What makes a good father? Ideals and practices in late socialist RussiaThis article investigates fatherhood ideals and practices in late Soviet Russia, 1960Russia, -1989 For the theoretical basis, dominant ideals on masculinity and fatherhood have been derived from the rich but predominantly Western research literature of the past three decades. These are used as guiding tools in examining the research material for this study: the monthly magazine Semia i shkola. Zhurnal dlia roditelei (Family and School; Journal for Parents) and eleven in-depth interviews with men in Russia on their memories of fatherhood in the 1960s-1980s.The research questions are: What did the ideal image of fatherhood look like in this period? What remembered practices do respondents communicate in interviews, and how do these relate to dominant public/official ideals of the time? Are there differences in the emphasis on various aspects of fatherhood ideals/practices between public discourses and the accounts given by these men? The interview narratives yield a multifaceted picture, with both coinciding and contradictory representations of the respondents' ideal images, on the one hand, and remembered practices, on the other. Possible explanations are then discussed. In conclusion, Soviet Russian fatherhood is tentatively contextualized within the framework of research results on Western fatherhood.Keywords: Soviet Russia, men's life-stories, changing family models, fatherhood discourse & practice, ideal images, gender roles
Ett gott faderskap? Ideal och praktik i det sensocialistiska RysslandSyftet med min studie är att lyfta fram offentliga/officiella idealbilder av faderskap under de sensocialistiska decennierna av den sovjetryska perioden. Hur såg idealbilden av det sovjetryska faderskapet ut under 1960-80-talet? I en publikation av karaktären rådgivningsmaterial för föräldrar fann jag bilder av »en närvarande och engagerad fader», »en vägledare och förebild», »en man med kontroll över sina känslor» och »fadern som familjeöverhuvud». Jag ställer också frågan om hur den ihågkomna praktiken av faderskap ser ut för ryska män som jag intervjuat, och hur de förhöll sig till de då rådande idealen? Kan vi se skillnader i betoning mellan officiella diskurser
in men's intimate relationships. The book ends with some suggestions about how to develop men's capacities for friendship and intimate relationships.My main objection to this study is that it lacks a sound theoretical framework. Even though the author on several occasions refers to the Australian sociologist Raewyn (Robert) Connell and also to the British sociologist Victor Sedler, he does not actually use a developed gender theoretical framework. Therefore, many of his interesting findings are interpreted within a more classical gender stereotype theory of biological differences. Another weakness is that although there could have been rich opportunities to analyse male friendship from an intersectional perspective on generation, ethnicity, class and social status, not very much comes out of this. We are thus left with quite a fragmented and classificatory study of masculinity and friendship. We might also have expected a long theoretical and empirical discussion of the buddy system. This concept, which is printed in the title of the book and which appears sporadically throughout the text, is mostly absent from the analysis conducted in the study. It is surprising that Greiff does not refer to and use Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick's theory of the male buddy system. Her concept of homo-sociality is widely used within gender and queer theory to analyse how male-to-male bonding develops and is maintained.Although Greiff provides us with a rich and colourful picture of the friendship relations of American men, it is sometimes difficult to navigate among all the men represented in this study. The typology presented at the beginning of the book may be used to classify and distinguish between different types of friendship, but where does this lead us? Have we learned more about men's power relations, about masculinity and gender relations? I am afraid that my answer must be 'no'. However, the lack of theoretical guidelines and a fuller conceptual map over American masculinities could also be interpreted as a call for more advanced research on male friendship, with Buddy System as a good starting point.
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