Authenticity as a Symbolic Capital of the Folklore Field: The Case of Soviet Latvia

Reviewing Symbolic Capital

In the post-Soviet period, there has occurred a change in the main trends in the transformation of the ethnic space ofRussia, although some of them were laid down in the late Soviet period. The study aims to develop a classification of Russian regionsaccording to the dynamics of ethnic heterogeneity in the late Soviet period (from 1959 to 1989) and the post-Soviet period (from 1989to 2021). The paper examines the features of using such indicators of ethnic heterogeneity of territories as entropy, indices of ethnicpolarization and mosaic. To assess the dynamics of ethnic heterogeneity of the regions, the ethnic mosaic index (Eckel index) wasused. The classification of regions was carried out with the help of a cartographic technique that allows combining two most importantcharacteristics of ethnodemographic dynamics – the change in the proportion of the Russian population and the ethnic mosaic index.According to the nature of the dynamics of these indicators in the late Soviet and post-Soviet periods, classes of Russian regions weredistinguished (five for each period). The study showed that from 1959 to 1989 there prevailed the process of relative alignment of theethnic composition of the population in the regions of Russia. That period was characterized by an increasing ethnic heterogeneity ofboth the majority of regions formed not on the basis of nationality and national-territorial entities. Between 1989 and 2021 the processof regional ethnic polarization became predominant in Russia. It was expressed in growing mono-ethnicity in, on the one hand, theoverwhelming majority of regions with predominance of the Russian population and, on the other hand, most of the republics. Duringthat period, the process of ‘pulling’ the titular peoples into their national-territorial entities manifested itself to the fullest extent.

This article presents a socio-historical study that combines an analysis of the theoretical model of the “new man” in the late Soviet period (1964–1988) with an empirical study of personal experiences of people who were students at schools in the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (LSSR) during this period. The aim is to analyze how the teaching and learning process were organized during the late Soviet period in LSSR schools, how it was understood by the participants of this study, and what were the possible differences in the experiences of schoolchildren. Also, it is equally important to determine which of the schoolchildren’s experiences in this period could be qualified as “unifying experiences” that formed the mentality of the late Soviet period generation. These experiences are compared with the common Soviet vision of the “new man” education, which was also changing during the late Soviet period. While searching for the answer to how much of the theoretical “new man” model was adopted by this last Soviet generation in LSSR, we use a post-revisionist approach and focus on the narrative of everyday history – what it meant to be schoolchildren in Soviet schools. The research revealed that the formal institutionalization of collective life for schoolchildren through Pioneer or Komsomol organizations was ineffective in creating a collective community feeling between the young generation. During the late Soviet period in LSSR schools there were four main disciplinary practices: formal notices by writing or by word, unsanctioned physical punishments, preventive disciplinary practices, and informal shaming. The last informal disciplinary practice was considered by schoolchildren in todays perspective as the most effective means of discipline at schools. These practices reflected the model of monitoring each other in the adult Soviet society and formed the horizontal control system involving students, their parents, and teachers. The research revealed a preliminary informal social stratification of children in LSSR schools during the late Soviet period. It was not related to the vision of “the new man” education but encouraged an already existing division within the LSSR society. This was a complete departure from the ethical-moral visions of educating “the new man” in schools, which were based on the demolition of the established class division, enabling this “new man” to create a welfare of socialist society by their own hard work and heroic achievements.

On Pierre Bourdieu<i>Reproduction in Education, Society and Culture.</i>Pierre Bourdieu , Jean-Claude Passeron , Richard Nice<i>Outline of a Theory of Practice.</i>Pierre Bourdieu , Richard Nice

