Most Important Elements of the Soviet Theory of Ethnos:
Prospects for Use in Modern Theories of Ethnicity

B. E. Wiener

List of issues > «Geoarchaeology, Ethnology, and Anthropology Series». 2023. Vol 45

Most Important Elements of the Soviet Theory of Ethnos: Prospects for Use in Modern Theories of Ethnicity

Full text (russian)

Author(s)

B. E. Wiener

Abstract

This paper continues the author's previous publication on the Soviet theory of ethnos, considering such elements of this theory as ethnic processes, ethnic self-consciousness, and taxonomic levels of ethnic communities. The paper draws an attention to the fact that the ideas of Russian ethnologists about the philosophical positions regarding the existence of social communities (or large social groups) are limited by the constructivism-positivism dichotomy. Moreover, most of these ethnologists adopt a constructivist position, and some of them deny the very reality of ethnic communities. At the same time, in recent decades, English-speaking philosophers and social scientists have been intensively developing critical-realist theory as an alternative to the two named approaches. The paper offers to consider the problem of ethnicity within the framework of critical realism, using the time-tested elements of the theory of ethnos, such as the abovementioned ethnic processes, self-consciousness (or ethnic identity), and the concept of taxonomic levels of ethnic communities. Simultaneously one should bear in mind that the theory of ethnos itself is not without major drawbacks. From the author's point of view, the main weaknesses in this theory are attempts to tie the typology of ethnic communities to the historical stages in the development of society, and more specifically to Marx's socio-economic formations; to tie rigidly the group characteristics of ethnos to its cultural characteristics, including language; and to remove agency from the framework of this theory, while maintaining structural (in this case, belonging to a group) and cultural components of the theory of ethnos. The use of a critical-realist approach in relation to ethnicity allows us to assert that the removal of ethnic self-identifications from the theoretical model of ethnos leads to the destruction of this model and to the perception of ethnic communities as sets of individuals who are united together by researchers for very different reasons. An ethnologist should conclude that the group is an ethnos, and not some other type of a group, if the majority of its members have a self-identification that coincides with the self-identification of their parents, even when this group consists of representatives of different social strata, has different occupations, native languages, citizenships, and confessions or live dispersed in remote areas.

About the Authors

Wiener Boris Efimovich, Candidate of Sciences (Sociology), Senior Researcher, Sociological Institute RAS – a Branch of the Federal Research Sociological Center RAS; 25/14, 7th, Krasnoarmeiskaya st., St. Petersburg, 195005, Russian Federation, e-mail: ivanov@yandex.ru

For citation

Wiener B. E. Most Important Elements of the Soviet Theory of Ethnos: Prospects for Use in Modern Theories of Ethnicity. Bulletin of the Irkutsk State University. Geoarchaeology, Ethnology, and Anthropology Series. 2023, Vol. 45, pp. 77–92. https://doi.org/10.26516/2227-2380.2023.45.77 (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/10.26516/2227-2380.2023.45.77

References

Archer M. S. Realist social theory: the morphogenetic approach. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1995, 354 p.

Berger P. L., Lukman T. Sotsialnoe konstruirovanie realnosti [The Social Construction of Reality]. Moscow, Medium Publ., 1995, 322 p. (In Russ.)

Bhaskar R. A Realist Theory of Science. London, Verso Publ., 1975, 304 p.

Bolshaya sovetskaya entsyklopediya [Great Soviet Encyclopedia]. Moscow, Bolshaya sovetskaya entsyklopediya Publ., 1957, Vol. 49: Elokventsiya – Yaya [Eloquence – Yaya], 797 p. (In Russ.)

Bromlei Yu. V. Leninism i osnovnye tendentsii etnicheskikh protsessov v SSSR [Leninism and the main tendencies of ethnic processes in the USSR]. Sovetskaya etnografiya [Soviet Ethnography]. 1970, Is. 1, pp. 3–15. (In Russ.)

Bromlei Yu. V. Opyt tipologizatsii etnicheskikh obshchnostei [Experience of typologization of ethnic communities]. Sovetskaya etnografiya [Soviet Ethnography]. 1972, Is. 5, pp. 61–91. (In Russ.)

Bromlei Yu. V. Etnos i etnografiya [Etnos and Ethnography]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1973, 280 p. (In Russ.)

