New Producers of Patriarchal Ideology: Matushki in Digital Media of Russian Orthodox Church

Abstract

The recent research on patriarchal ideology has mainly considered it in relation to politics, society, economics and religion while the studies of actors in mediatization of patriarchal ideas remain fragmented. This study addresses the roles of matushki, the wives of Orthodox Christian priests, as (un)aware producers of extra-institutional forms of patriarchal ideology in social media. Matushki, highly respected women within Orthodox communities, increase the patriarchal power of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) through the promotion of Orthodox women’s identity as a basis of social and ethnic identities in post-Soviet societies. The latter reveals in the standardization of views on Orthodox women’s behavior, family life, upbringing children and ritual practices within the fixed patriarchal categories of ‘man’ and ‘woman’.

Keywords

• patriarchal ideology
• religious blogger
• religious identity
• russian orthodox church women