Kolesnikova S.M., Zhang L.

BLAT as a concept in Russian culture. Pp. 85–93.

UDC 811.161.1’42

DOI 10.37724/RSU.2025.86.1.009

 

Abstract. The relevance of the study is due to the fact that the concept of BLAT (cronyism) as a cultural and historical phenomenon has a high degree of importance in the social environment, because it reflects the state of social life and mental attitudes of a Russian person in different eras (both in the Soviet period and at present). The purpose of this article is to identify and describe the socio-cultural characteristics of the concept BLAT in the Soviet Union and in modern Russia from the point of view of cognitive linguistics. The research materials used were texts from newspapers, obtained in electronic format from the National Corpus of the Russian Language and demonstrating social behavior of people in certain conditions. The analysis was based on authoritative lexicographic sources. The following methods were used in the research process: conceptual analysis with a description of the semantic structure of the concept BLAT, etymological analysis of the origin of the word “blat”, componential analysis with the identification of the seme or sememe of the key word, contextual analysis and empirical analysis. The study of the materials allowed us to conclude that the concept “blat” in the Soviet period is closely connected with the notions of scarcity and having influential supporters, and nowadays it has acquired the meanings of “bribe”, “acquaintance” and “money”. The conducted research has made it possible to reveal the semantic origins of the concept BLAT and its social role in the Russian linguistic picture of the world: on the one hand, blat is “an important means of solving personal selfish problems”, yet on the other hand, blat is considered “a passive social phenomenon” that undermines social justice.

 

Keywords: concept of BLAT, ethnospecific concept, sociocultural features, etymology, semantics, semantic principles, cognitive linguistics.

 

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