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SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH

TITLE

Transformation of Ideas and Meaning of Labor: from the Cult of Labor to the Cult of Consumption (an Experience of Historical and Sociological Analysis). Part I

Zhan T. Toshchenko

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INDEX

RAR (Research Article Report)

JEL J08

https://doi.org/10.52180/1999-9836_2025_21_2_8_274_286

AUTHOR

Zhan T. Toshchenko

The Russian State University for Humanities, Moscow, Russia

Institute of Sociology - Branch of the Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

OCRID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7729-3660

SPIN-code: 7025-0028

RSCI AuthorID: 1382

Researcher ID: R-4569-2016

Scopus Author ID: 6507646287

FOR CITATION

Toshchenko Z.T. Transformation of Ideas and Meaning of Labor: from the Cult of Labor to the Cult of Consumption (an Experience of Historical and Sociological Analysis). Part I. Uroven' Zhizni Naseleniya Regionov Rossii=Living Standards of the Population in the Regions of Russia. 2025;21(2):274-286. https://doi.org/10.52180/1999-9836_2025_21_2_8_274_286 (In Russ.)

Abstract

The article reveals the historical aspect of the emergence of the concepts of "work", "labor" for understanding their meaning at various stages of human development. The main attention is paid to the transformation of the state and public recognition of the role of labor in the USSR / Russia in the twentieth century. It is shown how a fundamentally new attitude to labor of people directly involved in the process of its implementation was formed both during the period of creation and formation of a new socialist society, and during the functioning of the mobilization economy, and then in the years of trials - during the Great Patriotic War. The role of the state in changing the attitude to labor is determined, which was reflected in its economic and social policy. The article shows the ways of solving a strategically important task - the formation and formation of the cult of labor, which gradually developed in the Soviet Union. The process of its formation, enrichment and transformation into an effective force for the construction and transformation of a new type of social structure - a socialist society is described and explained. Both positive and problematic situations in the attitude to labor of various social and class groups, as well as ways of resolving emerging contradictions are considered. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of new forms of labor organization in accordance with the needs of each stage in the development of Soviet society, the forms and methods of motivating workers to productive work, the search for creative abilities and their implementation, as well as ways to overcome the contradictions that arise in the process of achieving the goal of creating an industrial power, which was created by 1941, when the Great Patriotic War began and it was necessary to restructure many aspects of the life of society and people, including in the labor sphere.

Keywords

USSR, Russia, labor, culture, economy, employment, working class, peasantry, intelligentsia

Acknowledgments:

the work was supported by the grant of the Russian Science Foundation No. 23-18-00093

AUTHOR'S BIOGRAFY

Zhan T. Toshchenko

Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Scientific Director of the Sociology Department, Russian State Humanitarian University, Chief Researcher, Institute of Sociology - Branch of the Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences

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