Bromlei Yu. V. (Ed.). Sovremennye etnicheskie protsessy v SSSR [Contemporary Ethnic Processes in the USSR]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1977, 561 p. (In Russ.)

Bromlei Yu. V. Osnovnye vidy istoriko-kulturnykh obshchnostei i tendentsii ikh dinamiki [The major types of historical and cultural communities and trends in their dynamics]. Sovetskaya etnografiya [Soviet Ethnography]. 1981а, Is. 1, p. 10–23. (In Russ.)

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

Bromlei Yu. V. K tipologizatsii etnicheskikh protsessov [To the typology of ethnic processes]. Ocherki teorii etnosa [Essays on the Theory of Ethnos]. Moscow, 1983а, pp. 233–243. (In Russ.)

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

Bromlei Yu. V. Sovremennye etnosotsialnye protsessy u vostochno-slavianskikh narodov SSSR [Contemporary ethno-social processes among the East Slavic peoples of the USSR]. Sovetskaya etnografiya [Soviet Ethnography]. 1985, Is. 4, pp. 3–12. (In Russ.)

Bromlei Yu. V. (Ed.). Etnicheskie protsessy v sovremennom mire [Ethnic Processes in the Contemporary World]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1987, 446 p. (In Russ.)

Bromlei Yu. V. Etnosotsialnye protsessy: teoriya, istoriya, sovremennost [Ethnosocial Processes: Theory, History, Contemporaneity]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1987, 333 p. (In Russ.)

Bromley Yu. V., Kozlov V. I. Etnicheskie protsessy kak predmet issledovaniya (Predvaritelnye zamechaniya) [Ethnic processes as a subject of research (preliminary remarks)]. Sovremennye etnicheskie protsessy v SSSR [Contemporary Ethnic Processes in the USSR]. Moscow, 1977, pp. 10–24. (In Russ.)

Brubeiker R. Etnichnost bez Grup [Ethnicity without Groups]. Etnichnost bez grup [Ethnicity Without Groups]. Мoscow, 2012, pp. 22–60. (In Russ.)

Bruk S. I., Kozlov V. I. Osnovnye problemy etnicheskoi kartografii [Major problems of ethnic cartography]. Sovetskaya etnografiya [Soviet Ethnography]. 1961, Is. 5, pp. 9–26. (In Russ.)

Brusina O. I. Konstruirovanie tatarskoi identichnosti i vosproizvodstvo etnichnosti u astrakhanskikh turkmen [The construction of the Tatar identity and ethnic survival of the Astrakhan Turkmen]. Etnograficheskoe obozrenie [Ethnographic Review]. 2022, Is. 4, pp. 167–191.https://doi.org/10.31857/S0869541522040091

Cheboksarov N. N. Problemy proiskhozhdeniya drevnikh i sovremennykh narodov (vstupitelnoe slovo na simposiume) [Problems of the Origin of Ancient and Modern Peoples (Introductory Speech at the Symposium)]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1964, 19 p. (In Russ.)

Danermark B., Ekström M., Jakobsen L., Karlsson J. C. Explaining Society: Critical Realism in the Social Sciences. London, New York, Routledge, 2001, 242 p.

Drobizheva L. M. Natsionalnoe samosoznanie: baza formirovaniya i sotsialno-kulturnye stimuly razvitiya [National self-sonsciousness: base of formation and socio-cultural impetuses for development]. Sovetskaya etnografiya [Soviet Ethnography]. 1985, Is. 5, pp. 3–16. (In Russ.)

Dzharylgasinova R. Sh. Teoriya etnicheskogo samosoznaniya v sovetskoi etnograficheskoi nauke (osnovnye aspecty problemy) [The theory of ethnic selfconsciousness in the Soviet ethnological science (main aspects of the problem)]. Sovetskaya etnografiya [Soviet Ethnography]. 1987, Is. 4, pp. 9–22. (In Russ.)

Dyurkgeim E. Pravila sotsiologicheskogo metoda [The Rules of Sociological Method]. Мoscow, AST Publ., 2021, 382 p. (In Russ.)

Efimov Yu. V., Averkieva Yu. P. (Eds.). Sovremennaya amerikanskaya etnografiya: teoreticheskie napravleniya i tendetsii [Modern American Ethnography: theoretical directions and trends]. Moscow, AS USSR Publ., 1963, 288 p. (In Russ.)

