Essentialism in the structure of intensive motherhood in Russian women
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33910/2686-9527-2022-4-3-281-293Keywords:
intensive motherhood, parenthood, education, essentialism, fatherhood, motherhoodAbstract
Intensive motherhood is one of the popular styles of parenthood in Russia, emphasizing the key role of the mother as the “main” parent able to take good care of the child. At the same time, fathers are viewed through the lens of their inability to provide the required care for the child.
This article presents the results of a qualitative study obtained through interpretive-phenomenological analysis (IPA) based on a semi-structured interview method using the Russian-language version of the Parenting Attitudes Questionnaire (IPAQ) (Liss, Schiffrin Mackintosh et al. 2013). The sample comprised 18 women (N = 18), reflecting maximum demographic diversity, aged 30–46 (M = 36.3) with children under 18. The study identified the phenomena of essentialist attitudes in the structure of intensive motherhood among Russian women: (1) the belief in the “innate” superiority of the mother in comparison with the father in child rearing (biological determinism), and (2) the presence of cultural traditions of essentialism, the detailed content of which is reflected in the subthemes. The study also revealed the influence of life context, macrodeterminants of society and socio-demographic characteristics of women on the stability of expression of essentialism attitudes in the context of intensive motherhood. To a certain extent, low involvement of fathers in parenthood is a marker of essentialist attitudes in the family. At the same time, the study reveals that women have clearly ambivalent views on the participation of male partners in child rearing— the ambivalence is manifested in the ideas of gender equality in the development and formation of the child.
The study employed the perspective and method which resulted in an in-depth analysis of the attitudes of intensive parenthood, highlighting the features of its cultural context.
References
ЛИТЕРАТУРА
Айвазова, С. Г. (2011) Контракт «работающей матери»: нарушения или расторжение? (К вопросу об особенностях гендерной политики в современной России). Женщина в российском обществе, № 3, с. 13–22.
Акинкина, Я. М. (2020) Понятие «интенсивного родительства» в зарубежной литературе. Современная зарубежная психология, т. 9, № 2, с. 117–122. https://doi.org/10.17759/jmfp.2020090210
Безрукова, О. Н., Самойлова, В. А. (2017) Отцовский отпуск в России: мечты или реальность? Социологические исследования, № 7, с. 116–125. https://doi.org/10.7868/S0132162517070133
Бобков, В. Н., Гришина, Е. Е. Заварина, Е. С. и др. (2019) Социальное положение и уровень жизни населения России. В кн.: К. Э. Лайкам, Е. Б. Фролова (ред.). Статистический сборник Росстат. M.: Росстат, c. 160–169.
Дорофеева, З. Е. (2021) Особенности интенсивного родительства в высокоресурсных многодетных семьях. Интеракция. Интервью. Интерпретация, т. 13, № 1, с. 89–105. https://doi.org/10.19181/inter.2021.13.1.4
Исупова, О. Г. (2018) Интенсивное материнство в России: матери, дочери и сыновья в школьном взрослении. Неприкосновенный запас. Дебаты о политике и культуре, № 3 (119), с. 180–189.
Мид, М. (1988) Отцовство у человека — социальное изобретение. В кн.: Культура и мир детства. Избранные произведения. М.: Наука, с. 308–321.
Микляева, А. В., Румянцева, П. В. (2018) «#Онажемать»: имплицитные социальные представления о материнстве в современном российском интернет-дискурсе. Женщина в российском обществе, № 1 (86), с. 67–77. https://doi.org/10.21064/WinRS.2018.1.6
Поливанова, К. Н. (2015) Современное родительство как предмет исследования. Психологическая наука и образование psyedu.ru, т. 7, № 2, с. 1–11. https://doi.org/10.17759/psyedu.2015070301
Пушкарева, Н. Л. (2014) Материнство как социобиологическое явление: психология, философия, история. В кн.: Запад-Восток. Научно-практический ежегодник. Вып. 7. Йошкар-Ола: Марийский государственный университет, с. 103–118.
Сивак, Е. В. (2019) Современная родительская культура и ее значение для взаимодействия родителей и педагогов. Современное дошкольное образование, № 1(91), с. 8–17.
Янак, А. Л. (2018) Отцовская вовлеченность в семьях различных типов. Вестник Нижегородского университета им. Н. И. Лобачевского. Серия: Социальные науки, № 2 (50), с. 124–131.
