Is any communist state inevitably producing a society of sovoks?

[Silurian]

I believe that any communist state inevitably produces a society of Ewoks.

Win thread

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

I believe that any communist state inevitably produces a society of Ewoks.

Yub yub, commander.

 

[ParkCungHee]

Yub yub, commander.

Got the comment of the year in just before the deadline.

 

[cav scout]

I believe that any communist state inevitably produces a society of Ewoks.

Say that to my face not online and see what happens

 

[GoodSarmatian]

Hmm...after reading this definition I believe that every capitalist state produces a class of Sovoks.

The idea that the Soviet system would create a new, better kind of Soviet people was first postulated by the advocates of the system; they called it the "New Soviet man". Homo Sovieticus, however, was a term with negative connotations, invented by opponents to describe what they said was the real result of Soviet policies. In many ways it meant the opposite of the New Soviet man, someone characterized by the following:

Indifference to the results of his labour (as expressed in the saying "They pretend they are paying us, and we pretend we are working").
Lack of initiative and avoidance of taking any individual responsibility on anything.
Indifference to common property and petty theft from the workplace, both for personal use and for profit.[2] A line from a popular song, "Everything belongs to the kolkhoz, everything belongs to me" ("всё теперь колхозное, всё теперь моё" vsyo teper kolkhoznoye, vsyo teper moyo), meaning that people on collective farms treasured all common property as their own, was sometimes used ironically to refer to instances of petty theft.
Soviet Union's restrictions on travel abroad and strict censorship of information in the media (as well as the abundance of propaganda) with intent was to insulate the Soviet people from Western influence. As a result, "exotic" Western popular culture became more interesting precisely because it was forbidden. Soviet officials called this fascination "Western idolatry" (идолопоклонничество перед Западом idolopoklonnichestvo pered Zapadom).
Obedience or passive acceptance of everything that government imposes on them (see authoritarianism).
In the opinion of a former US ambassador to Kazakhstan, a tendency to drink heavily: "[a Kazakh defence minister] appears to enjoy loosening up in the tried and true Homo Sovieticus style – i.e., drinking oneself into a stupor."[3]

In my past low-wage jobs I have seen plenty of people to whom the bolded parts apply, sometimes including myself. It looks to my like typical underclass behaviour and is only identified with the soviet union because thanks to inefficient economic policy a very large segment of society lived in underclassy conditions. If people feel exploited they're gonna to a sloppy job and steal from the workplac. Whether it's an oppressive government or greedy capitalist pigs that do the exploiting is irrelevant.

 

[Tahuti]

The sovok condition is probably true for any employer-employee relation. The only way to completely avoid it is to get by on social benefits or become self-employed.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

The sovok condition is probably true for any employer-employee relation. The only way to completely avoid it is to get by on social benefits or become self-employed.

Not really. There are plenty of employees that want to do a good job and don't steal. It all depends on how content/frustrated they are with their situaton and if they are treated with respect.

 

[Tahuti]

Not really. There are plenty of employees that want to do a good job and don't steal. It all depends on how content/frustrated they are with their situaton and if they are treated with respect.

That would really require a certain satisfaction with the work they are doing, i.e. view it as a hobby too.