post-Soviet Society Research Articles

Shifting Paradigms: Semiotic Reading of the Built Environment Transformations in Lithuania 1986–2004

Summary The research delves into the complex and multi-layered transition of Lithuania from a Soviet to a post-Soviet society, focusing on the architectural landscape as a reflection of ideological shifts. It explores the period from Gorbachev’s initiation of perestroika in 1986 to the Baltic States’ entry into the EU and NATO in 2004, a time marked by significant transformations within the architectural, social, and political realms. First, using Greimasian Square, the study categorises and analyses the reactions toward Soviet Modernist architecture, observing the gradual shift from a representation of state ideology to a canvas reflecting a myriad of individual and collective experiences, also assuming the artistic value of the architects’ output. Second, utilising frameworks from Western architectural criticism figures such as Peter Blake, Robert Venturi and the Situationists, the study contextualises and collates with architectural trends in public interiors or private constructions in Lithuania. Additionally, presumptions are correlated with a crisis in the architectural profession, characterised by a rise in private constructions without architects. Through semiotic view architectural discourse becomes a vital element in understanding the broader cultural and political shifts in post-Soviet Lithuania.

THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEMORY IN THE SOCIETAL TRANSFORMATIONS OF MODERN BELARUSIAN SOCIETY: THE THEORETICAL ASPECT

This study employs a socio-philosophical analysis to reveal the role of social memory in the societal transformations of contemporary Belarusian society and highlights the importance of this phenomenon in shaping its socio-cultural development. The theoretical and methodological framework for this research includes societal functionalism, an anthroposocietal approach, the concept of social transformations in post-Soviet societies, and an informational approach to the study of social memory. These approaches enable a detailed exploration of how social memory influences societal transformations in modern Belarus, allowing for an assessment of its normative, value-based, and functional potential in establishing and maintaining a normative order, fostering social stability, and generating tension within the socio-cultural space.

WEAKNESS AS A PHILOSOPHICAL CONCEPT AND LEGAL CATEGORY

The article is devoted to the most complex, little-studied in jurisprudence and the theory of civil law, deep-seated issues of protecting the weakness in delicate and other legal relations. The authors proceed from the fact that the effectiveness of the protection of the weakness is based on its holistic understanding of both legal and philosophical categories. Based on this, the authors draw a philosophical-semantic and lexical-legal analogy between this category and the category of a weak subject, its semantic conditionality from such philosophical categories as personality, self-worth of a person. It is proposed to consider the category of the weakness from the standpoint of its static and dynamic states, the conditionality of the effectiveness of its protection in the post-Soviet society from the development and state of effectiveness of formal institutions, as well as the ideological and value attitude of Kazakhstan society to the fundamental principles of the rule of law, formal equality and social justice The authors separately highlight the dependence of legal protection of a weak subject on the extent to which Kazakhstan's socio-legal reality realizes: a) the conditionality of a person from society, on the one hand; and b) his natural-biological and cognitive self-sufficiency, on the other. In this context, the authors make some retrospective analysis of the state of natural human rights in Kazakhstan of the Soviet period, reveal the nature and essence of the category "I". According to the authors, the category "I" in post-classical reality is a key element of such self-sufficiency. It is on the basis of their unity that reflection, comprehension and concepts of self-awareness and self-knowledge, self-identity, respect for self and other, society and the state should be built.

The reception of post-Soviet Russian fiction through the peritexts of Finnish translations

ABSTRACT This article is based on research addressing the reception of post-Soviet Russian fiction in the twenty-first century (2000–2023) through Finnish translations and the notions of Russia and Russian literature mediated through them. The investigation of translated fiction draws on imagology, i.e. the study of images and cross-national perceptions in literary representations. Focusing on the peritexts, a subcategory of paratexts coined by Genette (1987/1997), the article investigates book cover texts and publishers’ descriptions of the translated works to find out how the translations are received and introduced to readers of the target culture. The translations comprise 101 books, first translated during 2000–2023. The peritexts were retrieved directly from the printed books or using the search service Finna.fi and publisher websites. The analysis was conducted with help of a computer-assisted qualitative data analysis tool, designed to support inductive, data-driven qualitative analysis. As a result of the analysis, three thematic groups emerging from the peritexts were identified: 1) the portrayal of the (Soviet) Russian past and post-Soviet society as grim, insane and tragic, 2) the emphasis on realism and truthfulness of the image of Russia conveyed by the translations, and 3) praise of the authors’ literary skills.

