Not Eternal, But Pretty Durable: Class, Habitus, and Wartime Survival in the Blockade of Leningrad

• In Event: 078 - Section on Sociology of Culture Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 03. Material Culture Network

Abstract

This paper addresses two subjects: 1) the debate over rational choice versus culturally condi-tioned practices, and 2) the dynamics and social forces shaping survival tactics in the Blockade of Leningrad. Following Pierre Bourdieu’s work on habitus and fields, and appreciating the im-portance of social context and structure, we provide an overview of variation in survival logics (epitomized through actual practices and rhetoric) across “class” (for which we use a Weberian understanding). For this study we use diary account and recollections, complemented by addi-tional data from Party and state investigations. This preliminary investigation suggests that class matters, providing fairly consistent differences in survival practices, their justifications, and normative claims about survival and social life in the Blockade.

Author

• Jeffrey Hass, 1) University of Richmond, 2) St. Petersburg State University