Modern Uzbek Family and Marital Relations: A Case Study on Mindon Village, Ferghana Province

Abstract

This paper focuses on marital relations in the Uzbek family, especially nuclearization of the extended family, its factors, and consequences. Nuclearization in Uzbekistan reflects balance shifting from traditional to modern family relations and brings about changes in family priorities in terms of birth rate, education, selection of marriage partner, transformation of family functions, and, finally, egalitarian tendencies. To understand the nuclearization process, causes, and consequences, the researcher examines the Uzbek family during the first 24 years of independence after the Soviet era. Family development underwent two primary tendencies. In the first decade of independence, families tended to stick to the traditional form of extended family, conditioned by hardships of the new market economy in the 1990s. The second decade brought about changed family attitudes about income generating activities, resulting from changes in economic situations. The primary source of family economic survival shifted from extended family membership to nuclear family breadwinners.