Амбивалентная роль увлечения литературой в формировании гибридных маскулинностей молодых людей из семей с низким социально-экономическим статусом

Журнал социологии и социальной антропологии. 2025. Т. 28. № 4. С. 146–176.

Kotelnikov M.

The article is devoted to the analysis of socio-cultural reasons influencing the choice of "literary" specialties by young people from families with low socioeconomic status, as well as the contradictions, difficulties and advantages associated with this choice. Based on in-depth interviews with 11 informants from various cities of Russia (current and recent students), the author argues that such a choice is mainly determined by two factors: gender stigmatization and avid reading of non-conformist literature. Gender stigmatization experienced in childhood and adolescence in this case is associated with the inability (and / or unwillingness) of informants to "fit into" the patriarchal canon of behavior. The experience of enduring such stigmatization makes informants try to distance themselves from the hostile world and find new sources of understanding it. Such a means is reading non-conformist literature, which contains narrative models of hybrid masculinities that informants strive to practice. Enrolling in literary majors seems to them to be a chance not to betray their ideals (the desire to study literature) and to find themselves in a less patriarchal environment. Despite the declared pride in their choice, informants face a number of difficulties: the persistence of patriarchal attitudes in the academic environment, financial instability, lack of understanding from their families, and a feeling of professional inadequacy. Some study participants hoped that education would automatically provide them with cultural and symbolic capital, but did not take active steps to integrate into the literary field. Their passivity is explained by both a lack of cultural capital and an internal conviction that it is impossible to succeed in the chosen field. This attitude is additionally reinforced by the chosen lifestyle, inspired by nonconformist literary narratives (in particular, the aesthetics of the beatniks), which, in turn, leads to the normalization of poverty, abundant alcohol consumption, and, often, the reproduction of some patriarchal stereotypes of behavior.

Keywords: высшее образование, художественная литература, гендер, gender, патриархат, контркультура, стигматизация, fiction, stigmatization, гегемонная маскулинность, traditional masculinity, higher education

Publication based on the results of: The diversity of forms, effects and barriers to integration of modern Russian society in synchronic and diachronic dimensions (2025)