Stereotype as an Institution of Historical Memory: the Case of the Russian Generation Z

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to clarify the methodology of studying stereotypes inherent in the dialect of memory of the Russian generation Z, as well as to determine strategies for their (de-)construction in the oppositional liberal discourse. The main methodological guideline for the author is the neoinstitutional approach to stereotypes, which is concretized based on secondary data from sociological and linguistic studies. As a result, the author comes to the conclusion that, firstly, stereotypes play a key role in constructing the image of historical epochs among the youngest generation of Russians; secondly, the Stalinist and Yeltsin epochs are the most important for the dialect of memory of generation Z; thirdly, an acute ideological struggle is being waged within Russian society for the interpretation of these epochs; finally, the construction or deconstruction of stereotypes as elements of the dialect of memory of generation Z plays a crucial role in this struggle. Analyzing in more detail the relevant strategies of the Russian liberal opposition, the author emphasizes its desire, on the one hand, to weaken the "pro-Stalinist" (pro - Soviet) stereotypes in the minds of young people and, on the contrary, to strengthen the "pro-Yeltsin" ones, constructing an image of the "glorious (but not "dashing") nineties". The article notes that an important role in this work with the stereotypes is played by the aesthetic experience of young people as a space for legitimizing power at the level of theoretical statements in a rudimentary form