Book Launch: The Babushka Phenomenon

Posted on 13th October, 2025

Join Anna Shadrina at UCL SSEES for the launch of The Babushka Phenomenon: Older Women and the Political Sociology of Ageing in Russia, her new open access book published by UCL Press.

Hosted by UCL’s FRINGE Centre, the event will feature a discussion of the book’s key themes and will be chaired by Professor Alena Ledeneva from UCL SSEES.

Shadrina’s research explores ageing as a socio-political phenomenon shaped by local responses to declining fertility and the pluralisation of family forms. In many parts of the world, women combine paid work and motherhood by outsourcing care and domestic labour to paid nannies and domestic workers. The case of Russia shows how post-socialist welfare cutbacks have positioned older women as essential yet unpaid and undervalued family caregivers.

In Russia, the norm of grandmothers’ active involvement in childcare, housing support, and housework has shaped the marginal social position of the babushka – a post-professional and post-sexual member of society who, paradoxically, is perceived as a recipient of social benefits rather than an active contributor. The book demonstrates how older women’s practical and financial support enables younger generations to navigate post-socialist insecurities and to combine paid labour with family life.

Event details

Date: Wednesday 29 October 2025
Time: 6:30 to 8:30pm GMT
Location: Masaryk Room, 16 Taviton Street, UCL SSEES, London WC1H 0BW
Register here: Eventbrite link