Cover Osteuropa 2/2008

In Osteuropa 2/2008

Sociology of Knowledge Instead of Adulation
The Levada School Obstructs Reception on Its Own

Mischa Gabowitsch


Deutsche Fassung

Abstract

The sociologists of the Moscow-based Levada Centre are working to codify the intellectual legacy of their deceased teacher. But this will hardly put an end to the isola-tion of Levada, Gudkov, & Co. For this “disturbance in dialog” is not only a problem of international scientific communication. It also has to do with Russia’s debate culture. The universal claim of Levada’s functionalist theory, the dubious status of key terms, its confinement to Russia as the object of research, as well as the explicit claim to being normative place additional hurdles in the way of the Levada school’s greater reception.

(Osteuropa 2/2008, pp. 33–52)