Russian Social Thought in 19th Century

Russian Social Thought in the 19th Century is a comprehensive introduction to pre-Soviet Russian social theory, tracing its evolution through the works of influential thinkers such as Pyotr Chaadaev, Leo Mechnikov, Mikhail Bakunin, Pyotr Kropotkin, and Pavel Lilienfeld. This pioneering text weaves together a chronological narrative that highlights the overlapping contributions of these intellectuals, rediscovering the broader roots of sociology within Russia’s rich historical and philosophical landscape. By synthesizing key ideas and movements, the book provides an indispensable foundation for understanding the development of Russian social thought and its enduring impact on global intellectual traditions.

Designed for an academic and scholarly audience, this book is an essential resource for students, educators, and researchers in Russian social theory, philosophy, sociology, history, and political science. It invites readers to delve deeply into the intellectual currents of 19th-century Russia, offering fresh insights and critical perspectives for those seeking to expand their understanding of social theory’s historical dimensions.

Ananta Kumar Giri is Founding Honorary Executive Trustee of Vishwaneedam Centre Asian Blossoming, Puducherry and Chennai, and a former Professor at the Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai, India. He has taught and done research in many universities in India and abroad. He has an abiding interest in social movements and cultural change, criticism, creativity and contemporary dialectics of transformation, theories of self, culture and society, and creative streams in education, philosophy, and literature. Giri has had an abiding interest in the philosophies and practices of yoga, especially the integral yoga of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, and he is now cultivating pathways for a new social and planetary yoga. He has written, edited, co-edited, and translated more than six dozen books in Odia and English, including Global Transformations: Postmodernity and Beyond (1998); Knowledge and Human Liberation: Towards Planetary Realizations (2013); Bahudhara Barnabiva (Splendrous Beauty of the Plural, 2021); The Calling of Global Responsibility: New Initiatives in Justice, Dialogues and Planetary Realizations (2023); Rethinking Satyagraha: Truth, Travel and Translation (Editor, 2025); Cultivating Gardens of God: A Paradigm Shift in Faith (Editor, 2025); Contemporary Contributions to Critiques of Political Economy (Editor, Routledge, 2024); New Works in Consciousness Corridors: Dialogues with Subhash Sharma and Creative Planetary Futures (Co-editor, Authors Press, 2023); Rethinking Media Studies: Media, Meditation and Communication (Co-editor, Routledge, 2024); Towards a Dharma of Peace Building (Co-editor, Springer, 2023); Covid-19 and the Challenges of Trauma and Responsibility (Co-editor, 2025); Quest for Planetary Well-Being: Essays in Honor of MV Nadkarni (Co-editor, 2026); The Calling of Global Responsibility: New Initiatives in Justice, Dialogues and Planetary Realizations (2023); Social Healing (2023); and Cultivating Integral Development (2023).

Artem Uldanov is an assistant professor at Politics and Governance School, HSE University in Moscow, in the Russian Federation. His research is mainly in political science and public policy. He has written on issues of public participation in authoritarian political regimes and the applicability of different public policy theories in an authoritarian institutional landscape. His recent research focuses on policy narratives in Russian context and the comparative analysis of recent mass protests in former Soviet republics.

Sergey Parkhomenko has a PhD in sociology from Moscow State University n.a. M.V. Lomonosov and an MPA from Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, NY, USA. He is an associate professor at Politics and Governance School and the deputy head of the Laboratory for Anti-Corruption Policy at HSE University, Moscow. His main research interests lie in the field of anti-corruption studies, public governance, and public policy. His recent research focuses on the sociology of corruption, anti-corruption education and training, and the implementation of anti-corruption policies in public sector.

Arnab Roy Chowdhury is an associate professor in the School of Sociology at HSE University, Moscow, in the Russian Federation. Prior to this, he was an assistant professor in the Public Policy and Management Group at the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIMC). His research and teaching interests include sociological theory, forced migration and refugee studies, social movement studies, ethnicity and nationalism, agrarian studies, natural resource extraction and labour, comparative and historical sociology, and postcolonial and subaltern studies.

Deirdre Ruscitti Harshman is an assistant professor in the Department of History at Christopher Newport University, USA, as well as the book review editor of The Soviet and Post-Soviet Review. Her research focuses on modern Russian and Soviet history, particularly in conversation with urban studies and the history of everyday life, and she is currently working on a book project entitled “The Unruly Everyday: Managing Housing, Home, and the Russian City, 1890–1935.”