Cults and culture. Late Soviet cultural studies as intellectual and social practice

Thesis

This thesis explores the history of the late Soviet academic intelligentsia through the cases of prominent intellectuals Aleksei Losev and Sergei Averintsev. I focus on the intersection of theoretical, symbolic, and social structures: first, theories of culture alternative to official Marxism; second, intellectual cults that combine symbolic work to endow a chosen figure with exceptional cultural value and social work to form a community of admirers who share certain emotional and intellectual attitudes; and third, informal intellectual circles (kruzhki), small semi-official groups linked by personal relationships and common interests, where intellectual hierarchies were established and the subjectivity of the late Soviet intelligentsia was shaped. My goal is to analyse how the intellectual and social strategies used by Losev and Averintsev defined the forms of their recognition and popularity in the 1960s–1980s and the ways of instrumentalising their intellectual legacy in the 1990s–2010s. I work with three main types of sources: scholarly texts, memoirs, and long oral history interviews that I collected for this research (twenty in total). This variety of sources helps me establish connections between intellectual labour and its social context. With this research, I offer a new approach to late Soviet intellectual culture, bridging intellectual and cultural history and adding methodological tools of sociology and oral history. It allows me not only to describe in detail the social and symbolic mechanics of two types of cult-building in the late Soviet period, but also to explore the current problems of producing humanitarian knowledge in conditions of limited freedom of expression. I aim to contribute to the contemporary discussion about the Russian intelligentsia, its moral struggles and political compromises, which ultimately led to the defeat of humanistic values in the face of aggressive revanchism.

Authors: Sokolov, E

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-m8d7gzrax
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: Soviet history; intellectual community; Sergei Averintsev; Russian culture; Russian intelligentsia; intellectual cults; Aleksei Losev; Soviet Marxism; Soviet culture; Soviet intellectuals; Soviet academia; intellectual life; Russian philosophy
• Subjects: Cultural history; Intellectual history; Oral history; Philosophy, Russian--History; Intellectual life--History--20th century; Knowledge, Sociology of