Julio-Diciembre 2015

Vol. 5 No. 2

Octubre-diciembre 2024

Vol. 14 No. 3

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Interacción y Perspectiva Dep. Legal pp 201002Z43506

Revista de Trabajo Social ISSN 2244-808X

Vol. 14 N

Octubre-diciembre

ARTÍCULO DE INVESTIGACIÓN

Estrategias de valor de las familias del Cáucaso Norte en condiciones de

inestabilidad sociopsicológica de la sociedad*

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11155066

Lidiya Kurbanova **, Elena Malysheva ***

Resumen

La inestabilidad social y psicológica de la sociedad plantea el problema de la elección de

estrategias de valores de la familia como institución social, amplía el ámbito de análisis

de los tipos de valores en la crianza y aumenta la variabilidad de los modos y formas de

adaptación de la familia en las realidades actuales. El objetivo del estudio era analizar

las estrategias de valores de las familias del Cáucaso Norte en un contexto de

inestabilidad socio-psicológica de la sociedad. La investigación se realiza en el marco

teórico del enfoque sociocultural y el enfoque de valores de M. Rokeach, utilizando el

método de análisis comparativo. El estudio incluye una encuesta sociológica en forma

de entrevistas en profundidad. El estudio demuestra la ansiedad persistente entre los

padres de todo tipo de familias en relación con el gran papel de Internet en la vida de

los niños. Los padres creen que la seguridad cultural de la familia reside en preservar

las normas y los valores de las tradiciones y las normas religiosas, a pesar de reconocer

la necesidad de integrarse en el mundo cambiante. La identidad de género del niño

dentro del paradigma sociocultural es un recurso para las estrategias de afrontamiento

de los padres en el contexto de la posmodernidad, donde los principales riesgos de la

influencia de los valores globales son vistos por los padres en la exhibición de

identidades.

Palabras clave: valores, estrategias de afrontamiento, la familia como institución

social, inestabilidad social, seguridad cultural.

Abstract

Value strategies of families in the North Caucasus under the conditions of

socio-psychological instability of the society

The social and psychological instability of society brings to life the problem of choosing

value strategies of the family as a social institution, expands the scope of analysis of the

types of values in upbringing, and increases the variability of ways and forms of the

family's adaptation in the current realities. The goal of the study was to analyze the

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value strategies of families in the North Caucasus under socio-psychological instability

in society. The research is conducted in the theoretical framework of the socio-cultural

approach and M. Rokeach’s value approach, utilizing the method of comparative

analysis. The study involves a sociological survey in the form of in-depth interviews. The

study demonstrates persistent anxiety among parents in all types of families concerning

the large role of the Internet in children's lives. The cultural security of the family is

believed by parents to lie in preserving the norms and values of traditions and religious

norms, despite recognizing the need to integrate into the changing world. The child's

gender identity within the sociocultural paradigm is a resource for parents' coping

strategies in the context of postmodernity, where the main risks of the influence of global

values are seen by parents in the display of identities.

Keywords: values, coping strategies, family as a social institution, societal instability,

cultural security.

Recibido: 17/03/2024 Aceptado: 29/04/2024

* El artículo fue preparado como parte de la Asignación Estatal del Ministerio de Educación de la Federación

Rusa sobre el tema "Estrategias de valor de la familia como institución social en condiciones de inestabilidad

socio-psicológica en la sociedad". Reg. NIOKR 1022042100154-4.

** Profesor, Doctor en Ciencias Sociológicas, Universidad Estatal de Chechenia, Grozny, Rusia. ORCID ID:

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4126-8241 . E-mail: medna59@mail.ru

*** Profesor, Doctor en Ciencias Históricas, Universidad Estatal de Adygea, Maykop, Rusia. ORCID ID:

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6633-2479 . E-mail: emalysheva@yandex.ru

1. Introduction

A person's value attitude to the world permeates all spheres of their life and serves

as an integral characteristic of their social state (Vinokurova, 2009). Amid complex social

transformations, new modus of comprehension of the nature of values is formed,

through which society tries to respond to the new challenges of the time.

