Self-consciousness and social self-establishment of men in modern Russian and Chinese societies: transformation of masculinity standards

Abstract

. Russian and Chinese societies are undoubtfully experiencing social and gender transformation today. At the same moment they are still preserving (each in its own manner) patriarchal attitudes and principles of the organization of social life. Changes and un-certainty about new reality can cause a deep internal conflict (deformation of self-esteem and self-worth) to some men. The roots of the conflict are to be found in the contradiction between the expectations of stereotypical manifestations of the masculine ideal from men on the one hand, and demand for gender variability on the other. The consequences of such experience are very individual, but there are also general trends: the demonstration of hypermasculinity as a way of asserting one ’ s masculinity, complete submission to the demands and expectations of society, or the formation of new variants of masculinity based on the “ androgynous principle ” of combining characteristics of different gender roles. The gender changes considered here turn out to be related to political, socio-cultural and economic processes. Manifestations of various models of masculinity are noticeable in a wide variety of fields, e. g. education, art, fashion, di-plomacy. The authors of the article, relying on scientific, historical, sociological sources, as well as reference literature and factual material, attempt to draw conclusions about how patriarchal be-havioral patterns and ideology are transformed in modern Russian and Chinese societies.