The Moral Career of a Suspected Legionary: Psychological Language in the Securitate Archives

Abstract

This article explores some notable uses of psychological language in the Securitate archives. We examine Securitate files concerning Constantin Vaman, a suspected legionary subjected to surveillance work by the Securitate. This article seeks to show how Securitate activities, particularly the writing of informer notes and operatives’ reports, are the upshot of strategic use of morally implicative psychological language. Constantin Vaman’s Securitate files are used to explore two categories of psychological language: the language of mental states and the language of disposition and motive. We show that Securitate’s writing of informer notes and operatives’ reports were dependent on the strategic use of morally implicative psychological descriptions. We argue that close attention to the many facets of psychological language used in Securitate documents discussed in this article may enable researchers to understand more fully the complex nature and inner workings of surveillance work.

Memorability of Romanian dissidence: Ordinary people, secret files and artistic remediations

“…They also revealed significant conflicts between the post-communist images of anti-communist heroes and those images of them in their Securitate files, where some of them were labelled as collaborators (Petrescu, 2017). Several studies focused on the language used by the Securitate officers in writing the interrogatories and biographies of those surveilled (Plamadeala and Tileaga, 2022), further revealing the complexity involved in the processes of surveillance, biography writing and file assembly. The studies show that the 'extensive biography of the suspect', had the power to 'radically alter the course of that life, and even to put a full stop to it' (Vătulescu, 2010: 13) with such files including private items, correspondences, personal writings and diary pages (Lewis et al, 2016).…”

The Influence of Cognitive and Emotional Factors on Social Media Users’ Information-Sharing Behaviours during Crises: The Moderating Role of the Construal Level and the Mediating Role of the Emotional Response

“…Most of the data sources are self-reported, and some studies are based on social media such as X (formerly known as Twitter) and online forums. The topics cover psychological intervention [ 26 ], historical data analysis [ 27 ], personality traits [ 28 ], and language differences [ 29 ]. Compared with general situations, people’s decision making in a crisis is more likely to be affected by others on social media.…”