Post-Soviet Perspectives on Russian Psychology

The study of psychology for the uses of the state, for industrial/labor purposes, for dealing with individual and ethnic tensions has a long history in Russia. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russian psychologists and scholars of the discipline from outside Russia have had the opportunity to reexamine the directions the discipline took as well as the directions likely to result from the new academic and political environments. This volume brings together many of the leading figures in contemporary Russian psychology, who show how the discipline got to where it is and examine what may result in the future.The volume begins with essays examining historical background; next the writers look at the period from 1985-1994 and its impact on research opportunities. This discussion is followed by a review of the major theoretical viewpoints and issues in contemporary Russian psychology. By bringing together many of the leading figures in Russian psychology, readers and researchers in psychology have a unique insight into the state of the discipline and its likely future directions.

The first extensive look at the evolution of Russian psychology from the perspective of the Post-Soviet era.

PrefaceIntroductory SectionHistorical Background, Analytical Overview and Glossary by Albert R. Gilgen and Carol K. GilgenRussian Psychology at Present by Yuri OleinikIdeological and Scientific Discourse in Soviet Psychological Science by Vera KoltsovaSocial Utopias and Knowledge Construction in Psychology by Jaan ValsinerSocietal Changes and Psychological Theory: The Russian Case by Antti Eskola and Klaus WeckrothPerspectives Focused on the 1985-1994 PeriodSoviet Psychology, Perestroika, and the Human Factor: 1985-1991 by Richard E. RawlesUnderstanding the Other Order of Things by Natsha E. FilatovaThe Institute of Psychology Revisited by David I. Bishop and Robert L. SolsoThe American Psychological Association's Initiatives in the Former Soviet Republic of Russia: Where Do We Go from Here? by Dennis Nissim-SabatRussian Psychology and the "New Capitalism" by Robert L. SolsoMajor Theoretical Viewpoints and Issues: Vygotsky, Rubinstein, Leontiev and OthersMarxism in Soviet Psychology: The Social Role of Russian Science by M. G. YaroshevskyTheory in Soviet Psychology: Major Dynamics by Ksenija Alexandrovna Abulkhanova-Slavskaya and Andrei Vladimirovich BrushlinskyA Chinese Perspective on Leontiev's Theory of Personality by Ye Hao ShengThe Crisis in Psychology and its Russian Dimensions by Dimitar D. VasilevOf Russians and Russia by Karl H. PribramThe Reflection of Soviet Psychology in East German Psychological Practice by William R. Woodward and Steven C. ClarkPerspectives on Specific Fields or Areas of PsychologyComments on the History of Psychoanalysis in Russia by B. TugaybayevaA Social History of Russian Industrial Psychology in the 1920s and 1930s by O. G. NoskovaEthnic Psychology in Soviet Russia by Arkadi MedvedevIs There a Comparative Psychology in the Future of the Former Member Nations of the USSR? by Ethel TobachIndexes