In Russia, the norm of grandmothers’ active involvement in childcare, housing support, and housework has shaped the marginal social position of the babushka - a post-professional and post-sexual member of society who, paradoxically, is perceived as a recipient of social benefits rather than an active contributor. The book demonstrates how older women’s practical and financial support enables younger generations to navigate post-socialist insecurities and to combine paid labour with family life.

The lecture is taking place in Bush House North East wing, room 1.03.

SPEAKER

Dr Anna Shadrina is a Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Liverpool. She is a political sociologist whose work centres on global ageing and the rise of authoritarianism. Focusing on post-socialist Eastern Europe, she examines regional trends and structural conditions that shape political imaginaries of ageing. The Babushka Phenomenon is her third book and completes a trilogy on women’s lives after Soviet socialism.