The article explores the question how different perceptions of time are reflected in media discourse on family, in the context of the Family Code campaign, which took place in March 2012. The author notes that a part of proponents and opponents of the Family Code formed their beliefs on “real family” on a dualistic structure of cyclical and linear temporal perception. On one side, there is the traditional (or nuclear) family concept, and on the other, there are all other forms of family (same-sex, single parent, etc.). Both groups are placed in a hierarchical relationship, named the value dualism of cyclical and linear time perception. Such a dualism in practice justifies the distinction between real and quasi (true, false) family forms and allows the implementation of a different legal and social status for different family forms. In conclusion, the author presents the concept of evential time perception, which breaks with the idea of identity as a fixed entity and sees it more as fluid and variable identification, specifically—in current terminology—as events (family, human, culture). The elaborated theoretical idea of evential time is presented as a new time paradigm, overcoming the value dualism.