Among all social institutions, the family is the most vulnerable in these conditions.

Decree of the President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin No. 400 of July 2, 2021

"National Security Strategy of the Russian Federation" (President of the Russian

Federation, 2021) brings to the fore the task of protecting Russia's traditional spiritual

and moral values, culture, and historical memory, where family serves as the core. This

provision directly concerns the institution of the family and the fundamental axiological

norms of its preservation. The dynamics of the processes of change are such that its

boundaries are wider and deeper than the explanatory value models with which society

has caught these changes. The chaotization of social norms and values creates a

situation of uncertainty at the macro and micro level in the public consciousness, in

which the spiritual security of the family acquires special significance.

The reason behind this is the lack of clear and predictable mechanisms for parents

to adapt in a climate of digitalization, where alternative information resources, in which

the child is included, diminish the parents' influence on the child, given the importance

of previous value strategies. The global information world, carrying the widest range of

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interpretation of value strategies, becomes a factor of anxiety and uncertainty for

parents in the socialization of children. Old models of upbringing fail to work, and new

ones are not easy to find. In this situation, the problem of cultural security of the family,

a social group, and the state is an issue of systemic balance, which can largely be

stabilized by the preservation of the accumulated cultural patterns

(Romanova &

Bicharova, 2015). The Russian family feels the pressure of the changing world in two

directions. On the one hand, it transforms under a set of historical, cultural, socio-

political, economic, and ideological factors of the global world (Babich, 2008; Kharsiev,

2015). On the other hand, the family bears the "birthmarks" of the transitional period

from the Soviet family type to the reproduction of the traditional bounds of normative

ethics of traditional culture and religious identity (Babich, 2008).

In this light, we see the relevance of the problem in analyzing the mechanisms of

preservation of family value strategies, in a recognition of the fact that the family

deliberately observes the universal norms of life that are cultural (Flier, 1998). Given

the set goal, we address the following objectives:

1. To analyze value orientations proceeding from the results of the World Values

Survey based on R. Inglehart's maps over the past 30 years.

2. To conduct a sociological study on families from the four republics of the North

Caucasus (the Chechen Republic, the Republic of Ingushetia, the Dagestan Republic, and

the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (in-depth interviews, 1.5-3 hours), N=20 families: five

from each republic, families of various types).

3. To identify the convergence of the value strategies of the Russian society

reflected in the results of the 2022 World Values Survey based on Inghart's maps with

the results of sociological research in the North Caucasus republics.

4. Through an analysis of in-depth interviews of families from the North Caucasus

republics:

- to analyze the transgeneration of cognitive-behavioral patterns of subjects in

intergenerational relationships in modern families;

- to study the interrelation of family upbringing styles and parents' coping strategies;

- to identify the specifics of the transformation of the value strategies of the family

as a social institution in a globalizing world based on sociological studies of families in

North Caucasian societies.

In the context of this discussion, the discourse of cultural security has turned from

the field of theoretical reflection of researchers (Romanova & Bicharova, 2015) into a

problem of an applied nature (Razlogov, 2010). The various approaches relying on the

most polar interpretations of the concept of cultural security can be reduced to the

following three:

a) Cultural security with a negative connotation, understood as interference in the

natural development of any culture by political or organizational methods. Calls for

cultural security are seen as attempts to preserve national culture at the level of the

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best examples of the past, leading to a rigid rejection of contemporary mass culture

(Razlogov, 2010).

b) The concept of cultural security as applied to Russian culture and the prospect of its

disappearance into the Western, so-called mass culture. Russian culture is

characterized as Orthodox, implying the Orthodox part of Russia, although

concerning North Caucasian regions, this can be considered as an infringement of

ethnic and Islamic values. Adherents to this approach see any novelty in culture as

an attack on its value foundations, described as "danger", "destabilization", and

"destruction" (Dushina & Bokachev, 2011). Those sharing this perspective also insist

on the need for the state to intervene in the regulation of cultural spheres of society

as a resource to counteract the dominance and promotion of Western subculture.

