SUMMARY:

Anna Temkina investigates the effects and limits of Soviet gender modernization in two republics of the former Soviet Union – Armenia and Tajikistan. She reconstructs two very different settings in terms of religion, history, the level of urbanization and industrialization, social makeup of the population, and family structure, yet establishes similarities of the effects and limits of Soviet gender modernization. The main focus of the article is on contexts and patterns of the coexistence of traditional and modern gender scenarios and on the social organization of sexual life in the two republics (and in Russia). Temkina relies on a biographical strategy of sociological investigation: fifty-four biographical interviews with representatives of the educated urban population of the two republics (the group highly exposed to Soviet modernizing influence) are analyzed against official statistics and the stated goals of Soviet gender policies, in connection with linguistic, national, and social choices, the notions and practices of public and private, the professional and social background of older generations, education, and so on.