The research is directed on the field of history of consumption’s expansion, as well as inclined to the understanding of the gender standards and models in consumption. It is based on the theoretical achievements of gender studies, philosophy and sociology of consumption. Whereas consumption is a process that is closely connected with a gender perspective, it forces to examine the issue of constructing gender through consumption practices. Thus, the authors pay particular attention to the cross-disciplinary methodological approach, which allows exploring the interrelations between gender and consumption. The case study of this article is the construction of feminity and masculinity in the everyday consumer practices in the early Soviet society, which allows to “find” the new faces of Soviet social history — consumers. The ways of construction feminity and masculinity in the everyday practices, the formation of gender models and standards in consumption have been considered irrespectively to the career level or material status of the research actors. Making historical analogies provides opportunity for a critical understanding of the communist ideological project devoted to the constructing of a «new Soviet man» and «new Soviet consumer». Despite the proclaimed principle of gender equality by the Bolshevik authorities, these changes did not significantly transform the everyday consumer practices, because in the sphere of domestic consumption most of the functions were still performed by women.The study suggests that the construction of gender in early Soviet society occurred under the conditions of using consumption practices as a form of social coercion. In modern society, a consumer becomes a type of person whoindependently determines the configuration of a sociocultural space. Thus, one of the key differences between early Soviet and modern consumption is the gender identity which is becoming ambivalent nowadays and accompanies the standardization of cultural artefacts and the “dispersal” of gender markers.
Source: Skubiy I.V., Pylypenko S.H. (2019) Consumption, Man, and Gender: Historical and Philosophical Analyses (the Example of Early Soviet Society). V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University Bulletin ‘History of Ukraine. Ukrainian Studies: Historical and Philosophical Sciences. 28: 68-75
Source web-site: https://periodicals.karazin.ua/uahistory/article/view/14576/13701
Number of views: 1019