Becoming a European prisoner: penal reforms and European belonging in Georgia and Estonia

ABSTRACT Over the past three decades many former Soviet states introduced reforms to the penal systems they inherited from socialist regimes. In most countries of the post-Soviet space, these reforms have been depicted by policy-makers as projects of ‘Europeanization’. This article investigates the discursive construction of penal reform in Georgia and Estonia after these countries gained independence. We examine images and practices of punishment and answer two questions: how are post-Soviet penal reforms framed by policy-makers and experienced by prisoners? How is Europeanization of punishment understood in the post-Soviet space? We conduct an analysis of policy discourse and of narratives of people who witnessed these changes while serving prison sentences. We treat images of ‘Europe’ as a discursively produced ideational structure, and analyze how different understandings of punishment are linked to, or pitted against, ideas of Europeanness. We locate our study within the framework of critical approaches to European integration, and introduce the study of punishment to these debates. We show that punishment is not simply another case study of the relations between a European ‘centre’ and its ‘peripheries’, but argue rather that images and practices of ‘European punishment’ create new social hierarchies and fractures in post-Soviet societies.

Этапы большого пути, или Отечественная философия языка второй половины ХХ — начала ХХI века

The article presents the results of the analysis of domestic paradigms of the philosophy of language of the second half of the twentieth – early 21st century. The processes of sequential construction and deconstruction of a series of domestic paradigms of the twentieth century are shown — the ‘new doctrine of language’ (Japhetic theory) (1923–1950), the inter-paradigm period (1950–1956), the ‘new Marxist linguistics’ (1957–1993) and the post–paradigm period (the end of the 90s of the twentieth century – the first quarter of the XXI century). Science is pushed forward not only by the discovery of new facts, but also a new look at old facts. The philosophical, political, national and linguistic problems faced by the government and scientific processes in the twentieth century are described in connection with various aspects of the life of Soviet and post-Soviet society, primarily with language policy. The appeal to the history of the philosophy of language in Russia is intended to help realize the internal logic and continuity of the development of the modern linguistic political culture of the country.

Socialism and the Modernization Hypothesis

In Europe, people from post-Soviet countries tend to hold more negative attitudes toward immigration than people from Western societies. This pattern is also evident in the former East and West Germany. In line with the modernization hypothesis, previous research shows that worldviews have become more liberal across generations in Western societies over the last century. This study examines whether such processes of liberalization have taken place at a different pace in Western societies and in post-Soviet societies. To this end, I assess whether changes in attitudes toward immigration across birth cohorts differ between residents of post-Soviet countries and inhabitants of other types of welfare states. Using data from the European Social Survey, the German Socio-Economic Panel Study, and the German General Social Survey, this study shows that the pattern of later-born cohorts holding more liberal attitudes toward immigration is less pronounced in post-Soviet states than in other types of welfare states. These findings have implications for research on attitude change over time and the long-term persistence of communist practices, behaviors, values, and norms.

КУЛЬТУРНО-КОННОТИРОВАННАЯ ЛЕКСИКА ПЕРИОДА ПЕРЕСТРОЙКИ В ПЕРЕВОДЕ РАССКАЗА ВИКТОРА ПЕЛЕВИНА «ДЕВЯТЫЙ СОН ВЕРЫ ПАВЛОВНЫ» НА АНГЛИЙСКИЙ ЯЗЫК

The article is devoted to the study of the translating techniques applied by the English publisher and translator Andrew Bromfield while dealing with the vocabulary with culture specific connotation of Perestroika period in the novel “Vera Pavlovna’s Ninth Dream” by V. Pelevin. The works by V.Pelevin abound in various allusions to the life of Soviet and post-Soviet society, which may cause a lot of trouble to the translator in the process of translating them into English. In turn, in case of mistakes or distortions in the process of translation, these allusions and realia of Soviet life may become a barrier in understanding the translated work by the foreign language reader. The article makes the distinction between such important notions as realia, terms and lexical gap. The authors analyse translating techniques applied by the translator such as selecting absolute and relative equivalents, contextual description of lexical gap, calques, generalization, concretization, descriptive method. The article demonstrates that the translator has to deal with two things at once – deciphering the text of V. Pelevin and translating it into English.