Gaunt, R. (2006) Biological essentialism, gender ideologies, and role attitudes: What determines parents’ involvement in child care. Sex Roles, vol. 55, no. 7, pp. 523–533. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-006-9105-0
Gíslason, I. V., Símonardóttir, S. (2018) Mothering and gender equality in Iceland: Irreconcilable opposites? Social Policy and Society, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 457–466. https://www.doi.org/10.1017/S1474746417000525
Grosz, E. (2010) The untimeliness of feminist theory. NORA — Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 48–51. https://doi.org/10.1080/08038741003627039
Heys, S. (1998) The cultural contradiction of motherhood. London; New Haven: Yale University Press Publ., 288 p.
Liss, M., Schiffrin, H. H., Mackintosh, V. H. et al. (2013) Development and validation of a quantitative measure of intensive parenting attitudes. Journal of Child and Family Studies, vol. 22, рр. 621–636. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-012-9616-y
McBride, B. A., Brown, G. L., Bos, K. K. et al. (2005) Paternal identity, maternal gatekeeping, and father involvement. Family Relations, vol. 54, no. 3, pp. 360–372. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3729.2005.00323.x
Nelson, S. K., Kushlev, K., Lyubomirsky, S. (2014) The pains and pleasures of parenting: When, why, and how is parenthood associated with more or less well-being? Psychological Bulletin, vol. 140, no. 3, рp. 846–895. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0035444
Pietkiewicz, I., Smith, J. A. (2014) A practical guide to using interpretative phenomenological analysis in qualitative research psychology. Psychological Journal, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 7–14.
Soylu Yalcinkaya, N., Estrada-Villalta, S., Adams, G. (2017) The (biological or cultural) essence of essentialism: Implications for policy support among dominant and subordinated groups. Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 8, article 900. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00900
Verkuyten, M., Brug, P. (2004) Multiculturalism and group status: The role of ethnic identification, group essentialism and protestant ethic. European Journal of Social Psychology, vol. 34, no. 6, pp. 647–661. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.222
REFERENCES
Ajvazova, S. G. (2011) Kontrakt “rabotayushchej materi”: narusheniya ili rastorzhenie? (K voprosu ob osobennostyakh gendernoj politiki v sovremennoj Rossii) [The contract of a “working mother”: Violations or termination? (To the question of the peculiarities of gender policy in modern Russia)]. Zhenshchina v rossijskom obshchestve — Woman in Russian Society, no. 3, рр. 13–22. (In Russian)
Akinkina, Ya. M. (2020) Ponyatie “intensivnogo roditel’stva” v zarubezhnoj literature [The concept of “intensive parenthood” in foreign literature]. Sovremennaya zarubezhnaya psikhologiya — Journal of Modern Foreign Psychology, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 117–122. https://doi.org/10.17759/jmfp.2020090210 (In Russian)
Bezrukova, O. N., Samojlova, V. A. (2017) Ottsovskij otpusk v Rossii: mechty ili real’nost’? [Paternity leave in Russia: A dream or reality?]. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya, no. 7, pp. 116–125. https://doi.org/10.7868/S0132162517070133 (In Russian)
Bobkov, V. N., Grishina, E. E., Zavarina, E. S. et al. (2019) Sotsial’noe polozhenie i uroven’ zhizni naseleniya Rossii [Social status and standard of living of the population of Russia]. In: K. E. Lajkam, E. B. Frolova (eds.). Statisticheskij sbornik Rosstat [Statistical book Rosstat]. Moscow: Rosstat Publ., pр. 160–169. (In Russian)
Dorofeeva, Z. E. (2021) Osobennosti intensivnogo roditel’stva v vysokoresursnykh mnogodetnykh sem’yakh [Intensive parenting in high-resource multi-child families]. Interaktsiya. Interv’yu. Interpretatsiya — Interaction. Interview. Interpretation, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 89–105. https://doi.org/10.19181/inter.2021.13.1.4 (In Russian)
Gaunt, R. (2006) Biological essentialism, gender ideologies, and role attitudes: What determines parents’ involvement in child care. Sex Roles, vol. 55, no. 7, pp. 523–533. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-006-9105-0 (In English)
Gíslason, I. V., Símonardóttir, S. (2018) Mothering and gender equality in Iceland: Irreconcilable opposites? Social Policy and Society, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 457–466. https://www.doi.org/10.1017/S1474746417000525 (In English)
Grosz, E. (2010) The untimeliness of feminist theory. NORA — Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 48–51. https://doi.org/10.1080/08038741003627039 (In English)
