![]() ![]() Russia’s attack on Ukraine in 2022 and its justifications through the pathos of culture war and the mission to prevent gay-parades -together with a lot of other ideological explanations-brought this second dimension to the foreground. Research on social conservatism necessarily puts emphasis on the rational-instrumental side of the object of study, tracing networks, organizations, and concrete activities, but it is also necessary to keep in mind the second-“beyond rationality”-dimension of this conservatism: these theories, imbued with the pathos of a heroic struggle against powerful enemies. What I encountered, in short, was a strange mixture of practical rationality and mythological thinking. Over several years of fieldwork in the conservative milieu with numerous interviews, I typically encountered highly educated entrepreneurial subjects with excellent networking skills and knowledge of all the flaws and weaknesses of the contemporary international legal order, which allowed them to successfully defend their conservative point of view on the other hand, these same persons, when prompted to place their activities in a more general context, would talk about Stalin as savior of Russia from destructive ideologies (for example, from feminism), about a neo-Marxist plot to destroy traditional values, about George Soros’ and Bill Gates’ mission to subvert morality, etc. The two dimensions of social conservatism-the rational-strategic and irrational-mythological-could be present in one and the same person. These are stories about the Golden Age of tradition, about the forces of evil that have fallen upon it, about courageous heroes and vicious villains, about the disastrous consequences of abandoning traditional values, leading literally to the end of the world. In the Russian case this other side manifests itself in narratives with clear mythological overtones-about the traditional way of life and how it is threatened by enemies that must be fought. There is also another aspect, pointing to a dimension “beyond rationality,” the, so to speak, “obscene” (I will explain below why I find this strong word appropriate) side of this phenomenon. What we learn from the case of Russian social conservatism, however, is that the intellectual saturation of the Russian conservative position with the discourse of the global culture wars is not purely instrumental, rational and strategic. Social conservatism, in this perspective, is about ideas, institutions, and strategies. The case of Russia’s ascent in the transnational moral conservative universe, for example, was accompanied by a learning process from Western social conservatives both in terms of institutions and in terms of framing strategies of the conservative message, in particular a framing in terms of human rights. The study of social conservatism from the angle of political sociology, political science, international relations, and social movement studies has mostly privileged a perspective according to which conservative actors are driven by rational, institutional, or ideational goals. The Russian participation in transnational moral conservative networks has been one of the most visible in recent decades. ![]() Social conservative actors are powerful players in the culture wars. ![]() As I draw on this concept derived from Lacanian psychoanalysis, I use data derived from the study of Russian social conservatism for an illustration of my point. The current essay is an attempt to uncover one of the key dimensions of contemporary social conservatism (and culture wars in general)-the dimension that could be called phantasmatic. Russian activities and ambitions in the global culture wars have already attracted much attention. One of the relevant newcomers in these wars is Russia, which clearly sided with the social conservative position. ![]() Now it drags into its struggles over morality issues more and more actors-from different cultures, continents, and religions. What started as a “struggle to control the family, art, education, law, and politics in America” has globalized. Key Words: social conservatism phantasm Lacanian social theory Russia culture wars traditional valuesĬulture wars are a ubiquitous phenomenon these days. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |