G. S. Batygin, L. A. Kozlova, E. M. Sviderski (eds.) Sotsial’nye nauki v postsovetskoi Rossii [The Social Sciences in Post-Soviet Russia]. Saint Petersburg: Akademicheskii proekt, 2005

Abstract

The role of the social sciences in Russia is a matter of controversy. The wealth of publications on this subject in Russia itself indicates that there is a need for information on the state of these disciplines. Foreign observers, too, would not only like to know where Russia is going, but also to be able to gauge the role of the sciences and, in particular, the social sciences in the country’s development. The editors of this volume attach great importance to the social sciences. They proceed on the assumption that the current economic and social reforms in Russia were prepared by the same “intellectual project” that caused the fall of communism. Today, they argue, Russia is faced with a choice between two sets of values: national self-reliance or participation in the universal discourse of civil societies (p. 3).