Abstract
The article reflects the results of one of the stages of the ongoing research “Patriotic and family values as constants of the civilizational development of Russia”. It examines the representation of the phenomena of motherhood and childhood in modern Russian public Internet discourse. The main objectives of the research are the analysis of modern social ideas about the phenomena of motherhood and childhood in an axiological coordinate system, explication of the links of motherhood with other values, determination of the degree of conjugation of socio-political expectations in this area with public policy. The authors carried out a comprehensive analysis of the main theoretical directions of the study of motherhood in domestic and foreign science, identified heuristic possibilities of network analysis to identify the dynamics of social perceptions of Russians about the value of motherhood in the most dynamic segment of public discourse – online communities. The empirical component of the study included a preliminary expert selection of value descriptors reflecting family values in the most prominent form, the definition of representative communities in VKontakte based on these descriptors, an analysis of the content of five communities followed by the construction of graphs, which made it possible to identify and visualize the main values and attitudes of participants in online family communities. As a result of the research, it was concluded that the phenomenon of motherhood is described in Russian public Internet discourse as a social value of the highest order, the role of the mother prevails over the rest. At the same time, motherhood is more self-sufficient for Russians and is slightly tied to other public spheres. A comparison of the online discourse of conventionally “secular” and “confessional” communities allowed the authors to note a significant value shift in ideas about motherhood and family in various social groups.
Keywords
Funding information
The study “Patriotic and family values as constants of the civilizational development of Russia” was carried out within the framework of the state assignment of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (FEMS‑2024–0006).
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