Contradictions of the Soviet Theory of Ethnos:
The History of the Concept and its Prospects

B. E. Wiener

List of issues > «Geoarchaeology, Ethnology, and Anthropology Series». 2022. Vol 40

Contradictions of the Soviet Theory of Ethnos: The History of the Concept and its Prospects

Full text (russian)

Author(s)

B. E. Wiener

Abstract

The article discusses why the concept of ‘ethnos’ originated in the Russian Empire, and then in the second half of the 20th century, was developed in the USSR. The revival of the concept of ‘ethnos’ in the 1940s was caused by the need to solve such an applied problem as the drawing of post-war borders in post-war Eastern Europe. Later, Soviet ethnos theorists tried to combine incompatible Marxist ideas about the social class nature of society with the idea of an ‘ethnos’, close to Weber's understanding of an ethnic group, as a group with a specific culture and identity. At the turn of the 1980-1990s discussions began about the crisis of Soviet/Russian ethnology, primarily in the explanation of ethnicity, and several theorists suggested reorienting to the constructivist approach to ethnicity, which became dominant in English speaking science. The author considers the modern constructivist approach to ethnicity to be exhausted, since it failed to explain why members of ethnic minorities often prefer to self-identify with their ethnic ancestors more than with the states of which they are citizens, despite the efforts of states to reverse this orientation. It seems appropriate to abandon attempts to tie the ethnos to the social class structure of a particular socio-economic formation, that is, to abandon the concepts of ‘nation’ and ‘nationality’ (‘narodnost’). In theoretical terms, it makes sense to rely on the criticalrealist theory developed by sociologists and representatives of other social sciences, which makes it possible to show the derivativeness of identities from structural and cultural factors and the reverse effect of identities on them. The use of the concept of ‘ethnos’ within the framework of such an approach has the advantage that it can describe the mechanism that leads to the possibility of the long-term existence of ethnic groups as important components of the social structure of society. Such a mechanism is the intergenerational transmission of ethnic identity, the core of which is ethnic self-identification, due to mono-ethnic marriages. And the most salient feature of this mechanism includes ideas of members of ethnic communities that ethnicity is associated with the ethnic origin of people and is transmitted, as it were, by inheritance from parents to children.

About the Authors

Wiener Boris Efimovich, Candidate of Sciences (Sociology), Senior Researcher, Sociological Institute of FCTAS RAS; 25/14, 7th Krasnoarmeiskaya st., St. Petersburg, 195000, Russian Federation, e-mail: wienerras@yandex.ru

For citation

Wiener B. E. Contradictions of the Soviet Theory of Ethnos: The History of the Concept and its Prospects. Bulletin of the Irkutsk State University. Geoarchaeology, Ethnology, and Anthropology Series. 2022, Vol. 40, pp. 37–51. https://doi.org/10.26516/2227-2380.2022.40.37 (in Russ.)

Keywords

history of ethnology, theory of ethnos, ethnicity.

UDC

316.3/.4:9(470+571)"19"+39:9(470+571)"19"

DOI

https://doi.org/10.26516/2227-2380.2022.40.37

References

Abashin S. N. Etnograficheskoe znanie i natsionalnoe stroitelstvo v Srednei Azii (“problema sartov” v 19 – nachale 21 v.): diss. dok. ist. nauk [Ethnological Knowledge and National Building in Central Asia (“the Problem of the Sarts” in the 19th – Early 21st Centuries). Doc. histor. sci. diss.]. Мoscow, 2008, 354 p. (In Russ.)

Aleksandrenkov E. G. “Etnicheskoe samosoznanie” ili “etnicheskaya identichnost”? [“Ethnic self-awareness” or “ethnic identity”?].Etnograficheskoe obozrenie [Ethnographic Review]. 1996, Vol. 3, pp. 13–22. (In Russ.)

Alymov S. S. P. I. Kushner i razvitie sovetskoi etnografii v 1920-e – 1950-e gody [P. I. Kushner and the Development of Soviet Ethnology in the 1920s – 1950s]. Moscow, IEA Publ., 2006, 256 p. (In Russ.)

Alymov S. S. Ukrainskie korni teorii etnosa [Ukrainian roots of the theory of ethnos]. Etnograficheskoe obozrenie [Ethnographic Review]. 2017, Vol. 5, pp. 67–84. (In Russ.)

