The social geographies of post-Socialist Societies
Dr John Round, Faculty of Sociology and Centre for Advanced Studies
This course explores the everyday outcomes of the collapse of the Soviet Union in Russia. It takes a political economy approach to examine the social and economic outcomes of the collapse of the Soviet Union and uses the work of Lefebvre and de Certeau to theoretically explore everyday life and the coping tactics employed by individuals, households and communities.
The key theoretical skills that students will learn from taking the course include the ability to understand complex social structures under transition, how households cope with uncertainty, their relationships with the state, the nature of protest in Russia, all placed within broader global debates on social change and responses to it.
Academic skills include the ability to draw upon a wide range of literatures and apply them to the post-socialist contexts, the ability to utilise media sources (including traditional print, video, twitter, blogs etc) in an academic manner and, as a significant section of the course it taught outside of the lecture room, the skills needs to undertake ethnographic work and develop visual media methods.
Students are fully engaged in the module and encouraged to discuss issues in a supportive environment, suggest materials and topics for exploration and critique the concepts presented. As a student who took the module last year said “I truly benefited from not just the richly useful information you provided, but also the manner in which it was taught. I loved going out into Moscow and seeing concrete examples of what we were discussing in class, and having the opportunity to put much of what I was seeing into a critical theory. Thank you for a wonderful experience”. The module is assessed by contributions to class and an essay, the title of which is chosen by the students within the contexts of the course.
For further details please contact me at
Some of the spaces we will explore while working in the field
New economic spaces of Moscow and sites of consumption: Moscow City
The social spaces of cities: Gorky Park
The portrayal of Soviet and post-Soviet societies through visual methods (and the creation of new cultural spaces in Moscow): includes trips to Red October Factory, Vinzavod, New Tretyakov Gallery for lectures to the given amongst art by the module leader