Негативная идентичность: статьи 1997-2002 годов

Lev Gudkov, sociologist (VTsIOM) and journalist, is the author of several books and numerous articles. The main subject of these articles, based on results of the polls he participated in, is the change of social mood and expectations in the decade following the fall of the Soviet system. It turned out that the disintegration of a repressive society did not bring release from constraint or poverty, or a feeling of being finally free from eternal captivity. On the contrary, this process is associated with particularly severe forms of collective depression and social asthenia, pent-up aggression and deep nostalgia. The author claims that Western sociology demonstrated limited aptitude and descriptive non-conformity in the study and description of new social phenomena in Russian society. The articles in this book are united by the author's desire to portray the social mechanisms which diminish one's adaptivity, and are typical of members of a coercive society.