Person of late socialism: image construction (on materials of Runet)

The article deals with the problem of pragmatics in representing a person of Late Socialism in the post-Soviet collective memory. The research is based on multiple narrations about the Soviet past collectively discussed on the sites of Russian-speaking social networks. The main characteristic features helping to compare images of the Soviet and the post-Soviet person are highlighted: health care, education, professionalism, law abidance, altruism, freedom, attitude toward money and other nations. The paper argues that the image of the Soviet person is used primarily as a resource material instrumental in narrator’s identity construction.