Un pas en avant, deux pas en arrière ou Comment on étudie le réalisme socialiste soviétique

One step forwards, two steps backwards, or how socialist realism is studied In this paper questions are asked about the methodology of the current approaches to socialist realism. The end of the Soviet political system created an atmosphere of 'change of paradigm' in the vast field of Russian and East-European studies. Nevertheless, no facts impossible to understand within the framework of the old 'totalitarian' theories have been discovered, and no new global theory radically changing our vision of the Soviet system has been proposed. The author analyzes here a séries of presuppositions which seem to underlie the methods of Soviet cultural studies, preventing them from renewing themselves. The issue of systemicity is central to the argument. A critique is madę of the 'descriptionisť position negating this systemie nature of the Soviet culture and of the atomistic and holistic positions, both accepting the systemie postulate but failing to produce a methodology cohérent with it. The paper is bound to initiate a search for an analysis capable of taking into account the complexity of the cultural phenomenon (perhaps the récent theories of complex phenomena from other sciences could help in this search); it proposes a 'research program' which focalizes on the aspects and constituents which may be marginal, but are essential at the same time for the funetioning of the system

Argument (complex analysis) · Economics · Epistemology · Field (mathematics) · Humanities · Phenomenon · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Presupposition · Realism · Sociology · French Historical and Cultural Studies · Law · Philosophy · Post-Communist Economic and Political Transition · Soviet and Russian History