SOCIOLOGICAL MICROANALYSIS OF GENDER INEQUALITY: CHALLENGES TO INDIVIDUALIZATION

The relevance of the research is caused by the attention to «new inequalities» and their measurements from the point of view of microsociological analysis. The author notes that structured individualization, which means the principle of formation of biographical trajectories, in which the influence of social circumstances coexists with subjective factors, can be applied to gender inequalities. The aim of this research is to identify manifestations of structured individualization through the prism of gender change. The methods: comparative analysis and analysis of statistical data, which make it possible to identify the relationship between biographical trajectories and relevant structural factors. The manifestation of structured individualization is considered through the destandardization of biographies and their differentiation. The signs of destandardization of labor and family biographies of modern women were revealed. For Russia, they are manifested in the emergence of new gender contracts, changes in marital behavior and motherhood. Motherhood in modern Russian society is the result of the legacy of the impact of Soviet politics, as well as social and economic changes, along with the spread of new directions of parenting and motherhood (surrogacy, child-free, intensive or professional motherhood). Individualization manifests itself differently for men and women, even within social groups. The tendencies of biographies destandardization described in the article are not exhaustive. New social practices, for example, changing the retirement period, which will further transform work and family biographies, also need to be studied. The individualistic approach, despite its limitations, can claim to be a tool for the socio-structural analysis of modern society.