Theoretical Problems of Soviet Underground Culture

This article presents a spectrum of theoretical problems associated with the Soviet artistic underground as a historical and cultural phenomenon. The central focus is on constellating issues of terminology and definition around the borders of underground culture in the USSR, within scholarship about it. As a theoretical hypothesis of the handbook, the chapter introduces the concept of the lifeworld, which the volume editors and contributors interpret as a synthetic multimedia nexus of a given nonconformist circle’s activities, both artistic and cultural. The underground lifeworld manifests the aesthetic discourse idiosyncratic for each artistic circle and serves as the source of semi-spontaneous “relational art” that absorbs and generates artworks, along with performative and communicative practices. Through the concept of the aestheticized lifeworld, the authors of this article define the historical specificity of the Soviet artistic underground in relation to the Russian historical avant-garde and Western neo-avant-garde.

Sociology for sustainability science

Sociological insights are often underutilized in sustainability science. To further strengthen its commitment to interdisciplinary problem-driven, solutions-oriented research, sustainability science can better incorporate fundamental sociological conceptions into its core. We highlight four aspects of sociological thought that we consider crucial for advancing sustainability science research: (1) social construction and critical realism, (2) structure and agency, (3) historical specificity, and (4) collective action. We draw on examples from sociology to support a dynamic understanding of how social relations interact with the bio-geo-physical world. This necessary integration of sociological insights, we argue, is critical to generate comprehensive assessments of the causes and consequences of human-induced environmental change, and tend to be overlooked or oversimplified within the field of sustainability science. Beyond that, it can stimulate the development and implementation of viable solutions to sustainability challenges.

Is capitalism structurally indifferent to gender?: Routes to a value theory of reproductive labour

The contributions of Ellen Meiksins Wood to social property relations arguments have facilitated an enhanced understanding of the historical specificity of capitalism and its structuring conditions. Yet such arguments also have some questionable assumptions when it comes to theorising gender and so-called ‘extra-economic’ identities, most noticeably regarding capitalism as indifferent to gender relations. This article delves into such issues by delivering a set of quandaries about various aspects of the social property relations approach and its relevance to wider debates on economy and space. We contend that debates in Marxism Feminism and social reproduction theory therein should be elevated to centre stage in considerations of political economy and economic geography. Consequently, it is possible to dispense with the notion that capitalism is structurally indifferent to gender, which mars the social property relations approach. At the same time, however, there are tensions within Marxism Feminism, not least revolving around questions of value, the role of unpaid labour in the household, and wider theorising on the relationship between ‘market’ conditions and extra-economic relations of ‘state’ power. We explore two major contending routes to what we call a value theory of reproductive labour within Marxism Feminism and conclude that this reconnaissance provides an opportunity to initiate enhanced discussion on future political struggles against capital's requirements.

Let's do it Frank's way: general principles and historical specificity in the study of entrepreneurship

Formal economic models of entrepreneurship have two characteristics: they model entrepreneurship as an allocation of resources, and they identify common factors affecting this allocation. These common factors are represented as parameters of optimization models, and they are evaluated at the market level. We argue that although these models are useful, they are incomplete because certain aspects of entrepreneurial behavior, such as judgment, alertness, or innovativeness, cannot be easily transformed into allocative problems. Moreover, entrepreneurial acts involve idiosyncratic elements, which limit the applicability of the market-level analysis to individual cases. Thus, the traditional economic methods have to be complemented by approaches highlighting the role of individual and historical specificity. The study of entrepreneurship, therefore, requires a synthesis of both general theory and historicist approaches, as envisioned a century ago by Frank Knight.

Using Radiocarbon Dates and Tool Design Principles to Assess the Role of Composite Slotted Bone Tool Technology at the Intersection of Adaptation and Culture-History

Slotted bone tools are an iconic example of composite tool technology in which change in one of the components does not require changing the design of the other parts. Commonly, slotted bone tools are seen through the lens of lithic technology, highlighting organizational aspects related to serial production of insets, reliability and maintainability. In this framework, slotted bone tool technology is associated with risk aversion in demanding environmental settings. Here, we provide the first overview of radiocarbon-dated slotted bone tools in northernmost Europe and the East European Plain, including 17 new direct dates on pitch glue, and show that the Late Pleistocene to Middle Holocene period of inset slotted bone tool use in this area shows marked variation and idiosyncrasy in associated lithic technology against a trend of continuously warming climate. We suggest that historical specificity and path-dependence, rather than convergent evolution, best explain the variability seen in slotted bone tool technology in the studied case, and that slotted bone tools in general formed an organizationally flexible, adaptable and hence likely adaptive technological solution that met a wide variety of cultural and technological demands.

