Terry Cox

Markku Kivinen

Russia’s post-Soviet modernisation is complex and subject to changing interpretations among Russian political leaders and observers of Russia. This has created serious problems for understanding Russia and the changes it is currently undergoing. With this in mind, a new Finnish Centre of Excellence was established in 2012 at the Aleksanteri Institute of the University of Helsinki under the title ‘Choices of Russian Modernisation’. This collection of essays represents some of the first examples of the Centre’s research. Reflecting the broad range of issues explored in the work of the Centre, it covers questions of Russia’s historical legacy, technological development, energy economy, political regime, political opposition, social development, religious life and external relations. The authors are all members of or affiliated to the Centre of Excellence. This book was originally published as a special issue of Europe-Asia Studies.

Structures and Agencies

Russian Modernisation

Brendan G. Humphreys

Building on an original interpretation of social theory and an interdisciplinary approach, this book creates a new paradigm in the Russian studies. Taking a fresh view of Russia’s multiple experiences of modernization, it seeks to explain the Putin era in a completely new way. This book explores the paradoxical and contradictory aspects of Russia, analyzing the energy-dependent economy and hybrid political regime, but also religion, welfare, and culture, and their often complex interrelations. Written by a community of both Western and Russian scholars, this book re-affirms the value of social science when confronting a society that has undergone enormous and costly systematic changes. The Russian elites see modernization narrowly as economic and technological competitiveness. The contributors to this volume see contemporary Russia facing a series of antinomies, which are macro-level dilemmas that cannot be abolished, either by philosophical mediation or by immediate political decisions. As such, they are the tension fields that constitute choices for various competing agencies. This book will be of interest to scholars and students of Russian studies, transition studies, sociology, social policy, political science, energy policy, cultural studies, and stratification studies. Professionals involved in energy, ecology, and security policy will also find this publication a rich source.

A New Paradigm

Russian Modernization

Russia as a Challenge for Sociological Imagination

Progress and Chaos

First published in 1998, this volume asks: are new social classes in the making in eastern Europe? Are class issues withering away? How do different classes organize their lives, what kind of strategies do they adopt in East and West. Markku Kivinen brings Eastern Europe into the class debate. Recent sociological discussions have touched upon questions of class in Eastern Europe only very provisionally. On the other hand, old analyses of social stratification under conditions of 'actually existed socialism' are no longer relevant in the current situation. This book analyses processes of class relations in Eastern Europe from new theoretical vantage-points, using up-to-date empirical data. Under socialism, power was said to be vested in the working class. However, there was a constant tension between the 'holy proletariat' and the real life of the working class. Today, all political forces in Eastern Europe; leftist and liberal alike, are hankering for the middle class. This book explores the real processes in both East and West. This leads to more concrete political and even moral issues. The new 'sacred middle class' is challenged. The contributors adopt several conceptual approaches and perspectives which enter into a fruitful exchange in this book.

The Kalamari Union: Middle Class in East and West

Finnland in den 1970er Jahren. Unweit der Hauptstadt Helsinki entsteht eine Betonsiedlung, in deren Schatten noch die Ku ̈he grasen. Die Tu ̈rme sollen ein Zeichen sein von Modernität und von Zukunft, sie sind die naive Vision einer besseren und gerechteren Welt. Das ist die Kulisse, in die uns Markku Kivinen fu ̈hrt, ohne diese Welt der Zeitenwende selbst zu beschreiben. Er lässt fu ̈nf Typen, vier Jungen und eine Religionslehrerin, erzählen. Im Stil von Tagebucheinträgen verarbeiten sie ihre Erlebnisse, ihre Einsamkeit in der Clique, ihre sexuellen Begierden, ihre Enttäuschungen und u ̈ber allem die Machtspiele, mit denen sie andere erniedrigen und selbst erniedrigt werden. In den ebenso nu ̈chternen wie ehrlichen Berichten spiegelt sich das pralle Leben der Jugendlichen, immer wieder gebrochen durch die höchst unterschiedlichen Perspektiven der Protagonisten auf die selben Ereignisse. Wie nebenbei entsteht so ein grandios komponiertes Gesellschaftsporträt einer Generation, die mit großen Hoffnungen in ein Leben voller Enttäuschungen aufbrach.

Markku Kivinen

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