received automatically through the rituals and social practices of the traditional social order. The self has become a reflective project. Based on the In-Depth Personal Interviews, the paper examines how young spouses perceive themselves and how their ‘significant others’ perceive them after the betrothal and after marriage. This paper is based mainly on the results of the author’s study carried out in 2014 (25 husbands and other 25 wives; different social status; duration of the marriage 3-24 months). The range of the changes differs among men and women, among premarital cohabitants and non-cohabitants, most often, being connected with the changes in the sense of adulthood, responsibility and the self-esteem. Irrespectively of the quality of emotions experienced, in the majority of respondents only the day of premarital cohabitation or the marriage ceremony itself forced the reorganisation of their self-image.