The expansion of Western norms and values is labeled as immoral, capable of

undermining the morally healthy and viable staples of national culture. In this

context, cultural security is regarded as a strategic task to save the value

foundations of Russian culture.

c) The third approach relies on the paradigm of the duality of any national culture. On

the one hand, national culture is open to influence and exchange either way. Its

uniqueness and authenticity are not dependent on the culture's isolation: it is

constantly enriched by the values of other cultures, their experiences, ideas, and

innovations (Marshak & Sergeev, 2008). Proponents of this view tend to refer to the

concept of cultural security as functional, reflecting a basic set of value strategies.

What are values and which of them are basic and form the basis of everyday practices

of an individual? Are there differences in value preferences between countries, and what

factors do they depend on? How principal are intra-country differences in values for us,

how can they shape a unified socio-cultural value strategy for a country, a national

group, and, specifically, a family? These and related questions are analyzed in this paper.

2. Methods

Theoretical background

The theoretical framework of the study is formed by the sociocultural approach of

Russian-American sociologist P. Sorkin and the founder of the American school of

structural functionalism P. Parsons, as well as the sociocultural approach and the value

approach developed by M. Rokeach (1973).

Sorokin’s theoretical concept holds that sociocultural changes consisting in the

replacement of a fundamental principle of culture by another are more important events

in the history of mankind than a change in the form of government, for the most

important and cardinal changes in society occur when it undergoes "a thorough and

epochal revolution in human culture" (Sorokin, 2020: 67). The individual is considered

in the sociocultural approach as a subject connected with society by a system of relations

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and culture as a set of values and norms. The change of value paradigms frees the space

for reflection and forces one to look at culture as a social tradition. Parsons, examining

culture in the process of interaction with society, believes that it can be portrayed in

three dimensions. "Firstly, culture is transmitted, it constitutes a heritage or social

tradition; secondly, it is something that is learned, culture is not a manifestation of

human genetic nature, and thirdly, it is universally accepted. It is thus, on the one hand,

a product and, on the other hand, a determinant of the system of human social

interaction" (Zdravomyslov, 1968: 49). The entire system of human interaction is

permeated with a matrix of values that helps to define the boundaries and meanings of

this interaction. Rokeach developed his concept of personal value orientations,

understanding value as a stable belief in the principal preference of some goals or ways

of existence over others (Leontiev, 2005). Rokeach, despite dividing values into terminal

and instrumental, assigning 18 positions to each class, "packed the nature of human

values into a general catalog" and reduced them to the following positions:

1. the total number of values a person possesses is relatively small;

2. all people possess the same values, albeit to varying degrees;

3. values are organized into systems;

4. the origins of human values can be traced back to culture, society and its

institutions, and the individual;

5. the influence of values can be observed in almost all social phenomena worthy of

study. These characteristics of values became defining in our work with respondents.

From the two classes of values (terminal and instrumental=36), we singled out 12 values

that are the most embedded in the culture and value preferences in the upbringing

process among the families under study.

Experimental study

In-depth interviews were conducted following a specially developed guide survey.

The guide survey consisted of three sections with sub-questions:

a) The present time and the problems of upbringing.

b) Culture as a regulating factor in upbringing.

c) Difficulties and problems in family socialization.

The survey included participants from families across the North Caucasus republics,

specifically the Republic of Dagestan, the Chechen Republic, the Republic of Ingushetia,

and the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic. The study's sample featured 20 families, with an

equal distribution of five families from each republic. These families were categorized

into five distinct types: classical multi-generational families (comprising grandfather,

grandmother, father, mother, and children); nuclear families (father, mother, and

children); single-parent families led by a mother with children; single-parent families led

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by a father; and families with no biological parents, where children are raised by

guardians, which could include a female relative or a step-mother.