Surveying Financial Decisions? From Homo Economicus to Historical Specificity and J.S. Mill’s Cultural–Institutional Individualism

The aim of this paper is to evidence that non-economic factors, such as culture, emotions and ethics, can be seen as an important force in influencing human economic behavior and human action. This is conducted by putting the homo economicus notion into the perspective of the history of economic thought and, more specifically, of John Stuart Mill. More specifically, Mill’s institutional individualism, as is presented in his System of Logic (1843), and his relativity of economic doctrines construction, as is included in his Principles of Political Economy (1848), are synoptically delineated. Through Mill’s analysis, it is supported that cultural differences between different states of societies are determinant in understanding different behaviors. The paper concludes that Mill’s historical specificity and his more pluralistic version of cultural–institutional methodological individualism are more compatible in understanding human decision making.

Introduction

This introduction announces American Snobs's argument and indicates how its work draws from and speaks to conversations amongst literary and historical scholars. Pointing to the historical specificity of the liberalism that the book discusses, the introduction describes the social and professional ties that connect the thinkers treated throughout the book, noting the centrality of Harvard University in the elite network that links Henry Adams, Henry James, and Edith Wharton to men like W.E.B. Du Bois, Charles William Eliot, Charles Eliot Norton and Barrett Wendell. The introduction then offers a brief historiography of 'the genteel tradition' before concluding with a rapid summary of the book's subsequent chapters.

Methodology of the research of the Transcarpathia Sovietization in 1944–1950

The article analyzes the modern methodology of the Transcarpathia Sovietization research in 1944–1950. Though there are individual (N. Makara, V. Mishchanyn) and collective monogrpahs (N. Makara, R. Ofitsinsky), it is too early to speak about a serious methodological base to present the causal links of this process. A better understanding of Sovietization in Transcarpathia requires studying the historical and geographical space. A contemporary researcher should go beyond the narrowed framework of the regional approach in the study of the Sovietization in Transcarpathia and compare its post-war transformations with those in Western Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic Republics, Central and Eastern Europe (A. Applebaum) using the methodology of comparative analysis. The epistemological approach employed by P.R. Magocsi can be used to study the historical specificity of the region with its multi-ethnicity, multiculturalism, multiconfessionality (S. Makarchuk). The Ukrainian emigration was rather critical of the post-war policy of the Soviet regime. In particular, V. Markus defines the entry of Transcarpathia into Soviet Ukraine as annexation. The Encyclopedia of Ukraine published in the 1950s and 1980s in Canada analyzes many aspects of Sovietization in the Ukrainian SSR. A contemporary researcher should clearly understand such concepts as “totalitarianism” (H. Arendt), “Sovietization”, “socialist version of modernization” (S. Gavrov), “transit”, “transformation”, etc. The article also points out some errors of scholars studying the problems of Sovietization in the region. Thus, the problem of Sovietization of Transcarpathia is still under development. Its multifaceted nature requires interdisciplinary approaches using the tools of history, economics, law, statistics, political science, social science, ethnology, and cultural studies.

Czechoslovak Tariffs in the 1920s: An Example of Historical Specificity in Economic Policy

Czechoslovakia was the first industrialized economy to substantially increase tariffs after the First World War. At that time, Czechoslovakia was highly export-oriented, with a large trade surplus in industrial goods. We argue that the introduction of tariffs was a consequence of the ethnically heterogeneous structure of the economy. German capital controlled the highly export-oriented light and consumer goods industries; Czech capital dominated in industries that were far less export-oriented or even import-competing, such as machinery, transportation equipment, and electrical goods. Trade and exchange-rate policy preferences of both groups clearly differed; however, the policy decision-making process (at least until 1926) was completely controlled by Czechoslovaks and Czech capital, explicitly committed to a nationalist takeover of Czechoslovakia's economy. This is why it was possible to implement an exchange rate and trade policy that ran contrary to theoretical expectations based on the general (national aggregate) indicators of the national economy.

Theoretical and methodological foundations for the study of federalism

The purpose of the research is to determine the basic methodological rules that allow to form a science-based concept of separation of powers between the levels of government, taking into account the cultural and historical conditions of development of Russian society, the establishment in it of stable principles of relations in the public sphere, standards and stereotypes of social interaction. The research conducted on the basis of the dialectical method, which was used in combination with the systematic method, the historical method and the socio-cultural vision of political and legal phenomena, showed the following results: a) there are only general guidelines that guide states in choosing a federal model, not any of its benchmarks; b) the problem of correlation of vertical separation of powers with responsibility and cultural and historical specificity in the implementation of powers in the sphere of joint jurisdiction of the federal center and the subjects of the federation is the key one; c) significant in the methodology of the study of federalism is the assessment of the weakness of political ambitions of the power elites in relation to the role of socio-economic factors that determine the degree of effectiveness of the implementation of their powers by the subjects of public authority; d) the separation of powers in a federal state is a dynamic process, the content and direction of which are conditioned by concrete and historical tasks; e) the centralization of federal relations in Russia is a factor in their evolution and dynamics. The novelty of the research is due to the author’s approach to the substantiation of the system of methodological rules, which will ensure a) the integrity of the state, b) the need for decentralization of power on the basis of the principles of federalism, c) the definition of the principles that determine the model of separation of powers.