Social psychology in the Soviet Union

Following the evolution of Soviet social psychology is rewarding not only in itself but also for the light it throws on current events and trends in contemporary Soviet philosophy in general.     

Suicide and suicidology in the Soviet Union

This study was conducted in order to obtain information on suicide in the Soviet Union, an important subject for which we have no scientific literature. Studies of attempted suicide in Soviet psychiatric journals were analyzed. This information was supplemented by interviews with Soviet psychiatrists now living abroad. The results of this inquiry show that suicide is a subject that clearly has become of increasing concern in the Soviet Union. Furthermore, in spite of the absence of essential statistical data on mortality, there is evidence indicating that the rate of Soviet suicide may be rising in certain parts of the country. Finally, growing concern about suicide has led to expanded prevention programs and to a new emphasis on social and psychological etiological explanations. In particular, the role of the Soviet family in crisis has been emphasized as a major influence in understanding the causes of suicidal attempts.     

Educational Reforms in the Former Soviet Union

With the dissolution of the Soviet Union, there have been movements toward a range of education reforms. In this article, an historical account is presented of education from communist roots to current times.     

Marxism after the Collapse of the Soviet Union

The article studies the implications for historical materialism of the failure of the socialist project in the Soviet Union. The author demonstrates that the said failure broadly confirms central historical materialist theses, which would have been difficult to sustain if the Russian revolution had succeeded in its goal of superseding capitalism and establishing a socialist society.     

Leadership of antireligious propaganda in the Soviet Union

Re-emergent scientific atheism bears the marks of its historical origins in the efforts of Bon-Bruevi and Jaroslavskij. The disciples of the Lenin generation use their fathers somewhat as second-level classics.     

An Exploratory Study of Perceived Career Change and Job Attitudes Among Job Changers

The study examined the effects of job change characteristics on perceived career change and attitudes toward the new job. The job change characteristics examined were content of change, magnitude of change, direction of change, volitionality of job choice, and duration of the unemployment period between the two jobs. The subjects were 222 university educated men and women. It was found that perceived career change was firmly related to job change characteristics reflecting both "internal" and "external" career perspectives. After controlling for the direction of change, the magnitude of change had a negative impact on satisfaction with the new job, while the volitionality of job choice and the duration of unemployment were positively associated with job satisfaction. Contrary to expectation, the volitionality of job choice and the duration of unemployment did not increase the commitment to continue in the new job.     

Democracy and Fatalism in the Former Soviet Union1

Recent political events in the former Soviet Union suggest that democracy has only a tenuous hold in this region. Underlying many of these events may be psychological values and beliefs ill conducive to the development of democracy. In the 2 studies described in this paper, conducted in 1995 and 1998, 2 large and representative groups of manual workers, students, civil servants, managers, and the retired from 4 former Soviet republics completed measures of fatalism, attitudes toward democracy, and democratic participation (N= 2,672 and 925). Structural equation analyses of the data from both studies find that particular groups (in particular, manual workers and the retired) hold the strongest fatalistic beliefs, which in turn predict democratic attitudes, voting behavior, and political‐party membership. These findings are discussed in the light of possible interventions that might promote democratic participation in the region.