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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 than 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 brilliant analysis of the connection between Bolshevism and Eastern Orthodoxy to shed light on many questions about the nature of Russian society and culture.

Social psychology --- National characteristics, Russian. --- Social control --- Political culture --- National characteristics, Russian --- Social Conditions --- Sociology & Social History --- Social Sciences --- Culture --- Political science --- Social conflict --- Sociology --- Liberty --- Pressure groups --- Russian national characteristics --- Foucault, Michel, --- Fūkūh, Mīshīl, --- Foucault, Michael, --- Fuko, Mišel, --- Pʻukʻo, --- Pʻukʻo, Misyel, --- Phoukō, Misel, --- Fuke --- 福柯 --- Fuḳo, Mishel, --- Contributions in social sciences. --- Russians. --- Social sciences. --- Behavioral sciences --- Human sciences --- Sciences, Social --- Social science --- Social studies --- Civilization --- Ethnology --- Slavs, Eastern --- bolshevism. --- communist. --- eastern orthodoxy. --- fall of gorbachev. --- hierarchical surveillance. --- individualization. --- intensification. --- kharkhordin. --- michel foucault. --- novel experience. --- orthodox christian. --- party rituals. --- private confessional practices. --- public gaze. --- public penitential practices. --- russia. --- russian revolution. --- russian society. --- soviet individual. --- soviet russia. --- surveillance. --- western christianity.