3. Results and discussion

Within the scope of possibilities and limits of typological comparisons between the

value map by R. Inglehart and C. Welzel and the value strategies of a North Caucasian

family, we made the following findings:

1. Value attitudes are found to shift from traditional to secular with the advancement

of education and enlightenment in many of the countries studied, including Russia.

2. The development of secular-rational values, i.e., beyond the values of national

culture, religion, and faith in God, is not as linear in North Caucasian societies.

3. Gendered upbringing is considered as the basic ethical-normative practice in the

child's daily life.

4. Families of different types (multi-generational, nuclear, single-parent (father),

single-parent (mother)) show no differences by the means or motives of upbringing.

5. In the respondents' view, the predominant value resources amid socio-political

instability are traditional principles and the Islamic moral and ethical imperative.

Among all the studied families in the North Caucasus republics, families from

Dagestan turned out to be the most open. In formulating clearly defined value strategies

of upbringing, the most notable are parents from the Chechen Republic.

A stable trend of child-centeredness is observed in families: the main concern of

parents is to give their children a decent education and upbringing.

The comparative analysis reveals no variation in the types of upbringings across

different types of families.

The country's civilizational identity is defined by its value strategies and its place in

the system of universal basic cultural norms. Comparative analysis of the position of

Russia in the system of world cultural values in the context of the World Values Survey

map by Inglehart and Welzel demonstrates that Russia has come a long way from

traditional to Secular-Rational values, yet stands close to the values of Survival on the

scale of progression towards Self-Expression values (World Values Survey, 2023).

The conducted analysis not only shows Russia's place in the world's value system but

also demonstrates that the variability of values within a single country seldom becomes

a topic of specialized research

(Magun & Rudnev, 2010).

What can a comparative analysis of value strategies in Russia and its regions provide?

Russia is a multicultural and multiconfessional state, where some regions (for example,

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the North Caucasus) are at different starting levels of values in relation to the country

and have low prospects for value consolidation within it. The formation of a unified

sociocultural landscape of Russian society is a key resource for its spiritual mobilization,

and the study of family value strategies in national regions can partially address this

problem.

On the map of the World Values Survey by Inglehart and Welzel, each country is

represented by the average citizen, whose values may vary upon comparison with

intracountry differences and variability

(Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, n.d.-a). The

substantive aspects of this heterogeneity within the country are seldom subjected to

special research. The goal of our study is to partly fill this gap.

Analysis of the World Values Survey by Inglehart and Welzel suggests that there are

two main dimensions of cross-cultural differences in the world:

1) Traditional values vs secular-rational values,

2) Survival values vs self-expression values.

Traditional values emphasize the importance of:

● religion,

● parent-child connections,

● respect for authority and traditional family values,

● rejection of divorce, abortion, euthanasia, and suicide.

These societies are marked by high national pride and nationalistic views, devotion

to clan roots, the power and authority of public opinion, the cult of "one's own" over the

other, the power of blood and kinship relations, and commitment to one's land.

● Secular-rational values uphold preferences opposite to traditional values. These

societies have less regard for religion, traditional values, and authority. Survival values

emphasized economic and physical security.

● Self-expression values prioritize environmental protection, growing tolerance of

foreigners and sexual minorities, e.g., gays and lesbians, and gender equality, as well

as increasing demands for participation in economic and political decision-making.

✔ Traditional and secular-rational values and their assessment reflect a stark

contrast between societies that attach great importance to religion and those that do

not, but respect for the authority of God, the fatherland, and the family are closely linked

(Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, n.d.-b). Given the typological characteristics of

values, our analysis of the sociological survey was founded on both traditional and

secular-rational values. As noted above, the guide survey provided the 12 basic values

according to Rokeach's model of basic human values, asking the respondents to choose

three of the most important to them:

✔ Success

✔ Equality

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✔ Bravery

✔ Honesty

✔ Independence

✔ Responsibility

✔ Freedom

✔ Security

✔ Well-being

✔ Tolerance

✔ Respect

✔ Love

Most families (N = 17) named "honesty" and "responsibility" as the fundamental

values, and third place was taken by "security" and "success". Parents' basic demand

for the instrumental values (the conviction that some behavior on personality train is

preferable in any given situation) of "honesty" and "responsibility" can be explained by

the idea that in parents' subjective structure of value orientations, ethical values remain

predominant over the values of communication, conformity, and self-affirmation.