The article is devoted to the study of personal and national identities on the example of sports photos as a symbolic capital. The purpose of this study is to show how photography and sports come together, in a way that together contributes to the consolidation of the nation, contributes to national pride and identity, and hence -to forming personal identity on the base of them either. The structural-functional approach is used, in particular, the theory of "social action" by the American philosopher J. G. Mead. Photography is the channel through which the most international language such as sports can be transmitted, and the individual experience by it unified and integrated in the process of forming personal identity. Of particular interest are the photographs of athletes in Europe and how they contribute to the accumulation of symbolic capital for nation-states, and for self-determination of personal identity. The authors note that photography is an important part of people's daily lives, and its significance goes beyond their nature to entertain. A photographic image provides the basis for identification. A person through a visual image seeks to determine his personal, and then national identity. In today's world, identity is a dynamic system. In this regard, it can be compared with sports, which also constantly develop and ultimately open up new sports, modify qualification competitions, etc. Another social field that is on the rise at the same time is professional sports. By the mid-20th century, the sport of the privilege of the rich was becoming a mass sport. It was not until the 20th century that workers, women and minority groups had access to sports. The authors conclude that in the context of the importance of interdisciplinary research, which allows revealing the processes of formation of national and personal identity, research of this nature can take on further development.

The battle over sustainable forestry in Latvia provides insights into tensions between growth and conservation in a post‐Soviet context. A diverse coalition of sustainability‐oriented advocates of reform, with extensive ties to western organisations, is campaigning to improve operating conditions for private loggers and forest owners and to increase attention to landscape and biodiversity in forestry management. It is opposed by conservative forestry officials who are suspicious of both private enterprise and Western involvement, and for whom maximisation of material production is the sovereign criterion of forest stewardship. This battle reflects a deep divide between ‘liberal internationalism’ and ‘agrarian nationalism’: competing orientations toward national identity and developmental destiny in post‐Soviet Latvian political culture. While the outcome of this battle remains undecided, the debate itself suggests that, as in the late Soviet period, the politics of conservation continues to be strongly linked with the politics of national identity.

Two complementary explanations have been offered by social psychologists to account for the universal hold of national identity, first that national identity is ideologically assumed, as it forms the 'banal' background of everyday life, and second that national identity is 'hotly' constructed and contested in political and everyday settings to great effect. However, 'banal' and 'hot' aspects of national identity have been found to be distributed unevenly across national and subnational groups and banality itself can be strategically used to distinguish between different groups. The present paper develops these ideas by examining possible reasons for these different modes and strategies of identity expression. Drawing upon intergroup theories of minority and majority relations, we examine how a group who see themselves unequivocally as a minority, Irish Travellers, talk about their national identity in comparison to an age and gender-matched sample of Irish students. We find that Travellers proactively display and claim 'hot' national identity in order to establish their Irishness. Irish students 'do banality', police the boundaries and reputation of Irishness, and actively reject and disparage proactive displays of Irishness. The implications for discursive understandings of identity, the study of intra-national group relations and policies of minority inclusion are discussed.

To investigate the phenomenon of alcohol poisoning in Russia and the countries in the European part of the former Soviet Union in the period 1970-2002. Four time points were chosen spanning the late Soviet and post-Soviet periods. Data relating to alcohol poisoning deaths were collected at each point for the countries in the region-Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia and Ukraine. Age-standardized death rates from alcohol poisoning were subsequently calculated for the total population and separately for men and women. In 1970, the alcohol poisoning rates in the countries in this region were exceptionally high in comparative terms. Rates continued to rise in the late Soviet period in all the countries, only falling in the period following Gorbachev's anti-alcohol campaign. Mortality from alcohol poisoning became more common amongst women during the study period. In post-Soviet society alcohol poisoning mortality is occurring on an unprecedented scale although there may be some divergence in trends between the Slavic and Baltic countries which had mirrored each other in the Soviet period. Extremely high poisoning rates are probably explained by a combination of the volume of alcohol being consumed, what exactly is drunk and how it is being drunk. The consumption of illicitly produced alcohol in the post-Soviet period may also be contributing to the high mortality rates. Acute alcohol poisoning has now reached unprecedented rates in parts of the ex-USSR with worrying trends among men as well as among women. Effective action by the governments concerned is now essential.

