Intensive Motherhood Culture in Popular Educational Russian-Languaged Accounts in Social Media: Child-Centered or Family-Centered Approach

The proliferation of the culture of intensive mothering is a significant trend in current media discourse. Simultaneously, parents today use social media as an educational tool, which may be examined from both an educational and pedagogical perspective (edutainment, andragogy, heutagogy) as well as a media theory perspective (framing theory, uses and gratification theory). There are several approaches to defining intensive mothering in literature: a child-centered approach, wherein the mother makes maximum effort for the child's development and education, and a family-centered approach, wherein a woman's role extends to the overall functioning of the family system. The aim of this study is to ascertain the type of intensive mothering that is most prevalent among popular educational Russian-language Instagram* accounts on mothering. Using the netnography method, an empirical dataset was collected, comprising 608 popular text publications in 63 Russian-language accounts on mothering for the period from 01.07.2022 to 01.01.2024. Through content analysis as a data analysis technique, this study demonstrates the prevalence of the characteristics of family-centeredness in the Russian-language media landscape. Additional characteristics specific to the portrayal of intensive mothering culture in the Russian-language media landscape are noted, including single mothering, the creation of a positive image of mothering, and the importance of the professional realization of mothers. The findings are correlated with the Concept of state family policy in Russia and recommendations for promoting educational content for both children and adults within the studied accounts are provided. *the social network has been recognized as extremist and is banned on the territory of the Russian Federation. Keywords: informal education, intensive mothering, social media, child-centeredness, family-centeredness.