Russian Cultural Conservatism Critiqued: Translating the Tropes of ‘Gayropa’ and ‘Juvenile Justice’ in Everyday Life

Framing the ‘conservative turn’ in Russia as a ‘culture war’ casts ordinary Russians an amorphous reactionary mass, willingly following political entrepreneurs’ cues of intolerance. This essay rejects that interpretation and seeks to restore agency Russians. Based on ethnographic encounters discussing homophobia heteronormative gender family attitudes, argues vernacular social conservatism re-appropriates official discourses express Russians’ feelings towards their own state. Intolerance is less fuelled by elite but rather reflects domestic resentment towards, fear of, punitive power state, along with nostalgia for idealised version moral socialisation under socialism.