Bourgeois pseudoscience

Bourgeois pseudoscience (Russian: Буржуазная лженаука) was a term of condemnation in the Soviet Union for certain scientific disciplines that were deemed unacceptable from an ideological point of view[1][2] due to their incompatibility with Marxism-Leninism. For example, genetics was not acceptable due to the role of random mutations of an individual organism in evolution, which was perceived as incompatible with the "universal laws of history" that applied to masses universally, as postulated by the Marxist ideology.[3] At various times pronounced "bourgeois pseudosciences" were: genetics,[notes 1] cybernetics, quantum physics, theory of relativity, sociology and particular directions in comparative linguistics (Japhetic theory). This attitude was most prevalent during the rule of Joseph Stalin.

Psychology was declared "bourgeois pseudoscience" in People's Republic of China during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976).[4] Sociology was banned in PRC in 1952,[5] and it remained banned for over 30 years.[6]

See also

Notes
  1. See Lysenkoism and its impact in the other countries of the Soviet Bloc

References
  1. Loren R. Graham (2004) Science in Russia and the Soviet Union. A Short History. Series: Cambridge Studies in the History of Science. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-28789-0
  2. Mark Walker (2002) Science and Ideology. A Comparative History. Series: Routledge Studies in the History of Science, Technology and Medicine. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-27122-6
  3. "Karl Kautsky: Nature and Society (1929)". www.marxists.org. Retrieved 2020-02-21.
  4. Wang, Zhong-ming, "Psychology in China: A review dedicated to Li Chen" (abstract), Annual Review of Psychology, 44, 87–116, 1993, doi:10.1146/annurev.ps.44.020193.000511
  5. The Anthropology of China: China as Ethnographic and Theoretical Critique, p. 22
  6. China's Emerging Middle Class: Beyond Economic Transformation, p. 62


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