The Problem of Public Consciousness in Soviet Philosophy and Sociology

Abstract

The article gives a theoretical survey of the concepts of social consciousness and depicts the history of formation of this concept in the 1950–70s in the works of Vladislav Kelle and Matvey Kovalzon, Evald Ilyenkov, Vasily Tugarinov et al. The philosophy of this period was characterized by the antinomy between the increasing dogmatism of diamat/histmat and the tendency towards convergence with world philosophical thought. The struggle between ideological and scientific attitudes in Soviet humanities intensified. The scientific spirit permeated through the formation of sociology and its increasing influence at both empirical and theoretical levels of analysis. During this period the problems of dialectics of individual and social consciousness, forms of social consciousness and mechanics of their functioning, correlation of social consciousness with public opinion, etc., are under investigation. Much attention is given to the debate on the nature of the ideal, which Ilyenkov explicitly linked to social consciousness. The opposition of natural scientific and philosophical approaches to the study of consciousness is considered. The article draws attention to the scientific breakthroughs of the time: the problem of consciousness for the first time is discussed in the light of the achievements of computerization in the 1960s and the problem of creating artificial intelligence. Three main approaches to the study of social consciousness are considered: ontological, epistemological and sociological. The problem of social consciousness has been actively discussed in Soviet philosophical literature since the late 1950s (although some studies were conducted even in the prewar period). At this time, there appear works in which social consciousness is interpreted not only as a reflection of social being, i.e. of the socio-economic structure of society, but also as a relatively independent phenomenon that requires multidimensional study and has a reverse effect on people’s material relations. Such an approach opened up the possibility of sociological analysis of consciousness. The key concept of Soviet sociology is public opinion, understood as a peculiar state of public consciousness. Thus, the methodological foundations of empirical sociology, which aims to study public opinion, are laid. Boris Grushin discovers the specificity of public opinion in its neutrality, equal acceptability for all social classes. The scholar regards sociological research as an effective tool for the formation of civil society and increasing its self-consciousness. The article shows the specificity of the concept of public consciousness in Soviet sociology, including empirical research based on mass interviews and study of public opinion.