Olga Shevchenko. Crisis and the Everyday in Postsocialist Moscow

Abstract

The reviewed book is based on ethnographic research in Moscow in late 1990s. The author explores the phenomenon of «crisis» becoming a dominant framework of interpretation for ordinary Muscovites in postsocialist Russia, and shows how the framework functioned in ordinary processes of making sense of the world and in ordinary practices of everyday life. Particular attention is devoted to the phenomenon of autonomy of household as a social unit. The reviewer outlines the main points of the book and discusses its importance for understanding everyday life in postsocialist metropolis. Two main critical points are drawn: the lack of discussion of Moscow as an urban environment and of its specificity within Russia; and the problem of autonomy as autonomy from the state as compared to autonomy from the society.