Russia's Youth and Its Culture: A Nation's Constructors and Constructed

Book Cover......Page 1
Half-Title......Page 2
Title......Page 4
Copyright......Page 5
Dedication......Page 6
Contents......Page 7
Figures and tables......Page 10
Acknowledgements......Page 11
Glossary of abbreviations and terms......Page 12
Introduction......Page 14
Part I Youth and youth culture: theoretical paradigms......Page 17
YOUTH IN THE CITY: SUBCULTURES AND DELINQUENCY......Page 18
Slums, street corners and gangs: the city as living organism......Page 20
‘THE GENERATION GAME’: YOUTH AND THE STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISTS......Page 23
FROM JUKE-BOX TO KARAOKE: YOUTH AS CONSUMER......Page 26
RITUALIZING RESISTANCE: YOUTH CULTURE IN THE WAKE OF 1968......Page 29
Culturalism vs structuralism: the origins of cultural theory......Page 30
Desire, power and discourse: the post-structuralist critique......Page 33
Cultural studies of youth......Page 35
Critiques of CCCS from within and without......Page 38
CONCLUSION......Page 41
2 Building the road to nowhere......Page 44
‘FATHERS AND SONS’: YOUTH IN PRE-REVOLUTIONARY RUSSIAN CULTURE......Page 45
‘The future belongs to youth’: Lenin, the revolution and the cultural construction of youth......Page 46
Creating a new culture: continuity and change......Page 48
The Komsomol: institutionalizing youth construction......Page 50
NEP—A temporary lull in the construction of communism......Page 51
THE FIRST FIVE YEAR PLAN: THE PHYSICAL CONSTRUCTION OF COMMUNISM......Page 53
On the streets of Soviet Russia—the besprizornik......Page 56
YOUTH IN SOCIALIST SOCIETY: VICTIMS OF WESTERN INFLUENCE......Page 59
The 1950s: thaw or Cold War?......Page 60
The sotsial′nii zakaz......Page 64
Critique of bourgeois theories......Page 66
Slide into structural functionalism......Page 67
FROM BREZHNEV TO GORBACHEV: THE WAKING STATE......Page 69
CONCLUSION......Page 73
Part II Reconstructing Soviet youth 1985–91......Page 75
Introduction......Page 76
3 Youth under the spotlight of glasnost 1985–6......Page 79
Advances in the construction of communism......Page 80
Setbacks in the construction of communism......Page 83
Glasnost as ‘voicing’, but whose voice?......Page 84
CONSUMED BY CONSUMPTION? THE DEBATE ON YOUTH LEISURE......Page 86
The ‘teenage consumer’......Page 87
The subject of ‘the problem’: the dvor group......Page 90
THE STRUGGLE TO RECAPTURE YOUTH: THE ORIGINS OF THE NEFORMALY DEBATE......Page 93
CONCLUSION......Page 96
4 The politicization of the youth debate, 1987–9......Page 98
THE NEFORMALY: CAUSE OR EFFECT OF DEMOCRATIZATION?......Page 99
Socialist pluralism: defining the boundaries......Page 100
RESTRUCTURING THE KOMSOMOL......Page 103
Criticism and self-criticism: the Twentieth Congress......Page 104
Defining the role of the Komsomol: economic or political power?......Page 105
Informal groups accepted by the Komsomol......Page 108
Making contact with socially ‘neutral’ or ‘passive’ groups......Page 109
Anti-social or negative groups......Page 112
Initial problem and solution......Page 115
Opinions and attitudes......Page 121
Centre versus provinces......Page 122
Alienation......Page 123
Causation......Page 124
Rescue and remedy......Page 125
The liubery and others: glasnost or moral panic?......Page 127
CONCLUSION......Page 128
IN SEARCH OF A FUTURE: THE DEMISE OF THE VLKSM......Page 130
The Twenty-first Congress: to be or not to be?......Page 133
YOUTH, THE KOMSOMOL AND THE STATE: DEFINING A NEW RELATIONSHIP......Page 135
Putting the youth policy into practice......Page 139
Informal groups as distinct ways of life: rethinking the concept of subculture......Page 141
Youth culture and multiple possible futures......Page 143
Subcultures and their members: enter the psychologists......Page 144
The ‘lost generation’: youth as symbol of social disintegration......Page 147
Education and employment......Page 148
Housing......Page 149
Army......Page 150
Juvenile crime......Page 151
CONCLUSION......Page 152
Part III Deconstructing the constructed: a case study of Moscow youth culture......Page 154
Introduction......Page 155
6 Studying Russia:......Page 157
THE POLITICS OF METHOD......Page 158
The problem of language and meaning......Page 160
RESEARCHING THE RESEARCHER......Page 161
Redefining the research project......Page 162
Recording the research......Page 163
TEXTUAL ANALYSIS: THE POWER OF INTERPRETATION......Page 164
Unresolved problems......Page 167
MAPPING THE MOSCOW YOUTH CULTURAL WORLD......Page 169
Explaining the categories: grey areas......Page 170
Associations......Page 173
Economic neformaly......Page 174
Gopniki......Page 175
The stiliagi......Page 176
Hippies......Page 179
Heavy metal fans......Page 180
Rokery......Page 181
CONCLUSION......Page 182
8 Doing the Moscow shuffle......Page 184
‘EMBODIED COMMUNICATION’: DEFINING A FRAMEWORK FOR ANALYSIS......Page 185
Meanings of the tusovka......Page 186
Music and dance......Page 188
Style......Page 190
From privilege to commodity culture: the case of the mazhory......Page 194
Centre and periphery: the legacy of Soviet modernization......Page 196
Space and style: the case of the gopniki......Page 200
Play......Page 205
‘Getting high’......Page 206
‘Going crazy’......Page 207
‘Having a laugh’......Page 208
‘Being sussed’......Page 209
‘The main thing was that I didn’t become a gopnik’: Subcultures as explorations of masculine identity......Page 210
Men with a mission? Rereading liuber body-politics......Page 211
As usual, it was the girls in front and the boys behind’: Subcultures as explorations of feminine identity......Page 216
Reading stil′: a case of gender-bending?......Page 217
Limitations of the tusovka as an exploration of femininity......Page 219
Limitations of the tusovka as a subversion of masculinity......Page 222
THE TU-SOVKA: MARKETIZATION, GLOBALIZATION AND MOSCOW YOUTH CULTURE......Page 223
The drive towards authenticity......Page 224
The trend towards inclusivity......Page 232
CONCLUSION......Page 235
Conclusion......Page 238
Appendix......Page 242
Notes......Page 248
ENGLISH LANGUAGE SOURCES......Page 257
RUSSIAN LANGUAGE SOURCES......Page 263
Index......Page 274