THE ORIGINS OF POST-SECULARITY IN RUSSIA: HISTORICAL AND SOCIAL ASPECTS
D.A. Tsyplakov
Novosibirsk State University, 2, Pirogova Str., Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia
Keywords: Secularization, religion, church, state, Petrine stage of secularization, the Soviet stage of secularization, de-secularization, post-secular society
Abstract
This paper intends to describe the ideological stages in the process of secularization in Russia that have led to the formation of a post-secular society. To achieve that goal the author sets and solves several tasks: explaining the stages of secularization process, identifying the key features of the “Petrine phase” of secularization; investigating the parameters of Soviet secular society. Analysis of the reasons for the emergence of de-secularization is provided. The processes of secularization and de-secularization are illustrated with a sociological interview, reflecting the period from the 1920s up to the present. Therefore, the paper offers an analysis of the historical and social aspects of ideological secularism in Russia; outlines the steps in this process up to (and including) the Soviet period. As a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union’s secular project, religion once again was incorporated into the structure of the Russian society’s life-world. The methodological basis of the article was provided by post-secular approaches to the historical and sociological study of religion. The author comes to several conclusions: ideological secularization was completed as a results of successful and effective establishment of Soviet ideology. Ideological indoctrination started at a pre-school stage and extended through all stages of schooling. It continued at the secondary and high education levels being supported by the Soviet mass-media, literature and arts. In effect, as a result of this indoctrination purified atheistic world view was formed with the horizontal transcendence of a “bright communist future” and the vertical transcendence of the cult of soviet leaders. As an illustration of these ideas, the sociological interview is analyzed in the final part of the paper. It shows that the results of Soviet secularization at the micro-sociological level were unstable due to the lack of crucial elements in the world-view provided by the Soviet ideology.
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