A Modern History of Russian Childhood

A Modern History of Russian Childhood examines the changes and continuities in ideas about Russian childhood from the 18th to the 21st century. It looks at how children were thought about and treated in Russian and Soviet culture, as well as how the radical social, political and economic changes across the period affected children. It explains how and why childhood became a key concept both in Late Imperial Russia and in the Soviet Union and looks at similarities and differences to models of childhood elsewhere. Focusing mainly on children in families, telling us much about Russian and Soviet family life in the process, Elizabeth White combines theoretical ideas about childhood with examples of real, lived experiences of children to provide a comprehensive overview of the subject. The book also offers a comprehensive synthesis of a wide range of secondary sources in English and Russian whilst utilizing various textual primary sources as part of the discussion.This book is key reading for anyone wanting to understand the social and cultural history of Russia as well as the history of childhood in the modern world.

Elizabeth White has written an excellent survey of the history of childhood in modern Russia, exploring both the evolution of theoretical concepts and cultural representations of childhood from the late 17th century to the post-Soviet era. Accessible and balanced in its argument, this book will greatly benefit students and scholars alike.

Préface
An exploration of the changes and continuities in concepts of Russian childhood, as well as the experiences of Russian children across the late Imperial and Soviet periods.

Auteur
Elizabeth White is Senior Lecturer in History at the University of the West of England, UK. She is the author of The Socialist Alternative to Bolshevik Russia: The Socialist Revolutionary Party, 1921-39 (2010) and co-editor of The Distanglement of Populations. Migration, Expulsion and Displacement in Postwar Europe, 1944-49 (2012).

Texte du rabat

A Modern History of Russian Childhood examines the changes and continuities in ideas about Russian childhood from the 18th to the 21st century. It looks at how children were thought about and treated in Russian and Soviet culture, as well as how the radical social, political and economic changes across the period affected children. It explains how and why childhood became a key concept both in Late Imperial Russia and in the Soviet Union and looks at similarities and differences to models of childhood elsewhere. Focusing mainly on children in families, telling us much about Russian and Soviet family life in the process, Elizabeth White combines theoretical ideas about childhood with examples of real, lived experiences of children to provide a comprehensive overview of the subject. The book also offers a comprehensive synthesis of a wide range of secondary sources in English and Russian whilst utilizing various textual primary sources as part of the discussion. This book is key reading for anyone wanting to understand the social and cultural history of Russia as well as the history of childhood in the modern world.

Contenu

1. Introduction: The History of Modern Childhood 2. Education, the State and the Russian Child in the Eighteenth Century 3. Childhood in Late Imperial Russia 4. Childhoods in Revolution, Civil War and Austerity, 1917 - 1929 5. Stalinism and the Making of Soviet Childhood 6. Post-War Soviet Childhoods, 1953 - 1991 7. Postscript: Childhood in Modern Russian Federation 8. Conclusion Bibliography Index