Obrazovanshchina

Obrazovanshchina (Russian: образованщина, "educationdom", "educaties",[1] "smatterers") is a Russian ironical, derogatory term for a category of people with superficial education without higher ethics of an educated person.[2] The term was introduced by Alexander Solzhenitsyn as a criticism of the transformation of the Russian intelligentsia, which, in his opinion had lost high ethical values, in his 1974 essay Obrazovanshchina (translated as The Smatterers).[3] The essay and the term caused criticism from liberal intelligentsia, such as Solzhenitsyn's long-time opponent Grigory Pomerants[4] and Boris Shragin,[5] and was among the reasons of the bitter contention between Solzhenitsyn and the Russian "third wave" of emigration (of dissidents).[6]

In Poland, a country which shares the concept of "intelligentsia" with Russia, a similar term, wykształciuchy is used.[7][8]

Solzhenitsyn defines obrazovanshchina as the category of people who refer to themselves as "intelligentsia" solely on the basis of having a higher than middle education. Solzhenitsyn explains the selection of the term by reference to Vladimir Dahl's dictionary, which distinguished the terms образовать (to educate) and просвещать (to enlighten), the former concept having a superficial character, "external gloss".[3]

A similar criticism of Russian intelligentsia came from Nikolai Berdyaev, who coined the ironic word intelligentshchina for the part of intelligentia locked in their own world, isolated from the rest of the Russian society.[9]

See also
  • Egghead, a derogatory term criticizing other aspects of educated people

References
  1. Note: 'образован-' + '-щина': a noun derived from 'образование', education with suffix '-щина', similar in funcions with English suffixes such as -ism, -ness, -dom, -ing
  2. Geoffrey A. Hosking, "The First Socialist Society: A History of the Soviet Union from Within", 1993, ISBN 0674304438, p. 403
  3. ОБРАЗОВАНЩИНА, Obrazovanshchina essay at Solzhenitsin's official website (retrieved February 15, 2014)
  4. Григорий Померанц. Сон о справедливом возмездии (Мой затянувшийся спор) Archived 2010-12-16 at the Wayback Machine, Синтаксис. Публицистика, критика, полемика. — Париж, 1980, no. 6, pp. 13—87
  5. "АНТОЛОГИЯ САМИЗДАТА :: Самосознание". Antology.igrunov.ru. Retrieved 2014-02-17.
  6. "Russian Intellectuals, the Hand that Feeds Them", The Economist editorial, August 7, 2008 (retrieved February 18, 2014)
  7. Tomasz Zarycki, "On the Contemporary Polish Perception of Russian Intelligentsia", in: Europe-Russia: Contexts, Discourses, Images, Rīga: LU DZSC - LEVIRA, pp. 130-141.
  8. "Dumny sztandar wykształciucha"
  9. Н. А. Бердяев. Философская истина и интеллигентская правда. Статья опубликована в книге: "Вехи. Сборник статей о русской интеллигенции", Москва, 1909 год, http://www.yabloko.ru/Themes/History/berd-2.html
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