THE REGIONAL ASPECT OF THE STUDY OF THE TRANSFORMATION OF RUSSIAN SOCIETY IN THE 1950-1990S AND THE EVOLUTION OF THE ECONOMIC SYSTEM: REPRESENTATIVENESS AND UNIQUENESS OF THE UPPER VOLGA REGIONS OF THE LATE USSR

Abstract

The article raises the question of opportunities, prospects and directions in studying the regional aspect of the problem of transformation of Russian society in the 1950-1990s and the evolution of the economic system in the late USSR. The theoretical and methodological basis of the study is connected with the ideas of Mikhail Beznin and Tat’yana Dimoni on the formation of state capitalism in the late USSR; Alexei Yurchak’s, on the last Soviet generation. It is argued that the Upper Volga region (Vladimir, Ivanovo, Kostroma, Kalinin, Yaroslavl) of the late USSR as an object of historical research should be analysed simultaneously from two angles. On the one hand, it is indicated that these regions are suffi ciently typical and representative of the study of the late USSR in the political and socio-economic spheres. On the other hand, the uniqueness of the Upper Volga cluster of regions in terms of socio-cultural and mental characteristics, as well as geographical location, is emphasised. Particular attention is paid to the spatial localisation of the object of study. The role of the Upper Volga regions as large industrial and scientifi c-technical centres of Union-republican signifi cance, their importance in the militaryindustrial complex and the defence system of the USSR are examined. The formation of the infl uential layer of the political, economic and scientifi c-technical elite in the studied regions is noted. The unique characteristics of the status of the Upper Volga regions as centres of Russian statehood and national, cultural identity (the Golden Ring of Russia tourist route), their geographical proximity to Moscow are analysed.