Homo sovieticus in the Kaliningrad region: theoretical quest in the international historiography
- Pages
- 39-56
Abstract
The article discusses the major areas of theoretical research by foreign scholars (historians, sociologists, political scientists and other specialists), who are engaged in the study of the history of the Kaliningrad region of the Soviet period and use the category Homo sovieticus (the Soviet man). The first part of the article covers the history of the concept “Soviet people”, actively used by the Soviet researchers in 1970s-1980s. The second part describes the understanding of “Homo sovieticus”, which was developed in the national (first of all, in the émigré) literature of the late Soviet period. The third part presents the works of foreign scholars that deal with the aspects of making of Homo sovieticus in the Kaliningrad region (first of all, the factors of Sovietisation and the reasons for its failure). The author of the article concludes that the application of this category is not always sufficiently justified, but a number of observations by foreign researchers are undoubtedly worthy of attention. The conclusion provides an overview of research perspectives in the study of the history of the westernmost Russian region during the Soviet period.