The Easternization of Russian Everyday Life: History and Modern Times

Abstract

Citation: Ilyin V. (2019) The Easternization of Russian Everyday Life: History and Modern Times. Mir Rossii, vol. 28, no 2, pp. 25–41 (in Russian).
DOI: 10.17323/1811-038X-2019-28-2-25-41

For centuries the process of cultural diffusion in everyday Russian culture took the forms of Westernization and Easternization. Westernization dominated all stages of Russian history, including the modern epoch. At the same time, Easternization often took paradoxical forms of Westernization: 1) The Eastern influence was often exerted on Russian everyday culture through Western countries; 2) many goods imported from the East were designed by Western firms. Unlike Westernization, the Easternization of everyday life usually did not provoke changes in lifestyle structures because the items and practices imported from Eastern countries were isolated elements excluded from the cultural system, while the Westernization of everyday life is based on meeting the natural universal needs for physical and spiritual comfort. Because of this, it is easily hybridized with any culture, generating a kind of glocal hybrid. The East came to Russia in two completely different forms. It directly penetrated Russian everyday life (from the invasion to the import of goods) as well as penetrated it in the form of myth. The two hypostases are partially intertwined because myth as a tool of soft power stimulates imports. This article conceptualizes the Easternization of the Russian daily life as a crosscutting process of Russian history.