Tambov upper-class families in the late 19th – early 20th centuries: social and demographic aspect

Abstract

We actualize the role of a family in the process of becoming a person, reproduction and education of new generations, continuity of cultural and material heritage. We also analyze the main social and demographic parameters of Tambov upper-class families in the late 19th – early 20th centuries on the basis of diverse personalized sources. This allows identifying the types of upper-class family organization of Tambov in accordance with the classification of P. Laslett and studying the generational composition and number of children in the families of this social group in Russian provincial center. The study analyzes the sex ratio problem (heads of families and their age characteristics) and considers the features of family structure and marital relations among dif-ferent social groups of the higher strata of Tambov society. We conclude that the dominant type of upper-class family organization in Tambov is a small two-generation family in 1890–1910s. This causes a gradual reduction in the average population of upper-class families and their number of children. Nevertheless, the families of the provincial elite continued to maintain patriarchal interfamily relationships based on the primacy of married men.