In recent decades, many countries of the Global North have seen a decline in marriage rates, partly due to the increase in unmarried cohabitation. In Slovenia, the decline has been apparent since the late 1970s, coinciding with the legal equalisation of marriage and cohabitation, while in the last two decades, the marriage rate has stabilised. Models of modern demographic change explain the decline of marriage, but not the gradual stabilisation of the trend; it therefore makes sense to examine the subjective perceptions and implicit theories of individuals. In research participants often associate marriage with trust, love, stability, and commitment; they mention practical advantages and social expectations, but central are the symbolic meanings. It is precisely these that are thought to contribute to the preservation of marriage despite the decline in its legal and pragmatic advantages, so I was interested in how meanings attributed to marriage are constructed by young people in Slovenia, where the pragmatic advantages to marriage are practically absent. I conducted semi-structured interviews with emerging adults in romantic relationships and, using reflexive thematic analysis, generated five themes which reflect the participants’ perceptions of marriage and matrimony and the meanings they attribute to them: (1) »something old: the liberation of marriage from the constraints of the past«; (2) »something new: marriage as something beautiful and something more« (with the subtheme »marriage as something natural«); (3) »something borrowed: marriage between the private and the societal«; (4) »something blue: guidelines for a successful and longlasting relationship«; and (5) »no, thank you: marriage as superfluous«. I conclude that the factors upholding the institution of marriage include the assigned positive symbolic meanings and its deep-rooted place in society along with a degree of flexibility, while it is at the same time unnecessary for some.
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