The Soviet Union

The book analyzes Soviet society as a 'hard reality', emphasizes the varying perceptions of it in the Soviet Union and the US, and insists that, while glorifications of the Soviet reality have been useful, the most accurate descriptions of this reality were critical.

Autorentext

ERIC SHIRAEV ****is a a Political Psychologist at George Mason University, USA.

EERO CARROLL ****has held post-doctoral appointments at SOFI, Stockholm University (1999-2006), the National Institute for Working Life (2006-07) and the Institute for Futures Studies (2007-08), all in Stockholm, Sweden.

VLADIMIR SHLAPENTOKH is Professor of Sociology at Michigan State University, USA.

Inhalt
Introduction to Rashomon's Tale: Perspectives on a Society from Within and from Without Thinkers from Overseas: How Did Western Experts Understand and Describe the Soviet Union over its 74-year History? Homegrown Russian Intellectuals: On the Existence of Credible and Unreliable Internal Sources of Elite Information about Soviet Realities A Mirror from Afar: American Public Opinion about the Soviet Union from the 1930s to the 1980s Self-fulfilling Reflections: Soviet Public Opinion about the Homeland, in Attitudes and Images Conclusion and Discussion: Limits and Potentials to De-ideologizing Studies of Foreign Countries, and Reconstructing Images of a Society Held by its Denizens