The Afterlife of the Soviet Man: Rethinking Homo Sovieticus (Russian Shorts) - Softcover

Gulnaz Sharafutdinova

Softcover

ISBN 10: 135016772X ISBN 13: 9781350167728

Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic, 2022

Synopsis

Almost three decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union, today more often than ever, global media and intellectuals rely on the concept of homo sovieticus <\/i>to explain Russias authoritarian ills. Homo sovieticus<\/i> \- or the Soviet man \- is understood to be a double\-thinking, suspicious and fearful conformist with no morality, an innate obedience to authority and no public demands; they have been forged in the fires of the totalitarian conditions in which they find themselves. But where did this concept come from? What analytical and ideological pillars does it stand on? What is at stake in using this term today? The Afterlife of the Soviet Man<\/i> addresses all these questions and even explains why at least in its contemporary usage this concept should be abandoned altogether.

About this title

About the Author

Gulnaz Sharafutdinova is Professor of Russian Politics at King’s Russia Institute (King’s College London, UK. She is the author of award-winning The Red Mirror: Putin’s Leadership and Russia’s Insecure Identity (2020) and an earlier monograph, Political Consequences of Crony Capitalism Inside Russia (2011). She is also the co-editor, along with Neringa Klumbyte, of Soviet Society In The Era of Late Socialism, 1964-1985 (2012).

Edition details

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Publication date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 135016772X
• ISBN 13: 9781350167728
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 144