Civil Society, Social Change and the New Popular Education in Russia ― From Comrades to Citizens

This book explores how social change and changes to civil society are occurring in Russia, considering especially these changes in the education field. It shows how, although the right to lifelong learning is guaranteed by the Russian state, as it was by the Soviet Union, where formal education, based on communist ideology, emphasised the needs of the state over the needs of individuals; in practice at present the educational needs of adults – a wide range of needs, many of which are connected with coping with changing economic, social and technological circumstances - are being met by a range of non-governmental providers, including commercial companies, self-help groups, and community and neighbourhood clubs. This book discusses how this new popular education is both an example of developing civil society, and also helps the development of civil society further, although, as the book points out, new popular education is also part of a growing educational divide, where motivated, articulate people are taking advantage of new opportunities, whilst disadvantaged groups such as women, the unemployed and the rural poor continue excluded.

John Morgan is Professor of Political Economy and Education in the School of Education at Nottingham University, UK.

Grigori Kliucharev is Academic Secretary to the Institute of Sociology, Russia Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.