Gumilev L. N. Etnogenez i biosfera Zemli [Ethnogenesis and Biosphere of the Earth]. St. Petersburg, Kristall Publ., 2001, 638 p. (In Russ.)

Gurvich I. S. Sovremennye napravleniya etnicheskikh protsessov v SSSR [Contemporary tendencies of ethnic processes in the USSR]. Sovetskaya etnografiya [Soviet Ethnography]. 1972, Is. 4, pp. 16–34. (In Russ.)

Hacking I. The Social construction of what? Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1999, 261 p.

Hogg M. A., Abrams D. Social Identifications: A Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations and Group Processes. London, New York, Routledge, 1988, 288 p.

Horovitz D. L. Ethnic identity. Ethnicity: Theory and Experience. Cambridge, 1975, pp. 111–116.

Jenkins R. Rethinking Ethnicity. Los Angeles, Sage Publications, 2008, 224 p.

Keat R., Urry J. Social Theory as Science. London, Boston, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1975, 278 p.

Khomich L. V. O soderzhanii ponyatiya etnicheskie protsessy [On the content of the concept of ethnic processes]. Sovetskaya etnografiya [Soviet Ethnography]. 1969, Is. 5, pp. 79–87. (In Russ.)

Kolesnitskii N. F. Donatsionalnye etnicheskie obshchnosti (na materiale srednevekovoi Germanii) [Pre-national ethnic communities (on the material of medieval Germany)]. Rasy i narody [Races and Peoples]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1978, Is. 8, pp. 21–46. (In Russ.)

Kozlov V. I. K voprosu ob izuchenii etnicheskikh protsessov u narodov SSSR [On the question of the study of ethnic processes among the peoples of the USSR]. Sovetskaya etnografiya [Soviet Ethnography]. 1961, Is. 4, pp. 58–73. (In Russ.)

Kozlov V. I. O ponyatii etnicheskoi obshchnosti [On the concept of ethnic community]. Sovetskaya etnografiya [Soviet Ethnography]. 1967, Is. 2, pp. 100–111. (In Russ.)

Kozlov V. I. Tipy etnicheskikh protsessov i osobennosti ikh istoricheskogo razvitiya [Types of ethnic processes and specific features of their historical development]. Voprosy istorii [Questions of History]. 1968, Is. 9, pp. 95–109. (In Russ.)

Kozlov V. I. Sovremennye etnicheskie protsessy v SSSR (k metodologii issledovaniya) [Contemporary ethnic processes in the USSR (toward a research methodology)]. Sovetskaya etnografiya [Soviet Ethnography]. 1969а, Is. 2, pp. 60–72. (In Russ.)

Kozlov V. I. Dinamika chislennosti narodov: metodologiya issledovaniya i osnovnye faktory [Dynamics of numerical strength for peoples: research methodology and main factors]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1969b, 407 p. (In Russ.)

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

Kozlov V. I. O nekotorykh metodologicheskikh problemakh izucheniya etnicheskoi psikhologii [On some methodological problems of studying ethnic psychology]. Sovetskaya etnografiya [Soviet Ethnography]. 1983, Is. 2, pp. 74–79. (In Russ.)

Kozlov V. I. O sootnoshenii etnosa i yazyka v sisteme etnicheskoi ierarkhii [About the relation of ethnicity and language in the system of ethnic hierarchy]. Rasy i narody [Races and Peoples]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1988, Is. 18, pp. 44–45. (In Russ.)

Kryukov M. V. Evolyutsiya etnicheskogo samosoznaniya i problema etnogeneza [The evolution of ethnic identity and the problem of ethnogenesis]. Rasy i narody [Races and Peoples]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1976, Vol. 6, pp. 43–63. (In Russ.)

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

Kryukov M. V. Etnos i subetnos [Etnos and subetnos]. Rasy i narody [Races and Peoples]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1988, Is. 1, pp. 5–21. (In Russ.)

Кushner (Knyshev) P. I. Etnicheskie territorii i etnicheskie granitsy [Ethnic Territories and Ethnic Borders]. Moscow, AS USSR Publ., 1951, 280 p. (In Russ.)

Levin M. G., Cheboksarov N. N. Obshchaya informatsiya (yazyki, rasy, narody [General information (languages, races, peoples)]. Ocherki obshchei etnografii [Essays on General Ethnography]. Moscow, 1957, Is. 1. Obshchie svedeniya. Avstraliya i Okeaniya,Amerika, Afrika [General information. Australia and Oceania, America, Africa], pp. 5–56. (In Russ.)

