Cultural backwardness
Soviet political term
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cultural backwardness (Russian: культурная отсталость, romanized: kul'turnaya otstalost') was a term used by Soviet politicians and ethnographers. There were at one point officially 97 "culturally backward" nationalities in the Soviet Union.[1] Members of a "culturally backward" nationality were eligible for preferential treatment in university admissions.[2] In 1934 the Central Executive Committee declared that the term should no longer be used; however, preferential treatment for certain minorities and the promotion of local nationals in the party structure through korenizatsiya continued for several more years.[3]
Characteristics
The People's Commissariat for Education listed five official characteristics of culturally backward nationalities:[4]
- An extremely low level of literacy
- An extremely low percentage of children in school
- Absence of a written script connected to a literary language
- Existence of "social vestiges" (oppression of women, racial hostility, nomadism, religious fanaticism)
- An extremely low level of national cadres
List of nationalities identified as culturally backward
In 1932 the People's Commissariat for Education published an official list of "culturally backward" nationalities:[1]
See also
- Eurocentrism – Worldview centred on or biased towards Western civilization
- Korenizatsiia – 1920s Soviet policy of promoting its indigenous ethnic groups
- Russification – Measures to increase the influence of Russian culture and language
- Sovietization – Adoption of Soviet political system and mentality