Daniel Beer. Renovating Russia: The Human Sciences and the Fate of Liberal Modernity, 1880–1930. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2008. 248 pp. $45.00 (cloth). ISBN-13: 978-0-8014-4627-6. Henry A. Murray. Explorations in Personality (70th Anniversary ed.). New York: Oxford University Press, 2008. 816 pp. $98.50 (cloth). ISBN-13: 978-0-19-530506-7. Ken Alder. The Lie Detectors: The History of an American Obsession. New York: Free Press, 2007. 337 pp. $27.00 (cloth). ISBN-13: 0-7432-5988-2. John C. Malone. Psychology: Pythagoras to Present. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2009. 568 pp. $40.00 (cloth). ISBN-13: 978-0-262-01296-6
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2010
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 36 KB
- Volume
- 46
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0022-5061
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✦ Synopsis
In this book, Daniel Beer, Lecturer in Modern European History at Royal Holloway, University of London, examines the use of medical and scientific theories of degeneration, particularly that of Bénédict Augustin Morel, by liberal professionals in the fields of psychiatry, psychology, and criminology who hoped to reform Russian society after the 1905 Revolution by enforcing "scientific" programs of social engineering. Beer argues that although liberalism was defeated in 1917, theories of degeneration continued to influence more radical efforts to transform Russian society by the Bolsheviks, who drew upon these theories in their promotion of violent and repressive measures designed to bring about forced industrialization and collectivization. Arguing against common views that biological perspectives on social problems were relatively unimportant during this period of Russian and Soviet history, Beer examines the development of the human sciences (psychology, criminology, psychiatry, and biological psychology) from the 1880s to the early years of Soviet Russia and their relationship to the political debates of the times. He compares the development of these human sciences in Russia to their emergence in Europe, most notably in Italy, France, and Germany. Beer argues that the liberals' focus on the scientific study of deviance, fused with Soviet Marxism, fueled Soviet efforts to isolate and rehabilitate "deviants" using coercive means.