«Поручкалися З Інопланетянами»: Нормалізація Ірраціональної Картини Світу В Підрадянській Україні Часів «перебудови»

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is researching of the normalization of the irrational in the behavior and way of thinking of the under-Soviet Ukrainians at the end of the 1980s. The task of the article is to analyze how and why mistical "teachings" and quasi-scientific ideas developed, dissemenated and gained support among under-soviet Ukranians in the period of "perestroika". The in the focus of this research is also the problem of the consequences of legitimizing an irrational worldview for people and Ukranian society as whole.The source base of the research is based on a bulk of documents, which includes materials and references of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine on the attitudes of various social groups, methodological recommendations on atheistic propaganda, the fight against "cults", "harmful teachings", etc. It also consists of printed materials, primarily newspapers and magazines, both of a special orientation and aimed at a wide audience of readers, as well as fiction and documentary films, containing information on the official state position regarding esoteric, occult and other practices.The scientific novelty of the work is that mass irrational practices are considered as part of the social and political process in under-Soviet Ukraine. Conclusions. It was the Communist Party of Atheists, through its controlled media, that legitimized the world of the irrational. High trust in the state media contributed to the wide spread of "new knowledge" of the magical direction. Also the urge to the irrational was a consequence of both poverty and social fears. The irrational became a way of expressing oneself outside the limits of socialist values and rules. The world of the irrational formed the benchmarks for a new self-definition for ordinary people. Together with the utilitarian transfer of responsibility for one's own life to the irrational world, this approach to self-determination contributed to the justification of a new model of behavior, which – as in Soviet times – did not involve participation in political and social processes.