1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910466396403321

Autore

Tsipursky Gleb

Titolo

Socialist fun : youth, consumption, and state-sponsored popular culture in the Soviet Union, 1945-1970 / / Gleb Tsipursky

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania : , : University of Pittsburgh Press, , 2016

©2016

ISBN

0-8229-8125-4

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (379 p.)

Collana

Pitt Series in Russian and East European Studies

Disciplina

305.2350947080904

Soggetti

Youth - Soviet Union - Social life and customs

Youth - Government policy - Soviet Union - History

Youth - Soviet Union - Societies and clubs - History

Cold War - Social aspects - Soviet Union

Popular culture - Soviet Union - History

Consumption (Economics) - Soviet Union - History

Socialism - Social aspects - Soviet Union - History

Electronic books.

Soviet Union Social life and customs 1917-1970

Western countries Relations Soviet Union

Soviet Union Relations Western countries

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Chapter 1. Ideology, Enlightenment, and Entertainment : State-Sponsored Popular Culture, 1917-1946 -- Chapter 2. Ideological Reconstruction in the Cultural Recreation Network, 1947-1953 -- Chapter 3. Ideology and Consumption : Jazz and Western Dancing in the Cultural Network, 1948-1953 -- Chapter 4. State-Sponsored Popular Culture in the Early Thaw, 1953-1956 -- Chapter 5. Youth Initiative and the 1956 Youth Club Movement -- Chapter 6. The 1957 International Youth Festival and the Backlash -- Chapter 7. A Reformist Revival : Grassroots Club Activities and Youth Cafes, 1958-1964 -- Chapter 8. Ambiguity and Backlash : State-Sponsored Popular Culture, 1965-1970.



Sommario/riassunto

"Most narratives depict Soviet Cold War cultural activities and youth groups as drab and dreary, militant and politicized. In this study Gleb Tsipursky challenges these stereotypes in a revealing portrayal of Soviet youth and state-sponsored popular culture. The primary local venues for Soviet culture were the tens of thousands of klubs where young people found entertainment, leisure, social life, and romance. Here sports, dance, film, theater, music, lectures, and political meetings became vehicles to disseminate a socialist version of modernity. The Soviet way of life was dutifully presented and perceived as the most progressive and advanced, in an attempt to stave off Western influences. In effect, socialist fun became very serious business. As Tsipursky shows, however, Western culture did infiltrate these activities, particularly at local levels, where participants and organizers deceptively cloaked their offerings to appeal to their own audiences. Thus, Soviet modernity evolved as a complex and multivalent ideological device.  Tsipursky provides a fresh and original examination of the Kremlin's paramount effort to shape young lives, consumption, popular culture, and to build an emotional community--all against the backdrop of Cold War struggles to win hearts and minds both at home and abroad"--