The spirituality in the views of the Soviet and post-Soviet man. Part 1

  • Mariia A. Podlesnaia Institute of Sociology of the Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology, Russian Academy of Scienc-es, 5 Bol’shaya Andron’evskaya Street, 1 building, Moscow 109544, Russia
  • Ilona V. Ilina Institute of Finance and Economics, Tyumen State University, 6 Volodarsky Street, Tyumen 625003, Russia

Abstract

The main objectives of this article are to consider the various meanings of the concept of spirituality, religious (Christian) and non-religious. The authors analysed scientific literature, including such authors, who was directly involved in the study of the spirituality of the Soviet person (L. N. Kogan), and many others who devoted themselves to the study of youth in the USSR, including various aspects of its spirituality (V. T. Lisovskii, S. N. Ikonnikova, V. G. Mordkovich, L. Ya. Rubina, M. Kh. Titma, V. I. Chuprov, V. N. Shubkin). As a result of the analysis, a model was developed that makes it possible to talk about the spirituality of the Christian, Marxist, modern new age movement, with the allocation of basic values, the desired ideal, subjects of the process, etc. Correlation with this model should allow us to solve the main goal of the article – to identify how spirituality (in a religious or non-religious context) is understood by the current generation of student youth, what definitions are given to it, and whether there is continuity in this sense with Soviet ideas about spirituality. The authors came to the following conclusion: the meanings of the spirituality of the Soviet period corresponded to the humanism of the Marxist philosophy of «active man», «creator of culture», transforming not only religious tradition, but also various spheres of private life to suit their ideological needs – family and marriage relations, work, leisure, friendship, set the meaning and purpose of the Soviet man.

Author Biographies

Mariia A. Podlesnaia, Institute of Sociology of the Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology, Russian Academy of Scienc-es, 5 Bol’shaya Andron’evskaya Street, 1 building, Moscow 109544, Russia

PhD (sociology); senior researcher at the Center for the Study of Russian Regions

Ilona V. Ilina, Institute of Finance and Economics, Tyumen State University, 6 Volodarsky Street, Tyumen 625003, Russia

senior lecturer at the department of general and economic sociology

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Published
2022-09-29
Keywords: spirituality, religious and non-religious spirituality, the USSR, Soviet people, ideas of the Soviet man about spirituality
Supporting Agencies We express our gratitude to the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, which provided grant No. 21-011-43046 USSR for conducting research under the supervision of doctor of science (sociology) O. V. Aksenova.
How to Cite
Podlesnaia, M. A., & Ilina, I. V. (2022). The spirituality in the views of the Soviet and post-Soviet man. Part 1. Journal of the Belarusian State University. Sociology, 3, 32-41. https://doi.org/10.33581/2521-6821-2022-3-32-41