La corruption de la relation d'aide dans un contexte social contrôlé
The alteration of the aid relationship in a controlled social context

Summary/Abstract: This paper discuses the case of political regimes that impose a total - social, political, and ideological - control of the individuals. In such cases, the meaning of the aid relationship can be altered and turned into its opposite, that is, into the obligation to acquire the knowledge provided by the government watchdogs and engage in those social practices that were authorized by the regime. This paper presents from a psycho-sociological perspective the theories of some classics of revolutionary social change and individual reformation. It analyzes the specific mechanisms through which aid is turned into conformity pressure. More precisely, it presents first the notion of a new individual as theorized by Lenin and Chernishevsky; second, it focuses on Makarenko's pedagogical model of converting ideology into a social practice that has for its goal forming individuals who are capable to educate both society and themselves. The ideas of these classic authors are illustrated through the case study of the social practice of context control in Communist Romania. The following strategies are analyzed: the total control of the system of education; collaborationism; the emergence of a new intellectual elite; the change in personality structure as a result of institutionalized violence (the so-called Pitesti experiment, or reeducation through torture). In this study we try to determine how a dominant type of social thinking was constituted within a controlled social and cultural context, and how the latter can influence the socio-cognitive development of the kind of individual that is desirable for the government.

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