1. THE GAME OF TIME: REFLECTING
VARIETIES OF SOVIET IN POST-
SOVIET NATION-BUILDING VIA
TEXTBOOKS’
COMPARISONS
Marharyta Fabrykant
Alla Marchenko
Nataliya Tregubova
41st World Congress
International Institute of Sociology
Uppsala, June 9-10, 2013

2. Outline
1. Methodological issues: a version of
mixed methods design in history
textbooks .
2. Comparative research design:
selection and ‘Reconstruction’ of
Cases
3. A research outcome: M.Gorbachev as
protagonist of textbook discourse(s) of
perestroika

3. Mixed Methods Design in Textbook
Research
Game theory:
quantitative modeling of
authors’ strategic
choices
+
Narrative analysis:
qualitative modeling of
the mode of storytelling
=
relating story to history

4. The Trick-or-Treat Game:
Post-Soviet Historian vs. the System
 Rule 1: There is no neutral outcome for a historian.
Reason: Little consensus on recent history.
 Rule 2: Trick - punishment for an undesirable story - is
unpredictable.
Reason: The system is in flux/”transition”.
 Rule 3: Treat - award for the desirable story – is crucial
for a historian.
Reason: lack of alternative sources of income.
 Rule 4: All outcomes for the system are neutral, unless a
critical number of historians cooperate.
Reason: the target audience of textbooks does not play
this game.

5. Modeling the Trick-or-treat Game
Historian
Attempting
a desirable
story
Diversificat
ion of
storylines
Trying to
enter the
system
System
Punish
ment
Loss of face
& sanctions /
---
Second
chance / ---
Entering
another
system / ---
Award Path-
dependence
& privileges /
---
Permit to
continue
working / ---
Dictating
the rules /
---

6. Resulting Textbooks Narrative
Complex and multilinear (diversification).
Different interpretations of the same
events, both on purpose and unintended.
Actors portrayed as strategic game
players competing with each other and the
initial conditions, hence belief in rationality
results in conspirology, as the main mode
of narration.

7. Comparative Research Design:
Qualitative vs Quantitative Strategy
Qualitative (case-
oriented) strategy

Quantitative
(variable-oriented)
strategy

Problematization
Preliminary selection of
cases
Case studies / definition
of criteria for
comparison /
'reconstruction' of cases
Conclusions
Formulation of research
question
Theory
Hypothesis (variables
as criteria for
comparison)
Hypothesis’ test for
cases compared
Conclusions
Sampling

8. Comparative Research Design:
Qualitative Strategy
 Initial problematization:
 How is the perestroika period
represented in post-Soviet textbooks?
 Ultimate research question:
 How is the problem of nation-building
after the SU collapse being solved through
textbooks’ representations of perestroika
period in post-Soviet space?

9. Comparative Research Design:
Qualitative Strategy
Preliminary cases:
 Belarus, Russia, Ukraine as the most
similar cases (due to socio-historical
context):
Resulting cases:
 Belarus, Russia, Ukraine (states) +
Chechnya and Tatarstan (Russian regions)
with pretty different representations of
perestroika

10. Conclusions: A Textbook Case?
 Preliminary generalizations:

?
Case
USSR
Russia /
RSFSR
The discursive logic is
embedded in answers
to the primary
questions:
 What is the status of the
case “whose” history is
narrated?
 What are the relations
between the case,
USSR and Russia/
RSFSR?
??
?

11. Conclusions: A Textbook Case?
Limits and limitations:
 The focus on case studies did not allow
to reveal the typical case of post-Soviet
nation-building
Prospectives:
 These results demand new
comparisons with a new principle of case
selection (not the most similar but the most
different) to look for patterns in the
seeming diversity

12. Gorbachev as a protagonist of
perestroika: mean score of personalities’
mentioning

13. Gorbachev and Game Theory
Separate plays of Gorbachev’s appearance,
activities and disappearance with perestroika
final.
Reconstructed rather as a symbol than a
person.
Shown as a front of mostly anonymous “team”,
closely connected to external meanings (e.g.
reconstructed meanings of the USSR decline).
Ambivalent comparisons (e.g. to old system,
democratic forces, Yeltsin, Kerensky)

14. Mikhail Gorbachev vs
general depersonalization
control vs uncontrol
over situation
deeds within the USSR vs
external activities
regressive
vs
progressive
self-oriented vs
others-oriented
collective vs
individual actor

15. “Various cases – different faces”
Ukraine’s meanings:
 victim of the system, most sacralized,
though populist
Belarus’ meanings:
 overall tragicomism, “transitive” actor
Russia’s meanings:
 as embodiment of the USSR - in most
part of Russia,
 formal figure - in Tatarstan and Chechnya.

16. Prospectives for historical textbook
analysis in Sociology
Suitable for comparative research aimed to
reveal the official schemes of History for study of
nation-building processes.
Demanding researcher being embedded in
social context of textbook creation, reproduction
and distribution as well as in historical context.
Relevant for trying different versions of content
analysis and discourse analysis to deconstruct
the ideological engagement of narration.

17. Thank you for your attention!