LINGUOSYNERGETIC VECTOR OF STUDYING CONTEMPORARY UKRAINIAN DISCOURSE (ON THE MATERIAL OF “VOROSHILOGRAD” BY SERHIY ZHADAN)

This study delves into the linguosynergetic approach to analyzing language within contemporary Ukrainian discourse, specifically through the lens of Serhiy Zhadan’s novel “Voroshilovgrad”. In this context, language is perceived as a complex adaptive system, characterized by nonlinear interactions and self-organization. By employing principles of linguosynergetics, such as open systems, non-linearity, self-organization, and bifurcations, the research uncovers the mechanisms through which language evolves in response to varying socio-cultural environments. The novel “Voroshilovgrad” serves as a quintessential example of this dynamic process. Through its narrative, the novel captures the essence of a society in flux, where linguistic elements are not merely passive conveyors of meaning but active participants in the creation of rich and multifaceted literary concepts. The concepts exemplify how language and culture are intertwined, each influencing and shaping the other in a continuous feedback loop. By integrating the principles of linguosynergetics, this study not only enhances our understanding of Zhadan’s work but also contributes to the broader field of linguistics and literary studies. It showcases the relevance of linguosynergetics in analyzing literary texts, particularly in contexts marked by rapid social and cultural transformations. Through this approach, the research underscores the intricate relationship between language and culture, affirming the significance of linguistic studies in interpreting and understanding the evolving narratives of post-Soviet societies. In sum, this study offers valuable insights into the dynamic processes through which language and culture interact, evolve, and coalesce to form the rich tapestry of contemporary Ukrainian discourse.

Рецензіяна монографію Баталіної Христини Фрідріхівни «Дитина як втілення зла у фільмах жахівдругої половини ХХ–початку ХХІ сторіччя»

H. F. Batalina's monograph is devoted to the problem of creating the image of a child as the embodiment of evil in horror films of the second half of the 20th - beginning of the 20th century. The topic formulates an important problem, primarily of a moral and psychological nature. The relevance of the work lies in the fact that "a certain niche, currently unfilled in the Ukrainian cultural space, is being explored in a situation where Ukrainian cinema is beginning to take steps to meet the audience and enter wide distribution with genre films" [p. 22 of the manuscript]. H.F. Batalina points out that "the study of the problem of the child as a cinematographic object, except for a few exceptions, is not developed in the scientific film literature, although such a need is increasingly expressed as one of its important tasks" [p. 22 of the manuscript]. It should be added to the above that the research is also relevant because the image of a child in horror films is not a norm for post-Soviet society, is not inherent in the culture of modern Ukraine, but is planted by cultural traditions of Western countries (for example, the planting of the Halloween holiday). Therefore, the research of H.F. Batalina allows us to understand where and why other traditions appear in the culture of Ukrainians. We are convinced that the degree of validity of scientific statements, conclusions and prospects for solving the problem of finding archetypal and semiotic during the creation of the image of children in films of the horror genre, which is reflected in the monograph, has a sufficient level to recommend the above-mentioned scientific work for publication. We consider the specification of the categorical and terminological apparatus of film horror based on the philosophical and aesthetic aspects of the problem to be an important achievement of H. F. Batalina's research. We respect H. F. Batalina's confident attempt to offer the scientific community an author's vision of the paradigm of genre features of horror films. Time will demonstrate the functionality of the proposed features, and reveal the shortcomings and dominant advantages of such a paradigm. Since we are followers of the principle of Karl Popper's fallibilism (in the understanding of the concept of "fallibilism" by Charles Peirce), which implies the axiom that any scientific knowledge is fundamentally not final, but only an intermediate interpretation of the truth, which involves the subsequent replacement by a better interpretation, we assert: the author's vision of the paradigm of genre features of the horror film has the right to exist and needs further practical verification, which, in our opinion, is already a victory for scientists. F. Batalina and the victory of scientific thought in the field. The monograph is made at a sufficient scientific level, contains important theoretical provisions and has practical significance. We have an individual, theoretically and operationally supported research position that contributes to the formation of modern theory.

