The Formation of Urban Subjectivity of Tyumen Residents in 1964–1985 (Using the Example of Leisure Practices)

Abstract

The paper examines the urban subjectivity of Tyumen residents. The research subject is the individual perception of the city by each resident associated with his needs, interests, and life values. The study of urban subjectivity provides a deeper understanding of the lifeworld, motives of actions, and behavior of the city residents. It lets us explain the phenomena associated with modern socio-cultural processes of urban space.
The purpose of the study is to determine the formation factors of the urban subjectivity of the Tyumen residents in 1964–1985 and identify the features of the urban subjectivity. The study is based on archival documents, statistical materials, periodicals, and sources of personal origin. I applied the subject-activity and cultural-anthropological approaches in the study. The main research methods are narrative (descriptive), comparative-historical, historical-genetic. For the first time, I identified a complex of factors impacting the formation of the urban subjectivity of Tyumen residents in 1964–1985. In the study, I emphasize the increase of Tyumen status and the change of narrative as the main factors. As a result, I discovered a contradiction. On one hand, Tyumen became the “oil capital”, the industrial, intellectual, and cultural center. The city played a significant role in satisfying the sociocultural needs of its residents, including leisure activities. On the other hand, a certain level of dissatisfaction occurred among the citizens. One of the reasons for this dissatisfaction was the uneven development of the urban space.