Book chapter
Дискурс о модели современной российской семьи и стратегия семейной политики
In modern Russia, the discourse on the value of family and family life in the system of life values of Russians, the role of family in the formation of personality and upbringing of children is relevant. The strategy of forming the desired family model becomes an integral part of the family and demographic policy. The article presents the results of a sample study in the framework of the project "development of the methodology of statistical evaluation of demographic security in the context of globalization", conducted in 2016. The survey data demonstrate the mosaic of views of Russians on the desired family model and suggest that among Russians do not find many supporters of the position that characterize the traditional family with clearly established Patriarchal family roles. The use of statistical analysis methods allowed to identify groups of characteristics that reflect traditional and modern family values. There are different views of the family life model in society and effective family policy should take this diversity into account.
In book
In this chapter we aim to examine the discourses created and reproduced through the interaction between single mothers and representatives of social services. The analysis is based on twenty-six interviews with single mothers and six interviews with social workers conducted in 2001–2003, and six interviews with single mothers and three with social workers conducted in 2006 in the Saratov region in Russia, as well as official documents and the publications of other researchers. In our interviews with mothers, we focused on the issues of familial well-being and interactions with social services, while social workers were asked to discuss their experiences with clients. A short overview of statistics and social policy terminology prefaces a discussion of how mother-headed families and state social policy interrelate and affect each other. The subsequent sections contain analysis of the interviews with single mothers who, as the heads of low-income households, interact with the social service system. The analysis demonstrates that single mothers are frustrated by inadequate assistance and the impossibility of improving their life situations. The discussion goes on to show that social workers, who are used to interpreting complex issues in the life situations of single mothers as individual psychological peculiarities, tend to blame the victim, thus ignoring important social conditions and imposing on women a responsibility for problems that are societal in origin.
The article deals with comparative analysis of family policies towards fatherhood. The author analyzes how family policy in different countries is a mens friendly. Contemporary family policies in different Western European countries include a specific set of support, addressed to father after the child birth. A leave to care for the child is an example which shows that the family policy creates different models of fatherhood. In conclusion the author argues that gender-based analysis of family policy, along with the study of the position of women with children should include fathers who have certain rights and responsibilities.
This chapter addresses the relationship between class, family and social welfare policies by analysing the construction of the identity category of ‘unfortunate families’ in popular scientific discourses, governmental policy documents and discourses of social services, and by examining how those labelled as ‘unfortunate’ negotiate this identity conferred to them. The chapter shows that gender and class are closely intertwined in the production of this identity, as it is single mothers who are primarily categorized as ‘unfortunate’. In our analysis we draw on multiple sources of data. First, we analyse in-depth and focus group interviews with service providers and clients and participant observation data from a number of Russian cities. Second, we analyse various government documents and social advertisements, mass media materials, social policy and social work textbooks, and popular scientific texts published during the 1990s-2000s.
Apart from the public sphere and the norms set by society, the private sphere plays an important role in the lives of the disabled, including the personal experience of disability at a micro level: in their families, everyday routines and romantic relationships. In this chapter, issues of family structure are considered using a narrative analysis of interviews with women who use wheelchairs. Various cultural, social, economic and political determinants effect the formation of certain types of family structure and attitudes towards family life. At the same time, they interrelate with biographical factors that reinforce or weaken the limits of freedom and private life. Using narrative analysis, I demonstrate what role family plays in constructing the identity of a person with a disability, and how family members act as coauthors of individual biographies. This can be seen in those dilemmas of family life associated with the feelings, sexuality and emotional stability at the micro-level of the life experience and identification of women with disabilities.
The article at issue is intended to look into family-related concepts through experimental psycholinguistic tools. Furthermore, it involves substantial references to linguistics, history, sociology, and psychology to reveal the background of the experimental data retrieved. Such approach allows researching and accounting for the experimental data from different angles what makes the interpretation more comprehensive, thorough and credible.