Petersen W. Concepts of ethnicity. Harvard Encyclopedia of Ethnic Group. Cambridge, 1980, pp. 240–241.

Potter G., Lópes J. After postmodernism: the new millenium. After Postmodernism: An Introduction to Critical Realism. London, New York, 2001, pp. 1–16.

Ritzer G. Sociological Theory. New York, The McGrawHill Companies, Inc., 1996, 757 p.

Ruane J., Todd J. The roots of intense ethnic conflict may not in fact be ethnic: categories, communities and path dependence. European Journal of Sociology. 2004, Vol. 45, Is. 2, pp. 209–232.

Shelepov G. V. Obshchnost proiskhozhdeniya – priznak etnicheskoi obshchnosti [Common origin is a sign of ethnic community]. Sovetskaya Etnografiya [Soviet Ethnography]. 1968, Is. 4, pp. 65–74. (In Russ.)

Sjoberg G., Nett R. A Methodology for Social Research. New York, Harper & Row, 1968, 355 p.

Sokolovskii S. V. Paradigmy etnologicheskogo znaniya [Paradigms of ethnological knowledge]. Etnograficheskoe obozrenie [Ethnografic Review]. 1994, Is. 2, pp. 3–17. (In Russ.)

Sokolovskii S. V. Instituty i praktiki proizvodstva i vosproizvodstva etnichnosti [Institutions and practices for production and reproduction of ethnicity]. Etnometodologiya: problemy, podkhody, kontseptsii [Ethnomethodology: Problems, Approaches, Conceptions]. Moscow, 2005, Is. 11, pp. 144–167. (In Russ.)

Sokolovskii S. V. Antropologicheskoe znanie v pravovom i politicheskom diskursakh: dis. … d-ra ist. nauk [Anthropological Knowledge in Legal and Political Discourses. Cand. histor. sci. diss.]. Мoscow, 2009, 384 p. (In Russ.)

Starovoitova G. V. K issledovaniyu etnopsikhologii gorodskikh zhytelei (po materialam oprosa naseleniya trekh gorodov Tatarskoi ASSR) [On the study for ethnopsychology of urban residents (based on a survey of the population of three cities of the Tatar ASSR)]. Sovetskaya Etnografiya [Soviet Ethnography]. 1976, Is. 3, pp. 45–56. (In Russ.)

Tishkov V. A. Rekviem po etnosu: issledovaniya po sotsialno-kulturnoi antropologii [Requiem for Ethnos: Studies in Socio-cultural Anthropology]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 2003, 542 p. (In Russ.)

Tokarev S. A. K postanovke problem etnogeneza [On the formulation of the problems for ethnogenesis]. Sovetskaya Etnografiya [Soviet Ethnography]. 1949, Is. 3, pp. 13–35. (In Russ.)

Turner J. C. Towards a cognitive redefinition of the social group. Social Identity and Intergroup Relations. Cambridge, Paris, 1982, pp. 15–40.

Urazmanova R. K., Cheshko S. V. (Eds.). Tatary [Tatars]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 2001, 582 p. (In Russ.)

Verkhovtsev D. V. Etnos post-mortem: sovetskie teorii etnosa v sovremennom russkoyazychnom diskurse [Ethnos Post-Mortem: Soviet Theories of Ethnos in Present Day Russian-Language Discourses]. Etnograficheskoe obozrenie [Ethnografic Review]. 2002, Is. 6, pp. 79–101. (In Russ.)https://doi.org/10.31857/S0869541522060069

Weber M. Natsiya [Nation]. Khozyaistvo i obshchestvo: Ocherki ponimayushchei sotsiologii [Economy and Society: An Outline in Interpretive Sociology]. Moscow, 2017, Vol. II. Obshchnosti [Communities], pp. 292–296. (In Russ.)

Wiener B. E. Protivorechiya sovetskoi teorii etnosa: istoriya kontseptsii i ee perspectivy [Contradictions of the Soviet theory of ethnos: the history of the concept and its prospects]. Izvestiya Irkutskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya Geoarkheologiya. Etnologiya. Antropologiya [Bulletin of the Irkutsk State University. Geoarchaeology, Ethnology, and Anthropology Series]. 2022, Vol. 40, pp. 37–51. (In Russ.)https://doi.org/10.26516/2227-2380.2022.40.37