Heys, S. (1998) The cultural contradiction of motherhood. London; New Haven: Yale University Press Publ., 288 p. (In English)
Isupova, O. G. (2018) Intensivnoe materinstvo v Rossii: materi, docheri i synov’ya v shkol’nom vzroslenii [Intensive motherhood in Russia: Mothers, daughters and sons in school growing up]. Neprikosnovennyj zapas. Debaty o politike i kul’ture, no. 3, pp. 180–189. (In Russian)
Liss, M., Schiffrin, H. H., Mackintosh, V. H. et al. (2013) Development and validation of a quantitative measure of intensive parenting attitudes. Journal of Child and Family Studies, vol. 22, рр. 621–636. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-012-9616-y (In English)
McBride, B. A., Brown, G. L., Bos, K. K. et al. (2005) Paternal identity, maternal gatekeeping, and father involvement. Family Relations, vol. 54, no. 3, pp. 360–372. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3729.2005.00323.x (In English)
Mead, M. (1988) Ottsovstvo u cheloveka — sotsial’noe izobretenie [Fatherhood in humans is a social invention]. In: Kul’tura i mir detstva. Izbrannye sochineniya [Culture and world of childhood. Selected works]. Moscow: Nauka Publ., pp. 308–321. (In Russian)
Miklyaeva, A. V., Rumyantseva, P. V. (2018) “#Onazhemat’ ”: implitsitnye sotsial’nye predstavleniya o materinstve v sovremennom rossijskom internet-diskurse [“#Sheisamother”: Implicit social beliefs about motherhood in the modern Russian Internet discourse]. Zhenshchina v rossijskom obshchestve — Woman in Russian Society, no. 1 (86), pp. 67–77. https://doi.org/10.21064/WinRS.2018.1.6 (In Russian)
Nelson, S. K., Kushlev, K., Lyubomirsky, S. (2014) The pains and pleasures of parenting: When, why, and how is parenthood associated with more or less well-being? Psychological Bulletin, vol. 140, no. 3, рp. 846–895. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0035444 (In English)
Pietkiewicz, I., Smith, J. A. (2014) A practical guide to using interpretative phenomenological analysis in qualitative research psychology. Psychological Journal, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 7–14. (In English)
Polivanova, K. N. (2015) Sovremennoe roditel’stvo kak predmet issledovaniya [Parenting and parenthood as research domains]. Psikhologicheskaya nauka i obrazovanie psyedu.ru — Psychological Science and Education PSYEDU. RU, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 1–11. https://doi.org/10.17759/psyedu.2015070301 (In Russian)
Pushkareva, N. L. (2014) Materinstvo kak sotsiobiologicheskoe yavlenie: psikhologiya, filosofiya, istoriya [Motherhood as a socio-biological phenomenona: Psychology, philosophy, history]. In: Zapad-Vostok. Nauchno-prakticheskij ezhegodnik [West-East. Scientific and practical yearbook]. Iss. 7. Yoshkar-Ola: Mari State University Publ., pp. 103–118. (In Russian)
Sivak, E. V. (2019) Sovremennaya roditel’skaya kul’tura i ee znachenie dlya vzaimodejstviya roditelej i pedagogov [Modern parental culture and its importance with regard to interaction between parents and teachers]. Sovremennoe doshkol’noe obrazovanie — Preschool Education Today, no. 1 (91), pp. 8–17. (In Russian)
Soylu Yalcinkaya, N., Estrada-Villalta, S., Adams, G. (2017) The (biological or cultural) essence of essentialism: Implications for policy support among dominant and subordinated groups. Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 8, article 900. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00900 (In English)
Verkuyten, M., Brug, P. (2004) Multiculturalism and group status: The role of ethnic identification, group essentialism and protestant ethic. European Journal of Social Psychology, vol. 34, no. 6, pp. 647–661. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.222 (In English)
Yanak, A. L. (2018) Ottsovskaya vovlechennost’ v sem’yakh razlichnykh tipov [Father involvement in different types of families]. Vestnik Nizhegorodskogo universiteta im. N. I. Lobachevskogo. Seriya: Sotsial’nye nauki — Vestnik of Lobachevsky State University of Nizhni Novgorod. Series: Social Sciences, no. 2 (50), pp. 124–131. (In Russian)
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Yulia V. Misiyk
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
The work is provided under the terms of the Public Offer and of Creative Commons public license Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). This license allows an unlimited number of persons to reproduce and share the Licensed Material in all media and formats. Any use of the Licensed Material shall contain an identification of its Creator(s) and must be for non-commercial purposes only.