Police and protest in the digital age – a post-Soviet comparison of citizen-police relations

ABSTRACT Technological change has brought a new dimension to the interaction between civic protest and policing in post-Soviet societies. Social media has had a revolutionary impact on protests during the last decade, mobilising citizens to resist state corruption and despotism, notably in states like Armenia, the Republic of Moldova and Belarus. Enhanced surveillance techniques and new communication channels have, at the same time, changed policing techniques and the modes of interaction between citizens and the police. This article examines the dynamics of transformed protest and policing practices, particularly of public order police, in the context of digitisation and social/political protest and change. It sheds light on the transformation of citizen-police relations and, ultimately, on the repercussions this has on the respective polities. The principal findings of the paper reveal that digital technology has been an important element in the evolution of practices of policing and police reform across the region. Yet, it is only one aspect of many in the somewhat divergent development of citizen-police relations. So far, it has produced rather negative effects instead of having been conducive to the mentality and ethos of the police. The disconnect between people and the police remains large in societies across the region.

Devoid Elites and the Need for a New Elite Configuration: An Analysis of Post-Soviet Societies on the Example of Azerbaijan

This paper provides a comprehensive study of the Azerbaijani ruling elites. This study aims to describe the post-Soviet Azerbaijani elites, their interaction, and their influence to elaborate a basis for studying the impact on the government and the economy. The study focuses on the definition and origin of the Azerbaijani elites after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the analysis of their interactions, and the definition of behavior and hierarchy. The study relies on Higley and Burton’s (2006) elite configurations framework and Wedel’s (2003) concept of clans. It draws on qualitative analysis and applies analytical autoethnographic approaches to analyze and interpret the information received. The study used data from 113 informal dialogue interviews with those who worked closely with the elite and the elite representatives. These data provided detailed descriptions of their life and behavior in Central Asia and the South Caucasus. The total number of respondents was 1,817 people. Not all elites have equal access to power. Some, called “hyperagents,” control most decisions. Others, whom the author defines as “devoid elites”, have very little or no real power, although they have some privileges that the elites are endowed with in society. The researcher proposes a new elite configuration entitled “imposed unity elites”, which better describes the majority of Azerbaijani elites. This elite configuration implies the existence and behavior of devoid elites. It also describes elites that seem to be united in public but lacks any basic ideology or common goals. The research contributes to the further development of Higley and Burton’s (2006) framework of elite configurations and the theory of the influence of elites. The possible application of the obtained research results will allow scientists to better understand the development characteristics of the elite configuration in the post-Soviet space and their impact on the state.

Islamic legal culture in Uzbekistan

There was a widespread euphoria in the 1990s that introducing Western-style legal institutions and traditions would play a pivotal role in promoting the rule of law and democratization in post-Soviet societies. Like other post-Soviet states, Uzbekistan has become a ‘laboratory’ for testing various global (Western) good governance and rule of law initiatives. As a result of these interventions, Uzbekistan’s legal system represents a peculiar blend of Western and Soviet legal cultures: Western” from the “law in books” perspective (when we analyze its written laws and regulations) and “Soviet” from the “law in action” perspective (when observing how laws are applied and enacted by state institutions and officials). However, one dormant but highly salient legal order overlooked in the literature on Uzbekistan is the legacy of Islamic legal culture. With this in mind, this article explores the legacy and context of Islamic legal culture in Uzbekistan. I argue that the more the focus moves from state-centered understandings of law to ethnographic analyses of everyday life and micro-level social processes and structures, the more it becomes discernible that Islam serves as a legal order in Uzbekistan. These processes will be explored through the ethnographic study of mahallas (neighborhood communities) in Ferghana, Uzbekistan.

Islamic Higher Education as a Part of Kazakhs’ Cultural Revival

Kazakhstan is currently going through a phase of national and cultural renaissance. This began in the 90s when political and spiritual independence had been obtained. The process of national or cultural revival entails a shift in the paradigm, a reevaluation of prior ideas, and a return to long-forgotten customs, beliefs, or traditions that are distinctive to contemporary Kazakhstani culture. Undoubtedly, a return to religious origins via freedom from the burden of the Soviet ideology of atheism and the expansion of Islamic education is the fundamental trend in the development of national-cultural awareness. Kazakhstan has experienced a spiritual vacuum because of the rapid shift from the ban on religion to religious freedom. This has resulted in a surge in the number of religious denominations and religious organizations in the nation and the emergence of radical movements. The issue is particularly significant for the post-USSR nations that are now experiencing hardships. Evidence of this is shown in two ways: (1). many people in the CIS countries have begun to show a keen interest in religious values and traditions, and (2). new sociopolitical and socio-cultural realities brought about by the fall of communism and the dissolution of the USSR have sparked the growth of national consciousness and altered spiritual guiding principles in the post-Soviet society, particularly in Kazakhstani society. The establishment of relations with the Muslim and non-Muslim world has incorporated the opening of borders, allowed missionaries to enter freely, and allowed current citizens to go abroad for religious education and general education in both religious and non-religious-oriented countries. In addition, the liberal legislation in relation to religion in general in the early 2000s opened up new horizons for representatives of religious and pseudo-religious communities. Therefore, religious education, namely Islamic, given that population of the state is predominantly Muslim, is an absolute necessity.

