On the 2d of October, 2023, a workshop of “Sociology of religion” research laboratory was held at Saint Tikhon’s Orthodox University. Andrei Vernikov (IE RAS) and Anna Kurysheva (SFU) made a presentation “Veblen, two types of behavioral attitudes and Russian traditional economic culture”.
Scientists presented a research project focused on the analysis of proverbs about the economic sphere of life, presented in the collection of proverbs and sayings by V.I. Dal (Dal V.I. (1862). According to researchers, the study of proverbs and sayings related to economic activity (for example, spending, consumption, borrowing, labor, wealth, poverty) will reveal the features of traditional economic culture. As a theoretical framework, A.V. Vernikov and A.A. Kurysheva consider the institutionalism of T. Veblen. Authors classify selected proverbs and sayings in accordance with the Veblenian dichotomy. Researchers claim that the social norms presented in proverbs correspond, in T. Veblen’s terms, to “productive attitudes and practices” (e.g., skills development, production activity, serving the interests of the community). Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that “traditional” is not identical to “ceremonial,” referring to “unproductive attitudes and practices” (e.g., acquisitiveness, selfish interests).
The full version of the article (preprint) “Veblen, two types of behavioral attitudes and Russian traditional economic culture” is available here: link.
During the discussion that followed the presentation, research members of the “Sociology of Religion” research laboratory expressed a number of questions and comments, based on the data of the project “Living on debt: social meaning of debt in the communal life in Russia”.
We thank A.V. Vernikov and A.A. Kurysheva for the interesting report and discussion and wish them success in their future work!
