The Stages of Economic Evolution and the Russian/USSR/Russian Experience

Abstract

Prerequisite Paradigmatic BoundariesThe culture of Russia has experienced an amazing metamorphosis. The process of restructuring continues on to the current period, as one stage of culture evolution gives rise to the next. This transformation manifest in the Russian/USSR/Russian experience, though at times chaotic and disruptive, need not necessarily be indicative of malady per se. Structural transformation, as perestroika, can also be positive in that it serves as a necessary condition for the ongoing acceleration, uskorenie, of culture evolution[1] (Aganbegian (1988a, p. 1)). A basic hypothesis of this article is that ongoing culture evolution is predicted on a continuous transformation of culture, both material and social.The question then becomes, given the need for structural transformation, which new structure will best serve the cause of promoting the advance (acceleration) of civilization? In the context of the modern era, the anthropologists' conception of culture can be used as the conceptual equivalent of civilization [2]. By definition, as "that complex hole", culture embodies the "holistic" emphasis of the "new thinking" now taking place (