Political Uses of the Myth about Traditional Family in Contemporary Russia: Analysis of Political Discourse

The study aims to comprehend the myth about traditional family as an integral part of the power elite’s political discourse in contemporary Russia from the symbolic politics point of view. The objective of the work is to distinguish the patterns of discursive uses of the myth about traditional family in contemporary Russia. The data is collected by means of the «Integrum» archive of the Russian mass media. The texts which contain Russian politicians’ statements are then analyzed by qualitative content analysis in “ATLAS.ti”. The first chapter is concentrated on the theoretical basis of the study. The review of the academic literature on the theory of political myth and symbolic aspects of the Russian family policy is done. In the second chapter the results of content analysis are introduced, and the patterns of political uses of the myth about traditional family are specified. The study shows that the myth about traditional family is not only the predominant family model for the Russian power elite. It also reflects the politicians’ vision of the Russian gender order.