The Phenomenon of Childfree in Russia: Justification Logics of Childless by Choice

The social norm of parenthood is deeply rooted in Russian society, which is pronatalistic in its essence. However, despite the fact that the majority of people follow this norm, the number of people who voluntarily refuse to have children is increasing over time. Due to the fact that the voluntarily childless people (or childfree) violate the social norm, society stigmatizes and forces them to use different methods of management of spoiled identity. According to the sociology of criticism and justification of L. Thevenot and L. Boltanski, the possible way to resolve such critical situation is the establishment of legitimate agreement between individuals, which is justifiable. The main goal of this research is to identify the logics of childfree choice’s justification. Based on information obtained by 17 semi-structured interviews with voluntarily childless women and men, the author analyzes the justification arguments of childfree position. Special attention is given to four aspects of the position: reasons of negative attitudes to the social norm of parenthood, the causes of voluntary rejection to childbearing, the advantages and disadvantages of childfree, as well as to the study of the meaning of marriage between voluntarily childless people.