Transformation of the traditional Ossetian family in the conditions of economic and political metamorphoses of the Revolution and Civil War period

Abstract. The article examines the reasons that influenced the gradual destruction of the unity of family and clan relations in the Ossetian society at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The isolation of family life affected all aspects of the ethnic group’s life for many centuries. However, the influence of the external environment, not only on the socio-economic space but also on the worldview of family members and kinship groups, could not help but undermine the traditional foundations. It was established that the process of undermining family and clan traditions was not linear or continuous; it differed not only between different regions, such as the plains and the mountains, but also between different villages and even between different families. Therefore, identifying both individual and common trends, as well as the speed of innovation in different regions of Ossetia, is of great scientific interest. Based on the research, it is concluded that even before the social transformations carried out by the Soviet government, which changed the traditional family structure, the family and clan were already experiencing the destructive effects of the external environment (such as migration, the creation of small families with a more modern system of relationships, and an increase in the number of young intellectuals involved in political struggle, among others). This article is largely based on a staged scenario, as the state of family and clan relations at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries has not yet been studied in a modern
regional context through the lens of historical anthropology.

Keywords: family ties, traditions, innovations, modernization, revolutionary influence, division.