Soviet Identity in Socio- and Ethnocultural Space of Modern Ukraine

Abstract

The article deals with the phenomenon of Soviet identity in the modern Ukrainian society. On the basis of the survey, conducted among the representatives of different regions of Ukraine, the author identified respondents with Soviet identity, analyzed their social sentiments and their impact on the formation or breaking of the all-Ukrainian identity. Also, the factors shaping the positive image of the Soviet past were defined.The paper discovered that nostalgia for the Soviet past and devotion to the Soviet cultural and historical narratives are caused by such factors as social security and wealth, confidence in the future; paternalism; deep-rooted ideological clichés and the Soviet value system; remnants of the Soviet cultural heritage in the Ukrainian sociocultural space; family background of the Soviet memory; lack of critical re-evaluation of the Soviet past, etc. The author considers that “hybrid post-memory” is one of the factors that hold back Ukraine’s escaping from the Soviet historical and cultural space. This is when the people’s “memory” about political repressions and dekulakization is getting weak if their forefathers had not suffered from those tragedies. The survey demonstrates the low level of public activity among the respondents, caused by the autocratic and paternalistic model of the Soviet society, which means the need to be ruled and, as a result, disclaims personal and public responsibility and delegates it to others who can bring discipline into all spheres of life.The process of obtaining a new identity by Ukrainians is slow and sometimes contradictory, especially in the southeastern regions of Ukraine, where the majority of the population come under the strong impact of Russian and Soviet cultural and historical narratives. In particular, the survey results show that extreme anti-Ukrainian sentiments are revealed by the respondents with a strong Soviet identity.