PhD student, The Department of Political Science, University of Bucharest, e-mail address: loredana_cochior@yahoo.com. 

SOCIAL MEMORY

ABSTRACT

BETWEEN LEGAL SANCTION AND SOCIAL SANCTION: THE COLLECTIVE IN THE PROCESS OF FORMING THE NEW MAN IN SOCIALIST ROMANIA

This article examines the relationship between law, ideology and social control within the process of shaping the New Man in Socialist Romania. The study examines the ways in which the social engineering project pursued by the Ceaușescu regime relied on work collectives, mass organizations and public opinion to promote the internalization of behaviours considered compatible with the ideal of the New Man. Particular emphasis is placed on mechanisms such as public criticism and social opprobium, interpreted as forms of social sanction and peer pressure, complementary to legal sanction. In this context, Socialist law functioned not only as a legal instrument but also as a mechanism through which the collective was transformed into an active agent of social control and ideological conformity. Keywords: New Man, Socialist law, social control, collectivity, work collective. 

DOI: 10.59277/RJSoc.2026.3-4.06

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