The article discusses the process of changing family functions towards its commercialization, namely the emergence and development of the market of paid services for the family in the areas that historically have been served by the resources of the family itself. The authors analyzed 30 interviews with young parents and childless couples, and also carried out a content analysis of 150 discussions on family forums and materials on websites promoting commercial services for families to identify the transfer of certain family functions to external paid experts. According to the results of the study, the authors conclude that most of all changes can be traced on the example of reproductive, educational, running the house, emotional and leisure functions. Special attention is paid to the institutionalization of the recreational function, in particular such aspect of it as holding children’s parties.

The aim of the study presented in this article is to determine the characteristics of Russian mothers seeking care and education services for their children. This work examines the transformation of the traditional family function of raising, socializing and educating children. Currently we are witnessing an increase in the number of parents who resort to paid family services. Therefore it is important to understand the evolution of this market segment, what defines consumers’ choice of services and which types of services are the most popular, while also assessing costumer satisfaction with the services they acquired. Analysis is conducted based on a series of semi-structured interviews with Russian women who have children of preschool or school age. Respondents included both working (be it on hire or self-employed) and unemployed women. Research was conducted within Nizhniy Novgorod city limits. While conducting the interviews, it was discovered that the basic selection of paid services which parents acquire includes services offered by children’s development centers, paid additional lessons at kindergarten or school, sports clubs, dance, art and foreign language lessons; children’s parties – renting dedicated facilities, hiring clowns, purchasing thematic programs and holiday treats; hiring babysitters (either on a regular basis or on demand), psychologists and parenting coaches. The authors reached the conclusion that modern urban families tend to split their responsibility (delegate authority) for raising, caring for and educating their children with those who have expertise in this field. Consumption of services by urban families starts earlier and continues for a longer period of time – in line with their children maturing – there’s not too much diversity, but consumption does depend on such important motives as the desire to satisfy today’s requirements for raising and developing children, parents freeing up spare time for their own needs, taking care of the child’s future.

Due to large scale transformations in modern society, serious changes have occurred in the lifestyle of Russian people. Said changes have affected both the material and the moral-value side of modern life. This article examines the recently established trend towards following expert opinion when making choices and decisions, both when it comes to the consumer and the professional aspect of the life of young and middle-aged Russians. An increased amount of information and a fast pace of living have increased professional and personal requirements when it comes to employment or joining a social group – including a family – which leads to an increased demand for expert opinion and consulting services. Additionally, this article examines styles and means of personal development as new social practices in modern society. The understanding of development as being a natural and spontaneous process gives way to a new approach towards personality formation as being a process of orderly and systematic development, it being a result of intentional adherence to expert opinion and attending various training seminars aimed at personal and professional growth. This article gives a short analysis of websites which offer consulting services in various fields of personal and professional life, while also evaluating premises and means of creating motivation for resorting to paid expert services in the field of personal growth, as well as the effectiveness of the services being offered. The author comes to the conclusion that there is relatively high demand for those consulting services offered by personal growth coaches, bloggers who cover the subject, personal trainers at gyms, leading YouTube channels, and opinion leaders on social media. Despite there not being a way to verify the results of these services, they still remain quite popular. Personal mentorship, having a personal trainer, coach, mentor, therapist or spiritual father is regarded by a certain group of the population to be an essential part of their lives, and is even elevated to being something of prestige.

The authors of this article proceed from the fact that, as a result of the intensive development of digital technologies, a digital society has formed an understanding of life, in which many habitual social practices have been transformed into digital ones. In particular, digital technologies have contributed to the fact that communication on personal, social and commercial issues has moved to a different, virtual level. However, in a number of areas, digital communication causes problems and communication disruptions. For example, previous studies have highlighted high levels of consumer dissatisfaction with companies using digital communication tools. Especially a lot of criticism is caused by answerphones, recently widely popular and used increasingly by public and commercial institutions. The article examines the new ways companies use to deliver their message to an existing or potential customer, as well as the quality and customer ratings of some of these solutions. In addition, the authors tried to identify factors that influence consumer satisfaction when communicating with companies in the digital environment. The main research methods are analysis of previous projects results, interviews and online survey. The article is based on the results of the research conducted in the city of Nizhny Novgorod. The city residents expectations for the automated communication system used in the modern world between the user and the service provider in case when communication is initiated by the consumer to solve his problems were studied on the example of telecommunications companies. These expectations were divided into six groups, and a comparative quantitative assessment of consumer expectations and the actual quality of communication was made. A low level of satisfaction with new ways of communication between companies and consumers was detected, and factors influencing consumer attitudes were identified. In general, the study showed that the formed factors determine the priority directions of transformation of the communication practices of companies and are the basis for the balance of technologies and human resources at the enterprise.