Daily Life of Rural Residents of the Russian Far East in the Period of “Late” Socialism

The paper presents the daily life of rural residents of the Soviet Far East in the 1970s and the first half of the 1980s - in the period of so-called “late” socialism. Rural daily life is analyzed through the prism of nation-wide trends and their manifestations at the regional level. It is noted that the contradictory results of the state policy towards the Soviet village and the eastern part of the country found a specific manifestation in the life of local residents. On the one hand, the living standards of the villagers were improving: their income was increasing, social infrastructure was developing, and opportunities for varied leisure time activities were created. On the other hand, the real life did not correspond to the level officially declared by the authorities and was not close to the urban standard of living, and that, to a certain extent, demonstrated the inferiority of the village and its inhabitants. Two things were essential - the traditional way of rural life and the increasing difference in views on everyday life on the part of people of different ages. The author pays special attention to the reasons which contributed to the transformation of the daily life of that period. In particular, there is an increase in the labor activity of rural women, the gradual transformation of children from helpers into dependents, and the older generation becoming self-sustaining and living isolated. The conclusions are drawn that negative processes in the dynamics of daily life of rural Far Eastern people were combined with positive ones; in general, a skeptical attitude to rural daily life was formed in the society by the mid-1980s as well as the desire to move in any possible way to the urban environment.