American psychologist K.J. Gergen (2016: 69) argues that

"Spiritual values are incredibly important in culture, yet they have been

eradicated from the psychological vocabulary. Gradually we are beginning to

recognize the potential of Indian manuscripts on the mind, Asian social

psychology, Confucian concepts of 'self' and Mestizo concepts of person and

mental health".

The pragmatic world and its set of utilitarian values are increasingly becoming a

motivational resource in children's upbringing and personality development. This is

evidenced by the terminal value (the conviction that the end goal of individual existence

is worth striving for) of "success". This process of "cross-pollination" of values in our

time is at the stage of shifting value paradigms and warrants serious reflection.

The value of "security" in Inglehart's map of values is characteristic of poor societies

with insufficient legal protection. Concern for children's future and a short horizon of

planning life plans shown by respondents in the interviews suggests that along with

instrumental and terminal values, parents have vital values as a strategy of adaptation

to the world of anxiety and unpredictability of their children's future. The list presented

by Inglehart does not have the value of "faith in God", while in our survey in the context

of coping strategies of adaptation, it is found to be predominant in interviews with

parents. Faith in God is believed by parents to be an indicator of the child's moral

boundaries and a precondition and opportunity to survive through family crises and

adversities. Islam is seen not as an ideological construct but as a social test for all the

problems of the child's moral, ethical, and cultural development.

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Analysis of challenges in upbringing shaped by the present time was put into the first

block in the questionnaire.

The present time and problems of upbringing

A common narrative in the analysis of families across all the considered regions is a

low level of coping strategies for parents' adaptation to the problems of the presence of

mainstream digital information in children's lives. Parents and guardians experience

anxiety, concern, and sometimes confusion in the matters of influencing children to

adjust their time on the Internet. The respondents argue that drastic measures (total

control, strict punishment) only work in the short term. What are the difficulties arising

in upbringing and socialization?

– The insufficiency of parents' skills of communication with children in digital reality

owes to the fact that the old (traditional) family values become less constructive under

these conditions, with no mechanisms for developing new ones. This is noted by parents

from all the studied regions.

- If you look closer, every parent suffers from a lack of knowledge and experience in

upbringing, since they do not teach you this at school or university. Almost every parent

is tormented by doubts about whether they are doing the right thing when raising their

child, given that there is a wide variety of opinions, points of view, and perspectives

about what is good and what is bad for a kid (Gozel, mother of three children, nuclear

family, 28 years old, Dagestan).

- …there are more requirements to the exterior, material side of life. There are lots

of troubles for parents nowadays created by the education system. There are many

difficulties, countless even. Children receive a lot of both good and harmful information

from them. Every time you need to deliver information in a way that the child will not

be an outcast in society, but at the same time will be well-bred and responsible (man,

father of three children, single parent, 36 years old, Dagestan).

- In a modern family, the upbringing of children has to start with the parents, as well

as teachers and caretakers. All because they are the ones taking responsibility for

instilling some qualities in the kid. Meanwhile, it is impossible to teach a child to be kind,

just, generous, or polite without having these qualities yourself. After all, children are

good at spotting lies, so lessons will prove pointless (woman, 35 years old, guardian of

two school-age children, no biological parents, Ingushetia).

These motives are demonstrated by most families in all the examined regions.

Parents understand that the challenges of the digital world demand new pedagogical and

psychological tools of upbringing, i.e., coping strategies for the adaptation of parents

and children to the new reality. They are sensitive to these changes, which becomes the

source of anxiety and uncertainty about their pedagogical competence at the micro and

macro levels. A rescue mechanism in this respect becomes a comparison with their own

parents' child-rearing models.

