SOCIAL MODE OF CHILDFREE AS A CONTENT COMPONENT OF TEXTBOOK FOR EDUCATION MANAGER

Abstract

The article deals with the child-free movement as a new socio-cultural phenomenon of voluntary childlessness, which has been poorly studied in Ukraine. The problem is relevant in the context of the family institution transformation and the information society and globalization challenges. The aim of the article is to reveal the origins and analyze the content of the phenomenon of child-free, the reasons and motives of the movement for voluntary childlessness in the USA and Europe as well as its emergence and spread in Ukraine. In order to analyze this phenomenon the author has used a number of methods, which included the analysis of the relevant philosophical, psychological and sociological works of foreign and Ukrainian scholars and statistical and demographic studies to find out the social and economic prerequisites for the emergence and spread of the child-free movement in the USA, Europe and Ukraine, the Sampo generation in South Korea, analysis of social categories and ideas as well as different child-free movement representatives. The author discusses the term “child-free”, which was introduced by human rights defenders during a wave of emancipation, to oppose the terms “childlessness” and “childless”, which described a privilege of a modern developed society. The phenomenon of “child-free”, which is gaining ground in Ukraine, is characterized as a movement, a subculture, an ideology and a lifestyle of people / families who choose not to have children. The author reveals the reasons and motives of voluntary childlessness and the views of the representatives of the child-free movement. The author describes different types of the child-free movement representatives (rejectors, aficionados, wave-like refusers and permanent postponers) and reveals the differences between the childless, child-free and child-hating people. Parenthood is considered as a component of human identity and a socially acceptable norm, whereas the refusal to have children as a social abnormality. The western democratic society, which Ukraine is seeking to integrate into, gives individuals the opportunity to make their own free choices in all spheres of life, therefore the choice of fatherhood or childlessness is based on peoples’ own beliefs, needs, interests and preferences. The author’s findings
can be helpful in the context of Ukraine’s integration into a Western democratic society and adoption of European values.