ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the relationship between class, family and social welfare policies by analysing the construction of the identity category of 'unfortunate families' in popular scientific discourses, governmental policy documents and discourses of social services, and examines how those labelled as 'unfortunate' negotiate this identity conferred to them. It shows that gender and class are closely intertwined in the production of this identity, as it is single mothers who are primarily categorised as 'unfortunate'. Gender and class also constitute the key axes of the current Russian welfare model, which is strongly geared towards the neo-liberal rationality of emphasising individual responsibility and means testing. The chapter begins with a review of Western theoretical discussions of class in the context of family and welfare in order to see how Russia fits into these debates. It offers a brief description of the main principles of the Soviet and post-Soviet welfare ideologies and the policies towards families.