Post-Soviet Societies and the World of the Everyday Life of the Udis: Features of Formation of New Identity

Introduction. The radical transformations of recent decades have significantly changed the lives of ethnic groups like the Udis. Due to their small numbers and poor degree of protection, ethnic groups are the first to feel tension, crises, and conflicts in society, the sequelae of political, social, economic, and cultural modernization, and growing risks and threats in the global world. Methods. The systematic method made it possible to determine the contradictory and conflicting nature of modernization taking place in post-Soviet societies. The dialectical approach, the principle of unity in diversity, as well as the synergetic approach have revealed ambiguity, dynamism, and conflict in the emergence of both ethnic and general cultural identity. Analysis. Studies of the real state of post-Soviet societies have shown the unbalanced and diffuse nature of modernization, the ambiguity of the present, and uncertainty of the future. Considering the Volgograd region, the authors point out relatively stable interethnic and interdenominational relations. Simultaneously, it was revealed that the absence of a national ideology and common objectives and values problematize the issues of the joint existence of nations and ethnic groups, and hamper the search for a common cultural identity. Results. The paper reveals the complex nature of the dynamics of heterogeneous Russian society and the inadequacy of calls for unity and integration of peoples while the society continues to be fragmented, polarized, and its citizens being alienated and atomized. The agenda for national minorities and ethnic groups includes issues of determining genuine national interests by the authorities, the formation of an all-Russian identity, and patriotism as the basis of stability and sustainable development of the country. The complex environment of social communication is replete with various multifaceted processes and influences that will allow representatives of ethnic groups to become carriers of common rules, common moral norms, and cultural meanings, values, traditions and customs. Authors’ contribution. As a representative of the Udis ethnic group, R.A. Danakari considered the sociopolitical existence of his native ethnic group. The author argues convincingly that modern forms and types of modernization destroy the “life world” and traditions of most Udis, leading to marginalization, i.e., loss of origins and roots, as well as assimilation and acculturation. V.Yu. Podurueva-Miloevich focused on the political dynamics and psychological characteristics of the rapid transformation of the modern world. As a result, the author reveals the inability of most minor ethnic groups to adapt to postmodernity, to make the transition to a new identity, and to achieve self-realization.

Teacher and power: the evolution of professional requirements in the 1920–1930s

The study of the initial Soviet stage of the general education history is important both for understanding the transformative processes in the Soviet society as a whole, and for comparing the Soviet and post-Soviet societies. This issue is particularly topical due to the fact that, in accordance with the decree of the President of Russia, 2023 has been declared the Year of Teacher and Mentor. Having defined the impact of the state on the formation of priorities for professional activities in general education as the subject of research, the author highlights the educational and pedagogic course of work. An analysis of archival documents stored in the funds of the State Archive of Recent History of the Saratov Region was carried out. 1918 - 1941 Documents were studied within the framework of two historical periods. The first period started with the adoption of the "On a unified labor school" provision and ended in 1930 with return to stable programs and textbooks, the second period started in 1930 and ended with the beginning of World War II (1941). As a result of the study, it was found that loyalty to the content of educational programs in the twenties was replaced by increased control in the thirties. This period is characterized by the of teachers activities monitoring expansion that included student performance, the sanitary condition of schools, the school staff performance, assessment of the calligraphy rules observing by teachers when putting grades in students notebooks. Educational work remained a priority, since the curriculum in any discipline was associated with the communist education. The socialist competition in the school became a tool for controlling the professional activities of teachers. Educational institutions were involved in the socialist completion along with industrial enterprises. For schools the competition combined both vectors of teachers activities control and educational and pedagogic work in one tool. The widespread practice of ignoring the fulfillment of socialist competition conditions testifies to its visibility. The data, stored in the regional archive, on cases of conscious violation of the established work order, socialist competition imitation confirm that.

