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Formation of a New Consumer Culture on the Example of Cosmetics in the 80s of the 20th Century in Leningrad

Student: Dushina Viktoriia

Supervisor: Ekaterina Kalemeneva

Faculty: School of Arts and Humanities

Educational Programme: History (Bachelor)

Final Grade: 7

Year of Graduation: 2021

The practice of using cosmetics is an important feature of the daily life of a modern woman. "And what about cosmetics and their use by Soviet women during the perestroika years?". Cosmetics as a phenomenon of Soviet society was practically not touched by scientists, especially during the period of perestroika. In general, the existing research devoted to the period of perestroika focuses on political and economic history. Consequently, very little has been written about everyday life and social change. This study is one of the attempts to analyze the cultural changes in the era of the last decade of the USSR. My work is devoted to the role of decorative cosmetics in the life of Soviet women in the 1980s in Leningrad. This study is part of the field of gender history, consumer culture and its structures in the Soviet Union, and also has something in common with the problem of physicality and fashion. As sources for research, I refer to the archival documents of the Leningrad factory "Severnoe siyanie", to the main magazines and newspapers such as "Rabotnica" and "Krest'yanka".The paper will consider the problem of what was the role of cosmetics, how it was reflected in the official discourse and what influence it had on Soviet women during the period of perestroika. I asked the following research questions: "What was the culture of cosmetics consumption in the 1980s in the USSR? How and from what did consumer interests and consumption practices change?".

Full text (added May 24, 2021)

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