TRANSFORMATION OF A FAR EAST AGRARIAN FAMILY IN THE PERIOD OF «LATE» SOCIALISM

The article examines the changes that took place in families of agriculturists in the southern part of the Far East in the 1970s – the first half of the 1980s – in the period of so-called «late» socialism. These changes are analyzed through a prism of nation-wide tendencies and their manifestation at the regional level. Instability of a course and sometimes obvious discrepancy in the national policy in relation to the Soviet village and agrarian sector in the eastern part of the country promoted distribution of some negative phenomena, which were not typical for the rural areas before. Such phenomena might be as follows: a growing number of divorces and distribution of informal marriage unions; reduction of a number of children in families which led to distribution of small families, etc. At the same time there were tendencies which had ambiguous impact on life of the villagers. For example, active involvement of women in work, various areas of employment of the rural family members, change of the psychological attitude of villagers towards reality and many other things. The author pays special attention to the reasons that promoted transformation of an agrarian family, and also to redistribution of roles in the family structure. In particular, the author emphasizes levelling of labor activity of women and men, gradual transformation of children from assistants into dependents, transition of elderly generation to self-provision and isolated accommodation. The author comes to logical conclusions that negative processes in family dynamics prevailed over positive ones, and also that by the end of 1980 the family of a special type in the Far Eastern rural areas was formed which only fairly resembled families of the previous decades.