Criticism of State Social Policy in the Current Agenda of the Parents Communities

Abstract

The article analyzes the discursive practices and cognitive work of parents communities members in St. Petersburg. The author is interested in actual agenda of parent associations. The methodological framework of the study is the discursive approach of civil society and social movements studies. In the frame of the discursive approach, the author uses the concept of the ”ideal of care” offered by a feminist scholar Monique Kremer. The concept of the ideal care sets the focus of interests on how a “good” child care should be organized. Analyzing interviews with organizers, activists and participants of parents communities the author identifies four ideal of care typical for parents: responsibility parents, socially active mothers, the caring State, and civil parents. The article concludes by the description of the main common characteristics of the parenthood semantic field which is constructed by parents communities members.