Family in the face of new social challenges

The article analyzes the state of the modern family in Russia. Since 2000, many diverse changes in family relationships have been recorded, including rise of traditionalism, growing modernization of family as an institution, and even social degradation of intra-family and inter-family ties that is regarded as a crisis. In turn, the crisis state of family is a long-term source of negative phenomena in all spheres of social life. Mismatch of family values leads to an imbalance of gender roles and reduces the quality of marital relations. Nowadays one source of income is not sufficient for family, and therefore a family with two working parents - the norm for the present Russian reality, is not related to women’s choice, but is caused by the objective necessity. The transformations taking place in the new Russia affect the demographic situation, and on the other hand, it is the demographic factor that determines the possibilities for socio-economic development of the country. Increasingly complex social and economic challenges raise the requirements for the process of socialization of new generations, and this also makes family a necessary institution. Social problems are localized in the system of social interaction, in its features, which determine the social situation of an individual or family. The issue of the need to establish institutional mechanisms to ensure equality of rights between women and men in family is often formulated only in terms of its socio-psychological aspects. The economic and social problems of family are seen as gender-neutral, and the institutional and administrative reforms of the state family-related policy are considered as unrelated to establishment of the national machinery for gender equality. The article shows that the meaningful characteristics of the present directions of the state family policy should be significantly expanded, and the legal regulation should be based on a unified methodological and conceptual approach to modern family relations. There is a need for a unified strategy of the state demographic, family and gender policy, aimed primarily at improving the financial situation of the Russian family and its social welfare.