Past Fellows at the Institute of International Studies

Alan Sharlin Memorial Award Fellow, 2006-2007

Jennifer Utrata, Sociology: Single Mothers and Social Change in Post-Soviet Russia. Through analyzing the Russian case of single-mother families in the post-Soviet era, this dissertation extends theories of family transformation and adaptation to economic change. Located at the intersection of the sociology of the family, gender, culture, and economic and social change, Ms. Utrata draws on 150 in-depth interviews and extensive field notes to "bring Russia in" to broader theories concerning female-headed families, gender mistrust, and economic breakdown, particularly those theories based on African-American female-headed families in urban ghettoes. While sociologists generally see the case of poor African-American families as somewhat exceptional, and scholars of Russia likewise view post-Soviet Russia as exceptional due to the peculiarities of the postsocialist case, this study challenges these exceptionalisms by demonstrating that discourses and practices pathologized and attributed to the "underclass" in the United States are widespread through society, and even normalized, in Russia. Although most studies of single mothers highlight the question of "making ends meet," proceeding from the difficulties inherent in supporting a family on one salary rather than two, Ms. Utrata proceeds instead from her finding that in spite of material difficulties, single mothers do not see themselves as victims and many are adapting fairly well to post-Soviet challenges. Women wield several strategies, keeping some on hold, for dealing with a dilemma that is simultaneously cultural and material: adapting to a perceived lack of reliable men within the context of a two-parent family ideal. This dilemma is becoming more common globally as rates of single motherhood rise and the increasing probability that an average woman will spend at least part of her life as a single mother shows few signs of reversal. Most Russian women transform themselves into pragmatic realists, creating the selves necessary to navigate the gap between the cultural ideal of what family life should be and local realities. They also turn to their own mothers, their children's babushki, for extensive support in managing the triple burden of paid work, childrearing, and housework. While themes of matrifocal, female-headed families turning to other women to solve problems in conditions of economic uncertainty, lamenting a lack of sober, reliable, breadwinning men, are certainly not exclusive to Russia, in Russia these themes are found among all kinds of women, without the spatial isolation of ghettoes and the feminism of U.S. society, and they are normalized and taken for granted.