“Have never had thoughts about another profession”: the continuation of professional dynasty as a personal choice of soviet doctors

Professional dynasties have been an integral feature of medicine since the Soviet years. At the same time, the transmission of the social and professional status of parents can be both voluntary and forced. The purpose of the study is to show the factors determined the personal professional choice associated with the continuation of the medical dynasty in the Soviet period of Russian history, when nepotism was not encouraged in this area. Interviews with representatives of similar dynasties who began their careers in the 1950s-1980s (25 cases are presented in the public domain on the Internet) became the empirical basis of the study. An analysis of interviewing results allowed to identify a number of closely interconnected microsocial factors, due to which the educational and professional strategies of medical dynasties representatives developed: the formation of the authority of the profession of parents in the family; the personal authority of senior family members; the loyalty to the lifestyle; the emergence of the image of profession and professional identity.