In both the late Soviet and post-Soviet periods, femininity and beauty were traits often attributed to the ideal working mother portrayed and promoted in state media. But with greater exposure to global beauty ideals in the post-communist era, the sexualized and beautified female body acquired a social value that was independent of its role in the reproductive process. In this paper, I analyse changes in the way care for the female body was represented in two Russian women’s magazines Rabotnitsa and Krest’yanka (1970s–1990s). Over this period, the ideal of the working mother figures less prominently and there is an increasing focus on the ways that women-consumers ought to work on their individual body-projects. This might appear to be a radical change. But by analysing the representations of women more carefully, I show that the move towards the privatization of the body project was already under way in the late Soviet period, but only for some categories of women. That is, non-Slavic women of various ages could be working mothers, but individual consumption was a realm reserved for their Slavic countrywomen.

This article explores some of the ways in which memories of the Soviet past shape the identities and creative work of six Estonian intellectuals born in the 1970s. Based on analysis of the four cultural texts they have produced (an exhibition, a feature film, a novel and a documentary) and biographical interviews with them, it is argued that the authors' birth frame has had an impact on how they interpret the late Soviet period. They share discursive practices about this period: mutual interpretative principles, which validate their common experience in discourses. Their experience of living in the Soviet system is limited to their childhood years only. Sharing a kind of reflexive nostalgia about the era, they depict the late Soviet period somewhat ironically, with a touch of cynicism (in their cultural texts as well as in the interviews). Even though they do not oppose the official public discourse of the rupture of Soviet Estonia, they tend to accentuate and value everyday experience, thus contributing to 'normalisation' discourse of the Soviet period in Estonian memory landscapes. Childhood experiences of the late Soviet period constitute an integral part of these intellectuals' identities. By reproducing their identity in their cultural texts, they have a potential to deepen the memory templates already existing in public memory discourse, and also to contribute to the addition of new discourses and influencing the identity of others in society. This article aims to discuss in what ways memories of the Soviet past can shape the identities of intellectuals and their cultural texts. Our special interest is dedicated to six intellectuals born in Estonia in the 1970s and their cultural texts that deal with the Soviet past in one way or the other. We argue that the fact that people were born in a certain time frame (the 1970s) has influenced the way the Soviet past is understood and represented. People born during the same period can share similar discursive practices (Corsten 1999). Relying on biographical interviews of the authors of four different cultural texts, we offer one possible interpretation of Soviet memories. We aim to point out the tem- plates and constructions that this generation uses in describing their childhood

The forming of habitus is influenced by the dominance modus of an agent who is successful on applying his capital in a field. The capital meant by Bourdieu in a habitus theory are economic capital, cultural capital, social capital, and symbolic capital. The modus of dominance can be seen through the application of one’s symbolic capital. The higher one’s symbolic capital, the more powerful he is to control his surroundings. The capitals are from pride and prestige possessed. The habitus of Nadoman people on the Mosque Council of Tsamrotul Fuad Islamic Boarding School Cipasung is constructed based on the dominance modus conducted by the people with their symbolic power. The method of this research is qualitative by applying Pierre Bourdieu’s habitus theory. The result shows that Nadoman people behave based on the dominance of an agent’s symbolic power within their relation concept guiding individuals to adapt in their conflicting situation.Keywords: habitus, dominance, Nadoman, behavior, Pesantren/Islamic boarding school

The ethnographic study of tourism in Latin America and the Caribbean offers the opportunity to examine the ways that racial ideologies perpetuate social inequality, debunking the myth of racial democracy in countries such as Brazil. In the case of Brogodó, in Bahia, Brazil, structural inequality and racial ideology limit the equal participation of Brazilians of African descent in the local ecotourism industry. This article draws on evidence from ethnographic research to investigate the relationship of structural inequality, racial ideology, and cultural and symbolic capital. In the ecotourism industry, employer discourses emphasizing the limits of local community members’ cultural capital conceal their preference for employees exhibiting both the habitus and phenotypic traits associated with whiteness, reflecting broader social and economic practices that discriminate against African-descendent Brazilians. The ability to naturalize habitus and disguise racial ideology behind discussions of education and qualifications reflects employers’ and members of the dominant classes’ symbolic power.