La concretezza come procedimento. Contributo per una storia di Memorial

The present article offers a brief history of the Russian non-governmental organisation Memorial, a recent winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, from its origins in the 1980s to the present day. It also proposes an attempt to create a bibliography which could be used for a larger monographic volume, a more detailed work capable of going into more detail about the founding instances of the most important cultural movement of resistance in Russian and post-Soviet society. The nearly simultaneous invasion of Ukraine and the banning of Memorial make the publication of such a work urgent. It would not only outline the organisation’s development but also become a manifesto of concrete common action for a new Europe arising at the end of the conflict, which could thrive on the shared themes of historical memory and the defense of civil rights

The role of Silicon Valley in modern geopolitical processes. Challenges for post-Soviet States

The present work is devoted to the topical topic of the role of technoparks in the modern globalization processes of the world and national economy. This is far from an accidental fact, since the specific structure of the modern world order poses special challenges to the societies of the post-Soviet space. The prospects for their development and equal participation in modernization processes depend on their ability to meet new requirements. In this regard, its driving mechanisms, affecting almost all states and societies, require deep rethinking and careful analysis. The paper pays special attention to the phenomenon of "silicon valleys", the role of science in the USA and the countries of Southeast Asia, and makes a comparative analysis of their specific features. Based on the data obtained, the degree of lag of post–Soviet societies will be determined, measures to overcome it are proposed, first of all, by reforming the educational system and science, which automatically put the human factor and intellectual capital in the first place. The work uses an interdisciplinary approach of socio-humanitarian disciplines, in particular, socio–cultural anthropology, semantics, structural, comparative analysis, on the basis of which the problems of post–Soviet societies are identified, modern modernization and globalization processes are analyzed. The work is aimed at a wide range of readers interested in the phenomenon of "silicon valleys", as well as scientists in the fields of politics, law, sociology, economics, cultural anthropology.

The Post-Soviet period in the history of tourism development in Russia: cardinal transformations and features of development

The object of this study is the history of tourism development in Russia. The subject of the study is the factors and features of the development of Russian tourism in the post–Soviet period (from 1991 to the present). On the basis of documentary and literary sources, the factors and features of tourism development in Russia after the collapse of the unified tourist space of the USSR are characterized. Tourism is considered in the context of socio-economic transformations of post-Soviet society, in the context of changing the geopolitical position of Russia, strengthening the role of cultural and natural heritage as a resource for spatial economic development. The main conclusions of the study are: the main factors of the post-Soviet period of tourism development in Russia were the close attention of business, government, science and education to the field of tourism activity. The main contribution of the authors to the study of the topic: the periodization of the development of Russian tourism of the first thirty years of the post-Soviet era, the characteristics of each of the periods, the identification of the specifics of the use of pre-revolutionary and Soviet cultural heritage in tourism, new cultural objects and traditions of the post-Soviet period. The novelty of the study is to identify the main features and main stages of tourism development in post-Soviet Russia. The main aspects of scientific research in tourism are considered and the contribution of representatives of various sciences is revealed. The role of the import substitution trend in the development of domestic tourism and in the implementation of the Spatial Development Strategy of Russia is shown. The first results of understanding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the development of Russian tourism are presented. The research is based on historical-genetic, historical-geographical, problem-analytical and retrospective methods, as well as the method of system-structural analysis. It is shown that tourism of the post-Soviet period has become an actively developing branch of the economy, involving various groups of the population in its sphere, contributing to the search for regional brands and new opportunities for using cultural heritage objects in tourism activities.

Notes from the “Yellow House”. The Case of A. A. Zinoviev

The outstanding thinker Alexander Zinoviev encountered in his life the unique experience of fi rst losing all his academic degrees and ranks and then their reinstatement. In both cases it was he initiative of the Institute of Philosophy at the Soviet Academy of Sciences (in 1976 and 1990), where Alexander Zinoviev also worked until 1976. The documentary history of those events re-constructed on the basis of the archival materials, allows to add substantial facts to the scientifi c biography of the thinker. This also demonstrates the moral and psychological atmosphere and specifi cs of the scientifi c discussions and decisions in the institute of philosophy in various historical periods. The institute is of interest as a representational organization of academic science, as well as colorful social and cultural phenomenon of the Soviet and post-Soviet society.