Korolev, S. A. From ‘Apostle’ to ‘Archipelago’: Social and Cultural Transformations in Russia

Abstract: The article considers the three stages of social and cultural transformation of Russia: slow accumulation of cultural and educational potentials starting from book printing and lasting up to the beginning of the 20th century; Stalin’s ‘cultural revolution’ when the cultural space was reconstructed and became the field of agenda, indoctrination and Stalin’s ideology; and the hidden ‘Westernization’ when the elements of consumer society ripened during the so called ‘period of stagnation’. The end of the latter led the Russian society to the period of regeneration of social and cultural tissue which had been lost before (the so called ‘perestroika’) and to the Internet revolution at the beginning of the 21st century.

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