Bourgeois pseudoscience


Bourgeois pseudoscience was a term of condemnation in the Soviet Union for certain scientific disciplines that were deemed unacceptable from an ideological point of view due to their incompatibility with Marxism-Leninism. For example, genetics was not acceptable due to the role of random mutations of an individual organism in evolution, which was perceived as incompatible with the "universal laws of history" that applied to masses universally, as postulated by the Marxist ideology. At various times pronounced "bourgeois pseudosciences" were: genetics, cybernetics, quantum physics, theory of relativity, sociology and particular directions in comparative linguistics. This attitude was most prevalent during the rule of Joseph Stalin.
Psychology was declared "bourgeois pseudoscience" in People's Republic of China during the Cultural Revolution. Sociology was banned in PRC in 1952, and it remained banned for over 30 years.