Attitude of Moscow youth to the 1917 Revolutionary events in Russia

Attitude of Moscow youth to the 1917 Revolutionary events in Russia


Davydov S.G.

Cand. Sci. (Phil.), Assoc. Prof., Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Communications, Media and Design, National Research University “Higher School of Economics”, Moscow, Russia. sdavydov@hse.ru

Logunova O.S.

Cand. Sci. (Sociol.), Assoc. Prof. of the Department of Sociology, Faculty of the Social Sciences, National Research University “Higher School of Economics”, Moscow, Russia. ologunova@hse.ru

ID of the Article:


For citation:

Davydov S.G., Logunova O.S. Attitude of Moscow youth to the 1917 Revolutionary events in Russia. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2018. No 4. P. 153-160




Abstract

The Great October Revolution in 1917 is ambiguously evaluated by historians as well as modern Russian citizens. Interest for the historical affairs is largely connected with the social issues of the present period. The attitude of Moscow young residents studied at the post-Soviet period (age group 15–30) to the 1917 Russian history became a subject of qualitative survey conducted by the authors in 2015. The method of focus groups discussion with projective techniques was used. The opinions on the place of the 1917 Revolution in the Russian history of the XX century and level of knowledge of events and their major actors are analyzed. It was revealed that young Muscovites consider the events of 1917 as most important and ambiguous. Their knowledge of historical persons of the period is fragmentary and incomplete. Special attention in the survey was given to the sources of information, which is important in the context of medialization of history. In addition to lessons, lectures and textbooks, important role belongs to online media, mass culture sources (movies, books, theatre, exhibitions, etc.), as well as to significant others.


Keywords
historical awareness; discussion focus groups; projective techniques; Russian 1917 Revolution; Moscow youth

References

Belanovskiy S.A. (2001) Method of Focus Groups. Moscow: Nikkolo-Media. (In Russ.)

Gerasimov O.V. (2015) Historical Experience as an Experience of the Past: Contentsand Structure. Izvestia Samarskogo Nauchnogo Centra Rossijskoj Akademii Nauk [Proceedings of the Samara Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences]. Vol. 17. No. 1: 188–191. (In Russ.)

Gudkov L.D. (2005) Was Memory and Mass Identity of Russians. Neprikosnovennyj Zapas [Emergency Reserve]. No. 2–3 (40–41). URL: http://magazines.russ.ru/nz/2005/2/gu5.html (accessed 31.07.2017). (In Russ.)

Davydov S.G., Logunova O.S. (2013) Historical Characters in the Information Programs by the Leading Russian TV Channels. Artikul’t. Nauchnyy elektronnyy zhurnal Fakul’teta Istorii Iskusstva Rossiyskogo gosudarstvennogo gumanitarnogo universiteta [ArtiCult. Scientific online magazine of Faculty of History of Art of Russian State Humanitarian University]. No. 3: 71–76. (In Russ.)

Dzialoshinskiy I.M, Pilgun M.A. (2016) The 1917 Events in the Linguistic Consciousness of Moscow Students. Filologiya i kul’tura [Philology and Culture]. No. 3: 18–29. (In Russ.)

Isaev E.M. (2015) Historical Policy in Russia: Representation of Stalin Period in Popular Cinema. Zhurnal issledovaniy sotsial’noy politiki [The Journal of Social Policy Studies]. Vol. 13. No. 3: 391–406. (In Russ.)

Isaev E.M., Pozhidaeva I.V. (2016) Popular History in Modern Russia: Myths, Images and Representations of the Past in Sports Historic Movie. Gumanitarnyy vektor. Seriya: Istoriya. Politologiya [Humanitarian Vector. Series: History. Poliyiology]. Vol. 11. No. 4: 128–136. (In Russ.)

Qualitative Methods: an Introduction to Humanist Sociology: Textbook for university students. (1998) Moscow: Dobrosvet. (In Russ.)

Lapina-Kratasuk E.G. (2014) Affects of History: Stories about the Past in Film and Television. Artikul’t. Nauchnyy elektronnyy zhurnal Fakul’teta Istorii Iskusstva Rossiyskogo gosudarstvennogo gumanitarnogo universiteta [ArtiCult. Scientific online magazine of Faculty of History of Art of Russian State Humanitarian University]. No. 4: 6–13. (In Russ.)

Sidorova A.A. (2017) The Image of a Typical Citizen in the Perception of Modern Students on the Background of the 1917 Events. Gumanitarnyy traktat [Humaniyarian Tractate]. No. 11:165–193. (In Russ.)

Slizovskiy D.E., Medvedev N.P., Shulenina N.V., Kashin M.V. (2017) Reseach Project: the Attitude of Youth Towards 1917 Revolution and if it will Affect on the Presedential Elections in 2018. Voprosy politologii [Issues of Political Science]. No. 1: 8–22. (In Russ.)

Thesaurus of Sociology. Book 2. Methodology and Methods of Sociological Research: Thematic dictionary. (2013) Ed. by Toshenko Zh.T. Moscow: UNITY-DANA. (In Russ.)

Thompson P. (2003) The Voice of the Past. Oral History. Moscow: Izdatelstvo «Ves’ Mir». (In Russ.)

White H. (2002) Metahistory (The Historical Imagination in Nineteenth-Century Europe). Ekaterinburg: Izdatelstvo Uralskogo Universiteta. (In Russ.)

Content No 4, 2018