Dobson, M.J. (2015) The Social Scientist Meets the “Believer”: Discussions of God, the Afterlife, and Communism in the Mid-1960s. Slavic Review, 74 (1). 79 - 103. ISSN 0037-6779
Abstract
In this article, I use the transcripts of interviews carried out under the auspices of the Institute of Scientifi c Atheism in the mid-sixties. Informants were asked about diverse aspects of their religious practice and belief, allowing scholars—both then and now—to consider the nature of Soviet “secularization.” Following Charles Taylor, I suggest that this was not simply “a story of loss, of subtraction”; instead, informants' rather heterodox conceptions of the aft erlife indicate moments of individual creativity. In particular, I fi nd that among the poor and marginalized, visions of the aft erlife sometimes articulated a desire for social equality considered missing from Soviet society. I also probe the Soviet state's problematic dependency on atheism. The regime's legitimacy rested on its claim to ensure progress and modernity, and religion— the epitome of backwardness—was a useful antithesis. The interview was a ritual that enacted the superiority of Soviet values (reason, rationality, and enlightenment). And yet the encounter between atheist-interviewer and “believer” could oft en prove unpredictable, suggesting that the religion-atheism binary was in practice rather more brittle than the authorities might have hoped.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2015 Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies. Reproduced in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Arts and Humanities (Sheffield) > Department of History (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 10 Dec 2015 16:57 |
Last Modified: | 07 Jun 2023 14:58 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.5612/slavicreview.74.1.79 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.5612/slavicreview.74.1.79 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:92021 |