THE CANCEL CULTURE AS A MODEL OF TRANSFORMATION OF HISTORICAL IDEN-TITY ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE TREATMENT OF THE MEMORY OF THE SOVIET PAST IN THE 1990s
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17072/2218-1067-2025-1-80-88Keywords:
cancel culture, collective memory, historical identity, trauma societyAbstract
The article examines how "cancel culture" changes historical identity, exploring how "cancellation" affects civilizational communities' collective memory and oblivion on the example of the treatment of the memory of the USSR after the dismantling of Soviet statehood in the period from 1991 to 2000. The politicized and instrumental nature of canceling is noted. The new elite initiated canceling using the strategy of ousting alternatives from public attention. It is established that the socio-ontological grounds for cancellation practices were political and ideological shifts that affected the field of historical memory as a basis for building a new identity myth. The practices of dealing with the historical memory of the USSR were reduced to abolition and discrediting. Canceling includes instrumentalization of the rehabilitation process of victims of political repression, aimed at extrapolating the category of guilt from historical actors to the Soviet regime, formation of a negative image of the opponent, and symbolic politics. A full-fledged review of the Soviet past, including traumatic events, which could lead to the formation of alternative narratives, was not offered, leaving the possibility of replacing authentic historical events with false representations. Oblivion as a cultural strategy has exacerbated the erosion of collective identity, creating risks of maladaptation of the social subject.References
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