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- In our time, when I was little, all mothers raised their children strictly, instilling

modesty. This is also right, I do not think this to be wrong, but now things are a bit

different between me and my children, but not because that was wrong or because I

disapprove of this. No. I simply raise my children to be more open, teach them to speak

about everything. In matters where I was embarrassed in my day to share anything, I

teach them to tell everything. Yes, it is difficult that children are a little different

nowadays, they are wayward, they see a lot now and keep track. They have access to

all the information, they see a lot of examples, see what goes on in other countries. We

cannot sever this connection; it is what it is. Maybe they develop character because of

this, I don't know. From an early age, they have some sort of 'Self'. They still try to

stand their ground. I see this in my own kids. When my mom used to tell me what is

and is not allowed, I understood it the first time. My kids, in turn, try to prove their point

to me. They want it a different way. This is a different time, different children, different

parents (Radima, mother of four children, divorced, 39 years old, the Chechen Republic).

Prominent strategies of traditional parenting the parents believe to still be effective

today.

- The Stick and Carrot method has not been abolished yet, regardless of who

recognizes it or not, it always works in all eras, in all generations, in all ages. That is,

for example, if there is a parent in the family, there are also grandparents. The

grandparents will naturally be kind, meaning that they will allow children more, give in

more, punish them less for some actions. If one of the parents treats children in the

same way, this is no longer upbringing but overindulgence. So they most likely have to

listen most to the older people in the household, they need to be in awe of someone.

(Deni, 45 years old, father of four children, single parent raising children with his

parents, without the mother, Dagestan).

Parents also recognize the issue of modern challenges in upbringing, which demand

a revision of the old schemes and mechanisms.

- Today there are some problems our parents did not face. Naturally, the values

instilled in us need to be modernized.

But while something leaves, something is added. For instance, many fundamentals

in pedagogy are changing now, right? Something is subject to criticism.

We often hear the older generation say: we used to do it like that, now parents are

doing this.

The problem I face is highly developed technology and devices. They have brought

some health disadvantages. The child's thinking changes a little because they are

increasingly subject to the effects of social media.

Part of the parents admit that social media and information technology cannot fully

justify their poor pedagogical competence.

- My task as a mother is to use it for my child's good. This is where traditional

upbringing can help. That is, you cannot blame everything on social networks, if you lay

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down your values and concepts at home, then the child will be able to do just

fine…children are smart nowadays, they memorize information well, and today they

could well be explained what harm and good their phones bring to them (mother, 40

years old, three children, multigenerational family, Ingushetia).

The modernization of society in the world manifests in a transition from traditional

to secular-rational values (according to Inglehart and Welzel's map of values). However,

the North Caucasus society is experiencing the influence of dynamically changing Islamic

institutions and reanimating traditional norms and values, on the one hand, and modern

and post-modern values, on the other. This is a unique challenge to parents in socializing

children in this region. In this respect, almost all the surveyed families point to the

institutions of tradition and Islam as vital rescue mechanisms and levers in child

upbringing in today's conditions.

- I believe that all our traditions and honoring our elders in Dagestani society are

respectful attitude toward our parents, hospitality, i.e., welcoming guests, personal

family holidays, such as birthdays, weddings, mawlids, home clean-ups, which nurture

care for the home, joint recreation, such as picnics, walks – all this helps us to bring up

our children (man, 36 years old, three children, raising children alone with his parents,

Dagestan).

- (details of traditional upbringing) I speak about the attitude of a sister to brother

and brother to sister, what all this should be like according to tradition. I tell about how

a brother should treat his sister, that he should be gentle, protective because she is

weak. That is, he should be her protector. I also teach that one should not judge the

father and his actions. However unfairly he treats his children, they cannot be

judgemental, especially judging him. I do not let them do that. If I let it slide, it is

possible that they will automatically treat me like that someday. It all stems from our

traditions, I was brought up in this way, and so I, in my turn, try to instill this in them.

