The Opposition "Own-Alien" as a Paradigm for the Constructionof Socio-Cultural Identity: Soviet-Russian Contexts

Abstract

The purpose of the article is an attempt to illustrate the opposition "own-alien" as the basic paradigm of the formation of both Soviet and modern Russian socio-cultural identity that especially become relevant against the background of the full-scale Russian incursion to Ukraine and the strengthening of bipolar attitudes in world geopolitics. The methodology of the research is based on the combination of general scientific and interdisciplinary methodological tools. In particular, observation, questionnaires, narrative interview, statistical analysis, content analysis, cross-cultural and sociocultural analysis, the theory of generations by V. Strauss and N. Houwa, the theory of post-materialism by R. Inglehart, the primordialist, constructivist and instrumentalist concept of ethnicity, etc. It is primarily about the need to free ourselves from the dichotomous theoretical-methodological approach characteristic of the Soviet and partly post-Soviet socio-scientific discourse.The scientific novelty of the work consists in summarizing scientific works and the results of multi-year field studies on this problem. Also, through the prism of comparing the peculiarities of the construction of Soviet and modern Russian identity in the paradigm of "self-alien" to consider the potential risks for the further formation of Ukrainian socio-cultural identity. Conclusions. The relevance of the outlined topic is important in both scientific and social discourses. Russian propaganda in the occupied territories seeks to change the socio-cultural identity, above all, of the young generation, imposing a bipolar worldview on them. And for the older generations – resuscitates the "Soviet" way of life. A comparative analysis of the Soviet and Putin's ideological systems will highlight the ways and tools of resistance to the Russian information and psychological operation.