Title: The collective and the individual in Russia
First published: 1999
Description: "Oleg Kharkhordin has constructed a compelling, subtle, and complex genealogy of the Soviet, individual that is as much about Michel Foucault as it is about Russia.

Examining the period from the Russian Revolution to the fall of Gorbachev, Kharkhordin demonstrates that Party rituals - which forced each Communist to reflect intensely and repeatedly on his or her "self," an entirely novel experience for many of them - had their antecedents in the Orthodox Christian practices of doing penance in the public gaze. Individualization in Soviet Russia occurred through the intensification of these public penitential practices rather then the private confessional practices that are characteristic of Western Christianity. He also finds that objectification of the individual in Russia relied on practices of mutual surveillance among peers rather than on the hierarchical surveillance of subordinates by superiors that characterized the West.

The implications of this book expand well beyond its analysis of the connection between Bolshevism and Eastern Orthodoxy to shed light on many questions about the nature of Russian society and culture."--BOOK JACKET.
Subjects: National characteristics, Russian, Political culture, Russian National characteristics, Social control, Social psychology, Contributions in social sciences, Russia (federation), social life and customs, Russia (federation), history, Culture, Political science, Contribution aux sciences sociales, Russians, Psychologie sociale, Russes, Contrôle social, SOCIAL SCIENCE, Anthropology, Cultural, Public Policy, Cultural Policy, Popular Culture, Social sciences, Soziale Kontrolle, Politische Kultur, Individuum, Kollektiv, Individualisme, Collectivisme, Social Conditions, Sociology & Social History, Caractère national russe, Culture politique, Identité collective, Histoire
Places: Russia
People: Michel Foucault (1926-1984)
LC classification: HN523 .K48 1999