Scenarios of family life in women's autobiographical narratives: evolution of value orientations

Abstract: 
The article presents the results of a qualitative study of the autobiographical narratives of women of two generations that characterize the evolution of value orientations in the sphere of family and marriage. Based on the characteristics that women of these generations describe in their narratives their experience of family and gender relations, the author identifies four typical scenarios of their family life and analyzes the specific characteristics of these scenarios. The following issues are discussed in the article: the sustainability of traditional norms and values in family and gender relations, the contradictory combination of traditional norms and values with the egalitarian attitudes of Soviet modernization, as well as the most significant changes that occur in family and gender relations in the post-Soviet period. Based on the analysis of the identified scenarios of women’s family life, the author draws conclusions both about the continuity of traditional norms and values, and about the changes that took place in the post-Soviet period. The most significant changes are the strengthening of pragmatism and individualism in the scenarios of the family life of young women. The author interprets these changes as one of the defining trends of demographic modernization, as an intensifying trend to individualize the private life of modern man. The results of the study provide an opportunity to expand the understanding of the evolution of value orientations in the sphere of family and marriage, showing both the universality of changes in this sphere, their integration into the global process of demographic and sociocultural modernization, and the features of this process in the Russian context.

For citation: Tsvetaeva N.N. Scenarios of family life in women's autobiographical narratives: evolution of value orientations. St. Petersburg Sociology Today. 2019. N. 12. P. 154-172. DOI:10.25990/socinstras.pss-12.tdxv-6128

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