Social and Age Groups in the Traditional Russian Peasant Society of the Reform Era: The Gender Aspect

Abstract

The article touches on the topic that has received relatively little attention in scholarly literature – that of the age and social family stratification influencing the social status of the Russian woman peasant. The author focuses on the impact of Reform era realities on this aspect of family relations. Attention is paid to the diversity of forms of social family groups and variability of women’s statuses which cannot be reduced to “dependence” or “freedom” alone.