"Homo Corporis" in the socio-cultural context of early Soviet era: axiology and social practices
The article is devoted to the analysis of human body culture (physical culture) as a phenomenon strong influenced by the social and cultural context of “Homo Corporis” being. This general methodological position is revealed on the material of a concrete epoch - the period of the formation of Soviet society, characterized by its axiology of the human body and some relevant practices based on it. The analysis is based on the publications of the 1920s - 1930s, related to the development of the body (physical) culture, on the art items, art production of that time, which captures the ideal of the “new man” - strong, healthy, cheerful. The axiology of the human body in early soviet time was based on relevant conceptual and ideological substantiation, scientific and methodological investigations which were the regulators for body practices in the fields of education, socialization, leisure mass sports, etc. The key ideas that determined notably big interest of the Soviet authorities in the development of body culture were such as the strengthening of the instrumental capabilities of the body (to increase the productivity of labor, the army’s combat capability); using its potential to struggle with bad habits (mass sports as a kind of healthy leisure), to include passive women in active life, to organize new integrative multicultural space. The body culture practices were estimated as one of the accessible, “light” form for the person entering into the space of culture per se (through “correct” moral and aesthetic qualities arising). The representation of mass, people sport was considered as one of the markers to clarify the opposition to the “old” society with its bourgeois sport, the product of inhumane capitalism. This investigation is a next small step for the development of a comparative-cultural analysis of the diversity of models of body (physical) culture as an important part of modern social studies and cultural researches.