Of course, I always tell them that they must not let other people mistreat them, not

everything should be tolerated, they need to stand up for themselves. Yet there needs

to be respect for elders. If you see insolence, you don't tolerate it. That's what I teach

them. Have your own opinion, defend your point of view. I don't teach them to fight, to

sweep everything in their path, no. But if there is something that is hurting you or not

satisfying you, you need to fix it. Also, you should always tell the truth. (Radima,

divorced, mother of four children, the Chechen Republic).

Concerning the variability of role practices among actors in upbringing (father,

mother, grandfather, and grandmother), we do observe differences in the form of

upbringing but not in its essence ("Certainly, the father is always stricter with the

children, I am softer, perhaps, because I interact with them more on many issues, but

the father is definitely an authority to them" (nuclear family, Dagestan).

Culture as a regulating factor in upbringing

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Intergenerational relationships were the focus of our attention in terms of two

problems:

- the institution of grandparents and their influence on child upbringing;

- the variability of socialization styles among grandparents in contrast to children's

parents. The respondents note that children raised by their grandparents are more

sensitive, responsive, and kind. This argument may be wishful thinking, confirming the

stereotype of traditional culture that the disintegration of large families in the face of

urbanization of the population has led to the breakdown of intergenerational ties and

lessened the degree of contact and emotional attachment between family members.

- First and foremost, grandparents expand the child's outlook. This is also a kind of

experience speaking with other people: grandparents are an invaluable bank of

knowledge for children (father, 36 years old, Dagestan).

It needs to be noted that the rise of traditionalism and the Islam factor has

surprisingly revealed a trend that is not yet clearly visible but is already present in social

practice. We already noted that according to the classics of the upbringing cycle, the

older generation (grandparents) were the bearers of national and religious identity, role

models of influence and nurturing, and the traditions and norms of traditional culture.

However, the social stratum of current grandparents is a generation whose worldview

formed under Soviet ideology. While part of them integrate into the overall narrative of

strengthening the socio-cultural and traditional influence on grandchildren, in most of

them, the attempts to nurture Islamic ethical norms in grandchildren are not very

convincing. They tend to lack both knowledge and beliefs: the grandchildren are more

informed about Islamic ethics and ritualistic cult. This fact is confirmed both by regional

researchers (Starodubrovskaia, 2019) and our study based on Inglehart and Welzel's

map of values (Inglehart & Welzel, 2011).

- We certainly insist on Islam, because it has the whole truth. How do I say, this

generation knows it way better than us: they pray and fast regularly, they read the

Quran, and we are often the ones asking questions (laughs) (father, 54 years old, the

Kabardino-Balkarian Republic).

- Children say that we grew up under atheism, so we do not do Salah as deeply as

them, and there is a lot we do wrong. "You drank, and we do not drink or smoke", our

sons tell us (father, 49 years old, the Chechen Republic)

Our analysis and observations show that the restoration of ethnic normative culture

and Islamic culture happened over a single generation. For part of today's grandparents,

this is not so much an issue of religious faith or tradition as an issue of social testing in

the context of new value strategies of upbringing.

Parents in their interviews often mention value strategies with gender differentiation

in upbringing. This aspect was not our focus in the guide survey, but these considerations

show the extent to which the ethical complex as a symbolic model of culture is tied in

parents to the role model of masculinity and femininity. Parents see this as a predictable

mechanism to ensure against the "defilement" of gender in postmodernity. Raising the

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child in their biological sex with the entire normative role model of a boy or girl and man

or woman, saturated with traditional and Islamic symbolism, is the most important goal

of parents.

In families with the father as a single parent, there is a pronounced focus on

gendered upbringing, which takes the form of concern for daughters, whereas in families

where the mother is a single parent to children of different genders, there is anxiety for

the maturation of boys.

- It is harder for me to deal with the boys than the girls, because the boy is, well, in

his transitional age. And he needs a man's hand, which I don't have at the moment, so

that he can feel this man's hand, man's strength so that there is an authority for him as

a man. My son listens more to my mother (grandmother) than to me (woman, 35 years

old, divorced, single parent to two children, Dagestan).