Alymov S. S., Arzyutov D. V. Marksistskaya etnologiya za sem dnei: soveshchanie etnografov Moskvy i Leningrada i diskussii v sovetskikh sotsialnykh naukakh v 1920–1930-е gody [Marxist ethnology in seven days: a meeting of ethnologists of Moscow and Leningrad and discussions in Soviet social sciences in the 1920– 1930s]. Ot klassikov k marksizmu: soveshchanie etnografov Moskvy i Leningrada (5–11 aprelya 1929 g.) [From the Classics to Marxism: A Meeting of Ethnologists of Moscow and Leningrad (5–11 April, 1929)]. St. Petersburg, 2014, pp. 21–90. (In Russ.)

Alymov S. S., Anderson D. G., Arzyutov D. V. Etnos Thinking in the Long Twentieth Century. Life Histories of Etnos Theory in Russia and Beyond. Cambridge, UK, Open Book Publishers, 2019, pp. 21–75.

Andrєєv V. M. Vіktor Petrov. Narisi іntelektualnoї bіografії vchenogo [Viktor Petrov. Essays on the Intellectual Biography of the scholar]. Dnipropetrovsk, Gerda Publ., 2012, 472 p. (In Ukrainian)

Archer M. S. Realist Social Theory: the Morphogenetic Approach. Cambridge, UK, New York, Cambridge University Press, 1995, xii, 354 p.

Arzyutov D. V. Antropolog ili politik? Politicheskie pristrastiya i teoreticheskie postroeniya Sergeya Shirokogorova [Politician or anthropologist? Political predilections and theoretical constructions of Sergei Shirokogorov]. Etnograficheskoe obozrenie [Ethnographic Review]. 2017, Vol. 5, pp. 123–141. (In Russ.)

Arzyutov D. V., Alymov S. S., Anderson D. G. (Eds.). Ot klassikov k marksizmu: soveshchanie etnografov Moskvy i Leningrada (5–11 aprelya 1929 g.) [From the Classics to Marxism: A Meeting of Ethnologists of Moscow and Leningrad (5–11 April, 1929)]. St. Petersburg, MAE RAS Publ., 2014, 511 p. (In Russ.)

Barth F., Gingrich A., Parkin R., Silverman S. One discipline, four ways: British, German, French, and American Anthropology. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2005, ix, 406 p.

Béjin A. Le sang, le sens et le travail: Georges Vacher de Lapouge darwinista social fondateur de l'anthroposociologie [Blood, meaning and work: Georges Vacher de Lapouge social darwinista founder of anthroposociology]. Cahiers Internationaux de Sociologie [International Notebooks of Sociology]. 1982, Vol. 73, Is. 2, pp. 323–343. (In French)

Bromley Yu. V. Etnos i endogamiya [Ethnos and endogamy]. Sovetskaya etnografiya [Soviet Ethnography]. 1969, Vol. 6, pp. 84–91. (In Russ.)

Bromley Yu. V. K kharakteristike poniatiya etnos [To the characterization of the concept of ethnos]. Rasy i narody [Races and Peoples]. Moscow, 1971, Is. 1, pp. 9–33. (In Russ.)

Bromley Yu. V. Etnos and etnografiya [Ethnos and Ethnography]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1973, 283 p. (In Russ.)

Bromley Yu. V. Sovremennye problemy etnografii (ocherki teorii i istorii) [Modern Problems of Ethnography (Essays on Theory and History)]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1981, 390 p. (In Russ.)

Bromley Yu. V. Ocherki teorii etnosa [Essays on the Theory of Ethnos]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1983, 412 p. (In Russ.)

Bromley Yu. V. Etnosotsialnye protsessy: teoriya, istoriya, sovremennost [Ethno-social Processes: Theory, History, Modernity]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1987, 334 p. (In Russ.)

Cheboksarov N. N. Problemy tipologii etnicheskikh obshchnostei v trudakh sovetskikh uchenykh [Problems of the typology of ethnic communities in the works of Soviet scientists]. Sovetskaya etnografiya [Soviet Ethnography]. 1967, Vol. 4, pp. 94–109. (In Russ.)

