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Modernization of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union: The Problem of Continuity and Differences

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Abstract

In modern historiography, the issue of modernization in the history of Russia is debatable. In line with these discussions, polar-opposite points of view can be distinguished: (1) modernization as a single process permeates the history of Russia in the imperial and Soviet periods; (2) Russia developed in a special way, and attempts to modernize were generally imitative and counterproductive; (3) modernization processes were characteristic only for certain periods of Russian history, for example, for the imperial period, for the turn of the 19th–20th centuries, for “Stalin’s industrialization,” etc. An attempt to evaluate and interpret modernization trends in the national history and the basic mechanisms of modernization in relation to different periods of history (structural and functional differentiation, industrialization, and cultural transfers) and to identify common and special features in the course of modernization processes is made. Particular emphasis is placed on the methodological possibilities of neomodernization theory as a tool for analyzing the civilizational originality of Russian modernizations; conceptual approaches to solving the problem of continuity and gaps in the course of Russian modernizations are outlined.

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Notes

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  1. Institute of History and Archeology, Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Yekaterinburg, Russia

    I. V. Poberezhnikov & K. I. Zubkov

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  1. I. V. Poberezhnikov
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  2. K. I. Zubkov
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Translated by B. Alekseev

RAS Corresponding Member Igor’ Vasil’evich Poberezhnikov, Dr. Sci. (Hist.), is Director of the Institute of History and Archeology, RAS Ural Branch. Konstantin Ivanovich Zubkov, Cand. Sci. (Hist.), is a Leading Researcher at the Center for Methodology and Historiography, Institute of History and Archeology, RAS Ural Branch.

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Poberezhnikov, I.V., Zubkov, K.I. Modernization of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union: The Problem of Continuity and Differences. Her. Russ. Acad. Sci. 92 (Suppl 10), S983–S990 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1019331622160109

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