Socio-Cultural Factors of the Emergence and Activity of Running Clubs in the USSR

Abstract

The subject of the study is the socio-cultural determinants of the genesis and functioning of the running clubs of the USSR in the period 1968-1991. The objectives of the work: to determine the prerequisites for the emergence of the running club movement in the USSR; to reveal the essential features of the club as initiative clubs for the self-organization of amateur runners; to identify the external and internal functions of running clubs. The source base of the research was both scientific publications and the memoirs of the organizers and the first participants in the activities of the KLB in the USSR presented on the Internet. The methodological basis of the work is a philosophically oriented socio-cultural approach, within the framework of which the study of complex social and cultural relations in the area of origin, functioning and influence on Soviet society of the activities of running clubs, as well as the methodological technique of constructing a genetic "ideal type" by M. Weber is carried out. The main prerequisites for the emergence of the KLB are seen in the traditions of leisure running practices of pre-revolutionary Russia; the Soviet TRP complex; the development of physical culture and sports public organizations; problems generated by the NTR; the impact of Western running culture. From the perspective of determining the essential features, KLBS are considered as initiative leisure clubs focused on ensuring the maximum efficiency of using running to achieve the therapeutic, healing and personality-building goals of their participants. The mission of the KLB was the improvement of man and society through running practices, the assertion on their basis of enduring humanistic values: health, kalokagatiya, social activity, self-development. The innovation of the KLB in the functional aspect was the development of super marathon running in the USSR, the mass involvement of women in running activity, the development of methods of recreational running for various groups of the population, the cultivation of veteran running amateur sports, the unification of running and artistic practices in the framework of entertainment events.