(1930-2020) was President of the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences and Professor of Sociology at the University of Manchester. He was one of the originators of contemporary peasant studies and also made a significant contribution to the fields of historical sociology, social economics, epistemology, political sciences and rural history. In his work Professor Shanin focused on Russian society and the further development of the methodology of peasant studies in Russia. Central to his vision and analytical work were also efforts to challenge the over-simplification of the theories of progress. In his later works, Teodor Shanin put forward the term ‘expolary economy’ to describe the informal economies that challenge neoclassical economics and the modern forms of social and political planning informed by it. He also played an important role in developing new forms of academic education in Russia. The list of his books published in English includes ‘Peasants and Peasant Societies’, ‘The Awkward Class: Political Sociology of Peasantry in a Developing Society: Russia 1910-1925’, ‘Late Marx and the Russian Road: Marx and the Peripheries of Capitalism’, ‘Russia as a Developing Society: Roots of Otherness, Russia’s Turn of Century’, ‘Revolution as a Moment of Truth: 1905-1907→1917-1922’ and ‘Defining Peasants: Essays Concerning Rural Societies: Expolary economies and Learning from Them’.
Farmers and a degrowth economy in Russia
The global crisis gives a chance for a new model of living to emerge – an economy of degrowth. In an interview with the LavkaGazeta, Teodor Shanin is reflecting on the role that farming can play in the new model of development.
November 18, 2020