Mentality and Stereotypes of Social Behavior in Everyday Life of 1950—1980s (Documentary Evidence of Evolution)

Abstract

On the basis of archival sources brought into scientific circulation for the first time, extracted from the fund of the Russian State Archive of Contemporary History, the issue of public perception of the social and material conditions of life in the 1950—1980s is highlighted in the article. The problem of establishing new social archetypes, the formation of which becomes possible in the context of the approval of the newly acquired value foundations of economic behavior, the acceptability of informal economic practices, as well as activities aimed at strengthening material wealth is raised. The circumstances of the metamorphosis in the ideological attitudes and stereotypes of thinking of representatives of the party nomenklatura, production managers, top managers, workers and rural workers are commented on. Attention is paid to the issue of traditions of communality, collectivism, Soviet labor ideology. The author describes the reaction of the authorities to changes in the world order, which are expressed in the transformation of ideological constructs and paternalistic mentality-forming constants of the consciousness of the Russian people. The author comes to the conclusion that during the 1950—1980s, changes in everyday social ideas and traditions, mentality, thinking testified to the growing social division, which ultimately became the basis of the crisis of the 1990s.

Keywords

• public consciousness
• mentality
• worldview
• lifestyle
• everyday life
• work
• social life
• economic forces