The Festival as a Communication Technology for Designing the Ideological Space of the Soviet Society: Social Engineering Approach

I. Bondarenko

Abstract


The purpose. The article examines one of the most effective communication systems for creating the ideological space of Soviet society – the festival.

Research methodology. The author, relying on the methodology of system analysis, analogy, concretization and comparison, defines the specifics of the Soviet festive rituals as a social and communication phenomenon.

Results. The article defends the idea that the Soviet festival is a communication technology of utopian (radical) social engineering. At the same time, the main research focus in the article is on the administrative system of the USSR – the departments for agitation and propaganda which ensured the introduction of totalitarian foundations into the social and cultural plane of Soviet society. It is this managerial component of the Soviet festivals organization that testifies to the implementation of the social engineering project – the technological construction of reality. The article argues that the Soviet festival is a complex technological system for creating a new social order and establishing rules for communication between the authorities and the people. This system reflects all social and political processes characteristic of any social institution of the state, in particular, communication techniques for establishing political power.

Novelty. The author uses a wide factual base (archival material) and provides a detailed overview of the characteristic features of the Soviet festival as a cross-cultural phenomenon. The research focuses on the periodization of the communication dynamics of the festival. 

Practical significance. The research leads to the conclusion that the festival as a socio-cultural phenomenon emerges from the depths of play / ritual communication, able to broadcast and establish a new format of social relations, clearly record in social memory moral and ethical values, establish stable ties with diverse social groups.

Key words: festival, political carnival, social and communication technologies, social engineering, public consciousness, propaganda.


References


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Petrone, К. (2000). Life Has Become More Joyous, Comrades: Celebrations in the Time of Stalin. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Retrieved from https://books.google.com.ua/ [in English].

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.32840/cpu2219-8741/2021.1(45).11

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