Identity Transformation in Recreational Practices under the Late Socialism

• In Event: Embodied Practices as Sites of Interpretation and Recreation

Abstract

This paper explores how the exchange of ideas between Eastern and Western Europe among other factors, contributed to the political desolation of Soviet society through the study of leisure practices. Socialist recreation practices as a liminal zone served multiple purposes among the engaged actors: educational and ideological needs for the state, and acquiring Western materials in the form of music, fashion, and print-run, combined with social dynamics towards an apolitical nature. The Soviet official music scene (estrada), disco evenings, and amateur art clubs as venues for youth recreation — illustrates how leisure, cultural, and educational practices stood at the intersection between the social dynamics and the governmental response towards them. Given that the current ruling elite took shape during the late Soviet era, we can trace the lasting effects of this formation in post-Soviet countries and the ways in which social and political stances on leisure outlived the communist regime.

Author

• Ekaterina K