БРАЧНИ ОДНОСИ КОД СРБА У ОКВИРИМА СРПСКЕ И ЈУГОСЛОВЕНСКЕ ДРЖАВЕ (1882–1941): КОНТИНУИТЕТИ И ПРОМЕНЕ
MARITAL RELATIONS AMONG SERBS WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE SERBIAN AND YUGOSLAV STATES (1882–1941): CONTINUITIES AND CHANGES

Summary/Abstract: The paper represents an attempt to review the “long-duree” phenomenon in Serbian society, when it comes to marital relations during the period of the Kingdom of Serbia and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes – Yugoslavia. The discussion of continuities focuses on the legal regulation of marital relations, which, with minor changes, remained in force for a little over 100 years. It also considers the existence of strongly established norms of customary law and patriarchal Serbian society, which were reflected in the sphere of marital relations. Certain practices, such as marriage by kidnapping or acquiring girls, can be traced back to the Middle Ages. The changes in marital relations that occurred by the end of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century were largely driven by movements for the emancipation of women, in line with broader European and global trends of the era. These shifts are reflected in the attitudes of prominent Serbian intellectuals. The consequences of these changes are declining birth rates, rising divorce rates, and an increase in out-of-wedlock births, especially in the cities. Other significant changes included the disappearance of rural cooperatives and the replacement of large rural families with smaller ones, which gradually, to some extent, weakened the authority of the husband and improved the position of Serbian peasant women.

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