Way of Life

Way of Life in a social-hygienic sense. By 'way of life' (byt), one usually understands the mode of life of an individual or a group of people (estates, classes). The concept of 'way of life' includes not only, and perhaps not even primarily, people's convictions, but rather the habits, skills, and traditions in which an individual or human collective (estates, classes) has lived. Many habits (smoking, drunkenness) are instilled in the way of life, against which a person may protest with their convictions, but to which they succumb due to tradition and conventions associated with that way of life. This conservatism of the way of life has great social-hygienic significance. Conviction is often powerless to restructure the way of life and free a person from harmful habits (narcotism, religious prejudices, etc.). A restructuring of the foundation upon which the way of life grows is needed, i.e., a change in the socio-economic and cultural conditions of the life of a person or society. Factors of the way of life, along with labor factors, to a significant degree condition and determine the psycho-physical development, morbidity, and mortality of the collective and the individual. The cumulative influence of the way of life on the sanitary state of a human collective, for all its indisputability, has not yet been studied in detail to the present time in terms of analyzing the influence of individual factors of the way of life and isolating them from factors of another order. The influence of such factors of the way of life as housing conditions (see Housing), nutritional conditions (see), clothing, the nature of child-rearing (see), etc., is better studied; their influence is well known. Also known is the harmful influence of such factors of the way of life as drug addiction (see) and religious superstitions (cf. the significance of Easter kisses, kissing crosses, chalices, and relics in the spread of syphilis) in the work of improving the health of the population. A low cultural and economic level is a companion of an unhealthy way of life, and on the soil of low culture and sanitary illiteracy, a whole series of so-called 'diseases of the way of life' develops (domestic syphilis, scabies, favus, trachoma, high infant mortality, etc.). Due to the aforementioned conservatism of the way of life, a more successful struggle against old, unhealthy habits and customs is most fruitfully conducted among the young, rising generation: less bound by traditions and prejudices, the young generation is more receptive to new principles of the way of life than the older one. Therefore, the Komsomol and Pioneer movement, besides its political significance, has enormous social-hygienic importance. The cultivation of hygienic habits in the Komsomol, among Pioneers, and among Octobrists plays a huge role in the matter of improving the way of life. From what has been said, it follows that the paths to improving the way of life coincide with the paths of the economic and cultural advancement of the population. And since many harmful habits of the way of life (debauchery, drug addiction, etc.) are rooted in the conditions of exploitation and class inequality generated by the capitalist system (see Social Diseases), the construction of socialism is the best path to improving the way of life. In the system of socialist measures, measures for the collectivization of life have special significance in the struggle for a new way of life. Public catering, public upbringing of children, the development of communal houses, public laundries—all these and similar measures have not only political and socio-economic, but also social-hygienic significance. Sanitary education holds a special role in the matter of improving the way of life of the population, especially in our country of low sanitary culture. Sanitary education is one of the most effective means in the fight against diseases of the way of life. As complex and diverse as the way of life is, so too is the struggle against the old, unhealthy way of life for a new, clean, bright, healthy way of life. Socialist construction paves the way for THIS NEW way of life.

N. Semashko.