Marriage in Europe. Ideal types of marriage in the first decade of the twenty-first century

Abstract:

The objective of this study is to identify and describe the existing ideals regarding marriage or long-term coupling in Europe during the first decade of the twenty-first century and to measure their prevalence in the population. To obtain this broad picture we have developed a typology of marriages based on data from the 2008–2010 European Values Study and inspired by Louis Roussel's models. Two criteria have been used to classify evaluative opinions on marriage and construct the ideal types: the nature and function of the bond between partners. The first criterion, the nature of the relationship, differentiates those who favour an Alliance model (42.2% of Europeans), a Fusion model (38.1%) and an Association model (19.5%). In turn, within each ideal type, marriage can be conceived as being necessary or contingent. Combining both criterion results in a typology of six ideal types representing a broad spectrum; at the extremes we find the apparently outdated Institutional marriage supported by 27.8% of the population and an emerging ideal known as the Pure-relationship, supported by 8.4% of Europeans.