Modernization and Russian Culture

AuthorPreeti D. Das
Published date01 July 2016
Date01 July 2016
DOI10.1177/0020881718760639
Subject MatterArticles
Modernization and
Russian Culture
Preeti D. Das1
Abstract
The twenty-first century is marked by relative stability of the sociopolitical situa-
tion in Russia, which created space for the development of culture and provided
a tool to look back into its history. The amalgamation of different religions,
cultures or schools of thought occupies an influential place in the development
of multicultural Russian society. It is noticeable that the cultural process was not
hampered by the disintegration of the former USSR and continues to reflect the
social reality of today’s world. Reduced state intervention in the cultural activi-
ties lessened the number of participants. The transition from state funding to
self-maintenance led to the commercialization of culture, though this commer-
cialization was limited to transition phase only. This article makes an attempt to
evaluate the process of modernization and highlights its impact on the develop-
ment of Russian culture. It provides an outline of the main stages in the develop-
ment of Russian culture and analyses the directions it has taken.
Keywords
Culture, modernization, society, Russian culture, sociocultural development
While foreign policy is influenced by geography, economy, internal and external
factors, cultural elements1 (Bhaduri, 2010, p. 160) move freely in time and space
and cannot be strictly restricted by geographical boundary or other specific factors.
It has the capacity to accommodate foreign influences in such a way that over a
period of time it is difficult to recognize the origin of individual elements.
In modern times, two contradictory approaches (Voronina, 2001, p. 190) have
been highlighted to understand cultural developments. The first one is centred on the
manifestation of different, not compatible approaches, opinions and criteria of
looking at the world. Hence, attempts are being made to search for the new criteria
Article
International Studies
53(3–4) 305–320
2018 Jawaharlal Nehru University
SAGE Publications
sagepub.in/home.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0020881718760639
http://journals.sagepub.com/home/isq
1 Assistant Professor, Centre for Russian and Central Asian Studies, School of International Studies,
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India.
Corresponding author:
Preeti D. Das, Centre for Russian and Central Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal
Nehru University, New Delhi, India.
E-mail: ketyusha@gmail.com
306 International Studies 53(3–4)
and objectivity. The second approach reflects National tradition where ‘national idea’
plays a very important role in the development of a society. The concept of ‘national
idea’ in itself is all encompassing and refers to multiple meanings that bring people
together. ‘National idea’ is also understood as the ‘main goal of the community united
by common national identity’ (Anastasia et al., 2014, p. 9). Despite the limitations of
one ethnic group, at any given point in time, socio-economic development cannot
ignore the centuries-old traditions, rituals and beliefs of other people (Voronina,
2001, p. 190). Therefore, it would be wrong to undermine the significance of national
traditions and culture in the life of the society and diminish their role in resolving
inter-ethnic conflicts and other socially important issues.
The article makes an attempt to examine the conceptual understanding of
modernization and highlights the development of Russian culture in light of the
modernization process of Russia. It provides an outline of the main stages in the
development of Russian culture and considers the impact of various facets of
country’s cultural development.
Modernization
Modernization is a stage in socio-historical development (Fomina, 2003, p. 5),
which is believed to positively contribute towards the development of the country
(Ponomarev, Remizov, & Bakulev, 2009). It is a process of change in the society
towards those social, economic and political systems, which are economically
advanced. The concept was developed in Western Europe and North America
beginning from the sixteenth–seventeenth centuries and continued through
the 1970s of the twentieth century (Dean, 1973, p. 208). As discussed by Dean
C. Tipps based on ethnocentrism, ethnocentric or developmental theories of
modernization provided ‘justification for power relationship between modern
and traditional societies’ (p. 210). Though modernization refers to transition from
traditional society to modern and touches upon all aspects including social, politi-
cal, economic and cultural life, with time it has acquired diverse meanings and
interpretations. As Deputy of State Duma Ilya Ponomarev et al. (2009) high-
lighted for economic and administrative elite ‘modernization is simply a set of
programmes’ that allows funding at a lower interest rate from ‘the state budget or
from state-owned banks’, whereas according to Sirke Makinen, modernization for
Russian leaders is ‘essential element of strategies to catch up with the West’. This
can be substantiated by Nikolai Zlobin’s2 (2009) understanding of the process of
modernization that ‘entails creating an attractive model of national development
that could become an example for others to emulate’ (Sirke, Smith, & Forsberg,
2016, p. 168).
Modernization touches upon all aspects of the society, including social, political,
economic and cultural. In the West, modernization began with the emergence of
social consciousness and awareness. Renaissance and Reformation were two
movements that initiated cultural and religious changes in Europe. Starting at the
end of the fourteenth century, the emergence of Renaissance can be traced to Italy,
influencing Western and Central Europe by the end of the fifteenth–sixteenth

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