Appearance of students: normative canon and everyday practices in the context of school culture (1950-90)

The article provides a retrospective study of the normative framework and everyday practices related to the appearance of students in the context of the transformation of Soviet school culture. As a result of theoretical analysis, it is concluded that school culture is best manifested in the daily practices of members of the school community. The paper presents the materials of the included interview with representatives of several generations of Soviet schoolchildren; individual sources of visual culture (school films, posters, photographs) are summarized. The study of the patterns of transformation of the appearance of Soviet schoolchildren in the designated period allows us to draw several conclusions: sociocultural factors influenced the change in school uniform models: in the 1940s-60s it was determined by the preferences of the political elite, and in 1970-80s by the trends of the youth subculture; throughout this period, the parallel existence of normative and everyday practices of the appearance of schoolchildren is revealed, with a gradual expansion of the boundaries of permissible violation of the norm, which may indicate the democratization of school culture, the mitigation of the regime of school life; normatively specified variability of the appearance of Soviet schoolchildren in the 1970-80s. (new styles of school uniforms, different types of haircuts, etc.) also speaks of a change in attitudes towards childhood; in an authoritarian school culture, a child has the opportunity to choose in appearance.