Gil-White F. J. The cognition of ethnicity: native category systems under the field experimental microscope. Field Methods. 2002, Vol. 14, Is. 2, pp. 161–189.

Greenfield L. Soviet sociology and sociology in the Soviet Union. Annual Review of Sociology. 1988, Vol. 14, pp. 99–123.

Institut etnologii i antropologii im. N. N. MiklukhoMaklaya Rossiiskoi akademii nauk. 80 let [N. N. Miklukho-Maclay Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. 80 years old]. Available at: http://iea-ras.ru/index.php?go=Content&id=13 (date of access 02.07.2019). (In Russ.)

Kharuzin N. Etnografiya. Lektsii, chitannye v Imperatorskom Moskovskom universitete [Ethnography. Lectures delivered at the Imperial Moscow University]. Moscow, Gosudarstvennaya tipografiya Publ., 1901, Is. 1, x, 343 p. (In Russ.)

Knight N. Ethnicity, nationality, and the masses: narodnost’ and modernity in imperial Russia. Russian Modernity: Politics, Knowledge, Practices. UK, Macmillan Press Ltd., 2000, pp. 41–64.

Kozlov V. I. Problema ethnicheskogo samosoznaniya i eyo mesto v teorii etnosa [The problem of ethnic selfconsciousness and its place in the theory of ethnos]. Sovetskaya etnografiya [Soviet Ethnography]. 1974, Vol. 2, pp. 79–92. (In Russ.)

Kozlov V. I. O klassifikatsii etnicheskikh obshchnostei [On the classification of ethnic communities]. Issledovaniya po obshchei etnografii [Studies in General Ethnography (state of the issue)]. Moscow, 1979, pp. 5–23. (In Russ.)

Kryukov M. V. Eshche raz ob istoricheskikh tipakh etnicheskikh obshchnostei [Once again about the historical types of ethnic communities]. Sovetskaya etnografiya [Soviet Ethnography]. 1986, Vol. 3, pp. 58–69. (In Russ.)

Kryukov M. V., Sofronov M. V., Cheboksarov N. N. Drevnie kitaitsy: problemy etnogeneza [Ancient Chinese: Problems of Ethnogenesis]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1978, 342 p. (In Russian).

Kushner (Knyshev) P. I. K metodike opredeleniya etnographicheskikh territorii [On the methodology for determining ethnographic territories]. Sovetskaya etnografiya [Soviet Ethnography]. 1946, Vol. 1, pp. 12–24. (In Russ.)

Kushner (Knyshev) P. I. Uchenie Stalina o natsii i natsionalnoi kulture i ego znachenie dlya etnografii [Stalin's doctrine of the nation and national culture and its significance for ethnology]. Sovetskaya etnografiya [Soviet Ethnography]. 1949, Vol. 4, pp. 3–19. (In Russ.)

Kushner (Knyshev) P. I. Ethnicheskie territorii i etnicheskie granitsy [Ethnic Territories and Ethnic Boundaries]. Moscow, AS USSR Publ., 1951, 145 p. (In Russ.)

Lapouge G. V. de. Les sélections sociales: cours libre de science politique , professé à l'Université de Montpellier (1888–1889) [Social Selections: Free Course in Political Science, Taught at the University of Montpellier (1888–1889)]. Paris, A. Fontemoing, 1896, xii, 503. (In French).

Marr N. Ya. Pravo sobstvennosti po signalizatsii yazyka v sviazi s proiskhozhdeniem mestoimenii [Ownership by language signaling in relation to the origin of pronouns]. Izbrannye raboty [Selected Writings]. Moscow, 1934, T. 3: Yazyk i Obshchestvo [Vol. 3: Language and Society], pp. 180–198. (In Russ.)

Mogilyanskii N. M. Etnografiya i ee zadachi (Po povodu odnoi knigi) [Ethnology and its tasks (Regarding one book)]. Ezhegodnik Russkogo antropologicheskogo obshchestva pri Imperatorskom S.-Peterburgskom universitete [Yearbook of the Russian Anthropological Society at the Imperial St. Petersburg University]. 1908, Vol. 3, pp. 101–114. (In Russ.)

Mogilianskii N. M. Predmet i zadachi etnografii [The subject and tasks of Ethnography]. Zhivaya starina [Living Antiquity]. 1916, Is. 1, pp. 1–22. (In Russ.)

