DOI
10.1111/johs.70001
Author ORCID Identifier
Jeffrey Hass: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0212-9935
Abstract
The culture of praise in the late Brezhnev era was highly developed and ritualistic. This research explores the purpose of praise in Soviet society and maps out its different faces through a structural analysis of letters to the editor. We conceptualize praise as a kind of symbolic capital that Soviet citizens use to signal their loyalty to one another. Soviet citizens expressed agreement through public praise of others published on the pages of widely-circulated newspapers. The analysis demonstrates variation in the structure of praise that depends on its direction, location, topics and the identities of givers and receivers. We identify three stable types of praise—peer valorization, clientelistic, and paternalistic praise. Soviet citizens used these faces of praise to exchange with others in different situations, but also helped reproduce Soviet authority by highlighting the achievements of others up and down the social ladder.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
6-19-2025
Publisher Statement
© 2025 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Recommended Citation
Buck, A. and Hass, J. (2025), Power and Praise: The Case of the Late Brezhnev Era. Sociol Lens, 38: 168-182. https://doi.org/10.1111/johs.70001
