Attwood Lynne, Schimpfössl Elisabeth, Yusupova Marina (eds.) Gender and choice after socialism

New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018. — 245 p. — ISBN10: 3319736604; ISBN13: 978-3319736600The end of socialism in the Soviet Union and its satellite states ushered in a new era of choice. Yet the idea that people are really free to live as they choose turns out to be problematic. Personal choice is limited by a range of factors such as a person’s economic situation, class, age, government policies and social expectations, especially regarding gender roles. Furthermore, the notion of free choice is a crucial feature of capitalist ideology and can be manipulated in the interests of the market. This edited collection explores the complexity of choice in Russia and Ukraine. The contributors explore how the new choices available to people after the collapse of the Soviet Union have interacted with and influenced gender identities and gender, and how choice has become one of the driving forces of class-formation in countries which were, in the Soviet era, supposedly classless. The book will of interest to students and scholars across a range of subjects including gender and sexualities studies, history, sociology and political science.Choice and the StateHalf-Hidden or Half-Open? Scholarly Research on Soviet Homosexuals in Contemporary Russia. Irina Roldugina
Transgender, Transition, and Dilemma of Choice in Contemporary Ukraine. Nadzeya Husakouskaya
From the Maidan to the Donbas: The Limitations on Choice for Women in Ukraine. Olesya KhromeychukChoice and CultureNarrating the Gender Order: Why Do Older Single Women in Russia Say That They Do Not Want to Be in Relationships with Men? Anna Shadrina
Gender and Choice Among Russia’s Upper Class. Elisabeth Schimpfössl
Choosing Whether to Have Children: A Netnographic Study of Women’s Attitudes Towards Childbirth and the Family in Post-Soviet Russia. Lynne Attwood and Olga IsupovaChoice and ModernityResponsible Motherhood, Practices of Reproductive Choice and Class Construction in Contemporary Russia. Anna Temkina and Elena Zdravomyslova
Between Militarism and Antimilitarism: ‘Masculine’ Choice in Post-Soviet Russia. Marina Yusupova