Bourgeois pseudoscience () was a term of condemnation in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

for certain scientific disciplines that were deemed unacceptable from an ideological point of view due to their incompatibility with

Marxism–Leninism Marxism–Leninism () is a communist ideology that became the largest faction of the History of communism, communist movement in the world in the years following the October Revolution. It was the predominant ideology of most communist gov ...

. At various times pronounced "bourgeois pseudosciences" were: Mendelian genetics,See Lysenkoism and its impact in the other countries of the Soviet Bloc

cybernetics Cybernetics is the transdisciplinary study of circular causal processes such as feedback and recursion, where the effects of a system's actions (its outputs) return as inputs to that system, influencing subsequent action. It is concerned with ...

,"Кампания против кибернетики в СССР"
/ref>

quantum physics Quantum mechanics is the fundamental physical Scientific theory, theory that describes the behavior of matter and of light; its unusual characteristics typically occur at and below the scale of atoms. Reprinted, Addison-Wesley, 1989, It is ...

theory of relativity The theory of relativity usually encompasses two interrelated physics theories by Albert Einstein: special relativity and general relativity, proposed and published in 1905 and 1915, respectively. Special relativity applies to all physical ph ...

sociology Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...

and particular directions in comparative linguistics (the now-debunked Japhetic theory of Nikolay Yakovlevich Marr, which was also refuted by Stalin in " Marxism and Problems of Linguistics"). The term was not used by Stalin himself, who rejected the notion that all sciences must have a class nature. Stalin removed all mention of “bourgeois biology” from Trofim Lysenko’s report, ''The State of Biology in the Soviet Union'', and in the margin next to the statement that “''any science is based on class''” Stalin wrote, “''Ha-ha-ha!! And what about

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

? Or

Darwinism ''Darwinism'' is a term used to describe a theory of biological evolution developed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and others. The theory states that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural sel ...

?''” The term or its synonyms was used in the 1951 and 1954 editions of the ''Short Philosophical Dictionary'': "Cybernetic is a reactionary pseudoscience originated in the United States... A form of modern mechanicism.", "

Eugenics Eugenics is a set of largely discredited beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter the frequency of various human phenotypes by inhibiting the fer ...

is a bourgeois pseudoscience", " Weismannism- Morganism - bourgeois pseudoscience, designed to justify

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

". Today, most scholars agree in characterizing eugenics as rooted in pseudoscience, albeit without the "bourgeois" qualifier.

Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

was declared a "bourgeois pseudoscience" in

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

during the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

(1966–1976). Furthermore, sociology was banned there in 1952, and it remained banned until the late 1970s.

Notes

References

Ideology of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Political repression in the Soviet Union Soviet phraseology Science and technology in the Soviet Union Politics of science Anti-intellectualism Pseudoscience {{science-stub

See also

Notes

References