GENDER IDENTITY STUDIES IN THE MODERN SOCIAL THEORY: RESEARCH FEATURES
The article reveals the socio-philosophical and disciplinary features of the modern understanding of the phenomenon of “gender” and “gender identity”, identifies the most effective and widely used strategies for their study. It is revealed that in the modern interpretation the phenomenon of gender has an ascriptive status, a certain cultural-symbolic construct, which society ascribes to the individual, based on its biological characteristics and the socio-normative projections and stereotypes that exist in the culture. It is also emphasized that in postmodern culture the understanding of gender phenomenon has shifted from static to dynamic: gender as a socio-psychological structure is always in a state of formation and change; despite the fact that it contains a number of deontic stereotypes about its status, gender is as mobile and volatile as the modern society itself and constantly responds to its challenges.