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Body Rituals and Ambivalence : Anthropological Aspects of Real Socialism

Publication at Faculty of Humanities |
2021

Abstract

To talk about the anthropological aspects of real socialism of the first half of the 1980s means thinking about what the "Marxist culture" is. This, on the one hand, encourages us to relate historical facts to the ideas that shaped this regime and, on the other hand, forces us to consider how this dominant culture has approached cultural diversity.

The theoretical Marxism has influenced the thinking of many people. He is mainly responsible for separating Marx's ideas from philosophy and consequently Marx from Hegel.

And although Marxist philosophy is considered a so-called "strong philosophy" because it carries with it a claim to objective truth, it must be understood as a simplification of forms. Marx's critique of Hegel's system is not just a philosophical question, but has become shaping for the thinking of many generations, perhaps precisely because it favours a materialistic conception of the world over a world of abstract thinking.

In practice, this means that everything that does not fall under the Marxist paradigm becomes an "ideological diversion" and therefore flawed. Experience has shown that the subsequent removal of all those human dimensions that lead to thinking outside the Marxist paradigm has eradicated natural human diversity.

TV series act as a method of transmitting ideology. Body rituals, spartakiads, and sport generally indicate how "power" penetrates the body and is exposed to it (Foucault).

Ideology becomes a social convention, a mode of agreement. Numerous underground activities of the time lead to the filling of emptiness: Typical of this period is the painful search for a "lost dimension of being", as well as the struggle for public space and the reconstruction of identity.

It is no longer a "liminal extreme underground", but ambivalence is characteristic: While in a democratic society, resistance dynamics appeal to the objectivity of the state and demand an answer, it was already clear in advance that no dialogue is possible. The relationship with the state is absolutely crucial because it creates unconditional dependence on the one hand and hopelessness and despair on the other.