This article attempts to show the emergence and development of epic poetry in the Latin language literature of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 16th century-the first third of the 17th century with regard to the art history and sociological concept by Pierre Bourdieu (theory of fields). From such point of view the work of the authors at that time can be seen as the specific ways of positioning in the literature of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Latin culture (Latinitas) was significant in forming cultural capital in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and works in Latin were the main means for transmitting social capital, which was also symbolic capital under the influence of certain habitus. Among such works are first of all the public and political ideas that were essential at that time (translatio imperii, “Jagellonian” patriotism), as well as the Polemon Legend. The herois perfecti idea became a significant part of symbolic capital at that time. This idea provided legitimate access to the Consecration process and was embodied in the idealized images of the agents in the field of temporal authority (that of a grand prince, a king or a magnate). The axiological potential of this symbolic capital at the point where the fields of literature and authority intersect was so great and acceptable within the European context that not only local but also foreign authors where actively integrated into the field of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (which was also closely linked to the respective literature of the Polish Crown).

This study explores comprehensive strategies to strengthen national identity among Indonesian students, addressing the crucial need for a cohesive national identity in Indonesia's ethnically and culturally diverse society. The research identifies and analyzes several key approaches, including curriculum development, extracurricular activities, cultural immersion programs, and the use of digital media, to foster a strong sense of national pride and unity. The integration of national history, civic education, and values into the school curriculum is highlighted as fundamental. By ensuring that students receive a thorough understanding of Indonesia's heritage, struggles for independence, and national achievements, educational institutions can instil a deep sense of belonging and responsibility towards the nation. Extracurricular activities, such as student organizations, sports, arts, and community service projects, are also emphasized for their role in providing experiential learning opportunities that reinforce national values and social cohesion. Cultural immersion programs are identified as another critical strategy. These programs, which include traditional arts, music, dance, and language preservation initiatives, allow students to engage with Indonesia's rich cultural tapestry, fostering appreciation and respect for the nation's diversity. Furthermore, the strategic use of digital media is examined as a modern approach to connecting students across different regions and promoting national narratives. Digital platforms can disseminate stories of national heroes, cultural heritage, and contemporary achievements, thereby enhancing students' collective national consciousness. The study underscores the importance of a multifaceted approach involving educational institutions, government policies, and community participation. It recommends that policymakers and educators collaborate to implement these strategies effectively, creating an environment that nurtures a strong, cohesive national identity among Indonesian youth. By doing so, the nation can build a resilient and unified future generation capable of contributing positively to Indonesia's development and stability.

The relevance of the research topic is connected with the importance of historiographical understanding of the patterns of traditional confessional culture development in the conditions of Soviet modernization, as well as the need to clarify the place of Orthodoxy in the life of Soviet society of the late Soviet period.The purpose of the study: to analyze the changes that occurred in the rites of the Russian Orthodox Church in the late Soviet period.Objectives: to consider the socio-cultural prerequisites for the deformation of the Orthodox community cult life, to identify the features of changes in the most common Orthodox practices, to characterize the causes of these changes.Methodology. In the process of forming the factual base of the paper the author used traditional methods of archival work, as well as methods of field research questioning, interviewing. Methods of description and historical induction, historical-statistical, historical-genetic methods were used to systematize the data.Results. The paper examines the socio-cultural consequences of the socialist project of the renewal of society implementation in the late Soviet period, which determined the changes in the attitude of Orthodox-oriented citizens to religious life, analyzes the changes in the organization of the most common Orthodox rites – baptism, church burial, confession, investigates the causes of changes in their traditional forms.Conclusions. The author concludes that the main vectors of deformation of Orthodox rites in the late Soviet period were associated with giving them a secret or correspondence character, reduction, as well as profanation. The corresponding changes were caused not only by the artificial and natural limitations with which church life was connected, but also by the lack of systematic knowledge about the mysteries and dogmatics of the overwhelming majority of parishioners.