Archive

download PDF

Abstract

Nowadays, when Russia is experiencing long and complex transformation into a new social reality, the study of basic values and images of the Russians has taken on a special signifi cance. It is impossible to identify them without taking into consideration the historical analysis of the fundamental structures of the social identity of the Soviet and Imperial people. That is why this article is intended to study, describe and understand socio-cultural semantic structures by the example of the enemy’s image in the historical context of Russia after the February revolution of 1917. The major attention is paid to the analysis of the evolution of the different types of enemies and their social and cultural bases as well as to the identifi cation of the common features of the images of enemies and mechanisms of their transmission into the society. The studies brought the authors to the conclusion that there is a mutual interest between the authorities and the public in the need for an enemy as the struggle with the enemy has been transformed into the source of mass mobilization and the organizing principle of new society. This refl ects a general historical pattern of the societies in the crisis state namely the suppression of the later and higher forms of culture and sociality by the archaic models. In this sense, the ideologeme of an enemy has become one of the most noticeable, mass and sustainable manifestations of the burst of nationalism in 1917. In Russia these socio-cultural mechanisms have been reinforced by the mental peculiarities of the Russians such as a “judicial complex” and dualism of the national character.

Keywords

February Revolution, enemy, inversion, socio-political negativism, split, archaic