Papillault G. L’anthropologie est-elle une science unique? [Is anthropology a unique science?]. Revue mensuelle de l’ École d’anthropologie de Paris [Monthly Review of the School of Anthropology of Paris]. 1908, 18 (Avril), pp. 117–132. Available at: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/ bpt6k442580m/f130.item (date of access 25.07.2021). (In French)

Park R. E., Burgess E. W. Introduction to the Science of Sociology. Chicago, IL, University of Chicago Press, 1921, xxi, 1040.

Petrov V. P. Yazyk. Etnos. Folklor: avtoref. … kand. fil. nauk [Language. Ethnos. Folklore. Cand. philology sci. syn. diss.]. Kyiv, 1966, 62 p. (In Russ.)

Petrov V. Rasova teorіya na poslugakh germanskogo fashizmu [Race theory in the services for the German fascism]. Rozvidky [Writings]. Kyiv, 2013, Vol. 1, pp. 477–508. (In Ukrainian)

Shirokogoroff S. M. Psychomental Complex of the Tungus. London, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co, 1935, xvi, 469 p.

Shirokogorov S. M. Mesto etnografii sredi nauk i klassifikatsiya etnosov (Vvedenie v kurs etnografii Dalnego Vostoka, prochitannogo v 1921–1922 ak. godu v Dalnevostochnom gosudarstvennom universitete) [The place of ethnography among the Sciences and the classification of Ethnic Groups (Introduction to the course of Ethnography of the Far East, read in 1921–1922 at the Far Eastern State University)]. Etnograficheskie issledovaniya. Kniga pervaya: Izbrannoe [Ethnological Research. Book One: Selected Writings]. Vladivistok, 2001, pp. 93–116. (In Russ.)

Solovei T. D. Iz istorii otechestvennoi etnologii v XIX – nachale XXI veka [From the history of Russian Ethnology in the 19th – early 21st centuries]. Osnovy etnologii [Essentials of Ethnology]. Moscow, 2007, pp. 74–90. (In Russ.)

Stalin I. Natsionalnyi vopros i leninizm. Otvet tovarishcham Meshkovu, Kovalchuku i drugim [The national question and Leninism. Reply to comrades Meshkov, Kovalchuk and others]. Sochineniya [Writings]. Moscow, 1955, Vol. 11, pp. 338–355. (In Russ.)

Thomas W. I., Znaniecky F. The Polish Peasant in Europe and America: Monograph of an American Group. Vol. 1. Boston, Richard G. Badger, The Gorham Press, 1976, xxii, 526 p.

Tokarev S. A. Problema etnicheskikh obshchnostei (K metodicheskim problemam etnografii) [The problem of ethnic communities (On the methodological problems of ethnography)]. Voprosy philosofii [Questions of Philosophy]. 1964, Vol. 11, pp. 43–53. (In Russ.)

Tokarev S. A., Cheboksarov N. N. Metodologiya etnogeneticheskikh issledovanii na materiale etnografii v svete rabot I. V. Stalina po voprosam yazykoznaniya [Methodology of ethnogenetic research on the material of Ethnography in the light of the works of I. V. Stalin on Linguistics]. Sovetskaya etnografiya [Soviet Ethnography]. 1951, Vol. 4, pp. 7–26. (In Russ.)

Weber M. Khozyaistvo i obshchestvo: Ocherki ponimayushchei sotsiologii [Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology]. Moscow, 2017, T. 2. Obshchnosti [Vol. 2: Collectivities], pp. 68–81. (In Russ.)

Wiener B. E. Etnichnost: v poiskakh paradigmy izucheniya [Ethnicity: in search of a paradigm for study].Etnographicheskoe obozrenie [Ethnographic Review]. 1998, Vol. 4, pp. 3–26. (In Russ.)

Wiener B. E., Divisenko K. S. Rossiiskaya etnosotsiologiya: granitsy, issledovatelskie oblasti i issledovatelskie gruppirovaniya [Russian sociology of ethnic relations: boundaries, research areas, and research groupings].Sotsiologiya nauki i tekhnologii [Sociology of Science and Technology]. 2015, Vol. 6, Is. 4, pp. 177–196. (In Russ.)