Parents are convinced that the lack of one parent is often a precondition for the

complication of educational contact based on the adolescent's gender.

- What becomes a problem and why it is so difficult to raise a child today. First and

foremost, I'd say that it is an incomplete family. For me personally, this is a little bit

hard in the sense that I am raising a son alone, so there is his gender. So, if I were

raising a girl, it would be much easier. I believe that, for a boy, no matter how I try to

give him all my attention and surround him with my care, he will desperately need his

father's upbringing, which he misses no matter how I try to keep a hard hand on him.

In any case, a man still needs a man to raise him (woman, 39 years old, single parent

to one son, Dagestan).

- The foremost job of a father is to teach the child to work, organize leisure, and

bring up such traits as the boy's fortitude, masculine strength, and dependability. The

father's example is very important because children copy their fathers in many ways:

they pick up his gait, his mannerisms, his gestures. He is responsible to the family for

organizing the household, providing food. It's just so happened that I raise my children

alone, and I realize how hard it is to bring up a healthy personality in a family without a

mother. Because children also need to learn both the feminine (mostly for girls) and

masculine models of behavior (father, 36 years old, single parent to four children of

different genders, Dagestan).

Thus, through the analysis of in-depth interviews of families from the North

Caucasus, the study:

- sheds light on behavioral patterns in family relationships: despite the uniform

sociocultural space of Caucasian families, the role and behavioral practices are not

always identical in families of the same type or even region. Furthermore, intra-regional

differences are not as evident as interregional ones.

- has analyzed the transgeneration of cognitive-behavioral patterns among the

subjects of intergenerational relations in modern families: an increase in the number of

types of nuclear families in contrast to multigenerational diminishes the influence of the

institution of grandparents on their grandchildren, although there is a demand from

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parents for their necessity and importance in the family. In some families,

intergenerational tension is associated with the strengthening of religious and national

factors across generations, where the role of amplifier is played by grandchildren rather

than grandfathers.

- explored the relationship between family upbringing styles and the coping

strategies of parents and children. The higher the emotional and psychological stability

of the family, where both parents are present, the higher the adaptation of this family

to instability and anxiety in the country and the world.

- the absence of one parent in the family leads the other parent to feel a sense of

incompleteness in the upbringing of children. This factor raises anxiety for the children's

future and emotional state.

- reveals a specificity in the transformation of family mentality, which consists in high

social expectations from the following factors:

- reinforcement of religious upbringing;

- cultivation of the moral foundations of traditional culture as a guaranteed insurance

against the threats and risks of this world.

Difficulties and problems in family socialization

A common trend in the upbringing process in North Caucasus families, as found by

our sociological study, is difficulties in creating mechanisms of family adaptation to the

conditions of digital reality, where the familiar, predictable, and efficient practices and

means of upbringing work poorly and inconclusively and new ones, responding to the

challenges of the technogenic reality, are not yet developed.

- From an early age, they have some sort of 'Self'. They still try to stand their ground.

I see this in my own kids. When my mom used to tell me what is and is not allowed, I

understood it the first time. My kids, in turn, try to prove their point to me. They want

it a different way. This is a different time, different children, different parents (Radima,

mother to four children, divorced, 39 years old, the Chechen Republic).

- Today there are some problems our parents did not face. Naturally, the values

instilled in us need to be modernized.

But while something leaves, something is added. For instance, many fundamentals

in pedagogy are changing now, right? Something is subject to criticism.

We often hear the older generation say: we used to do it like that, now parents are

doing this.

- The problem I face is highly developed technology and devices. They have brought

some health disadvantages. The child's thinking changes a little because they are

increasingly subject to the effects of social media…

As strategies for adaptation to digital technology in upbringing, parents suggest

rationally using their information potential.

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-…My task as a mother is to use it for my child's good. This is where traditional

upbringing can help. That is, you cannot blame everything on social networks if you lay