Russia's Youth and its Culture

<p>Since the political whirlwinds of the mid-1980s and the fall of communism in 1991, Russia has undergone dramatic social change, much of which has escaped the attention of Western media.<br>In her new book, Hilary Pilkington applies the methods of cultural studies research to the study of Russian youth. She does this by `deconstructing' the social discourses within which Russian youth has been constructed and by providing an alternative reading of youth cultural activity, based on an ethnographic study of Moscow youth culture at the end of the 1980s.<br>The book also charts the passage of western youth cultural studies in the twentieth century and suggests some new ways forward in the light of the Russian experience. Hilary Pilkington traces the cultural themes of youth culture in the Anglo-American tradition and within the Soviet Union, before examining the impact of perestroika on the media and its ramifications for the discussion of youth. The book ends with a study of young people in Moscow and youth cultural groups; the product of field work and interviews in the city.</p> Introduction Part I Youth and youth culture: theoretical paradigms 1 On the road to nowhere? Understanding youth culture in the West 2 Building the road to nowhere: Youth in the Soviet-Russian tradition Part II Reconstructing Soviet youth, 1985–91 3 Youth under the spotlight of glasnost, 1985–6 4 The politicization of the youth debate, 1987–9: The neformaly 5 Youth as object of social policy, 1990–1 Part III Deconstructing the constructed: a case study of Moscow youth culture 6 Studying Russia: From masochism to methodology 7 Introducing the subjects 8 Doing the Moscow shuffle: An analysis of the cultural practices of a Moscow tusovka ‘Embodied communication’: defining a framework for analysis. Conclusion: Partying at the barricades