Traditional Values and Modern Families: Legal Understanding of Tradition and Modernity in Contemporary Russia

Abstract

The article analyzes legal approaches to the concept of traditional values in Russia. Using policy papers, laws and subnormative documents, the article focuses on how traditional values are constructed by legal instruments. It is argued that the introduction of traditional values as a concept signifies a search for identity strategies in various spheres, making private life and the family a testing ground for experiments in changing the contemporary value system of Russians. The article concludes that the rather blunt imposition of traditional values has failed due to divisions within the political elite and the overall strength of more modern attitudes to the family and social policy among the Russian population. The article argues that current policies follow the paths of traditional modernism comparable with early modern projects to construct a nation state based on resource economy.