Movement and Movements, or Who Will Become the Leader of Change?

Abstract

A changing context narrows the possibilities of analysis. When a situation changes so precipitously and, moreover, so frequently as is currently the case in Russia, then this swiftness of personnel turnover produces a deceptive desire to find a nontraditional method of understanding, one in keeping with an era of change. This swiftness causes a feeling that scientific methods are too slow, that results become obsolete more rapidly than study can be completed. A desire to broaden the scope of analysis by moving from psychological to sociological, then to historical, description emerges. The contours of the social "map" change so rapidly that geographers forgo drawing in the mountains and rivers, concentrating instead only on the continents and oceans. But if science abandons its functions of recording and explaining change, it loses its significance as a means of political navigation, an importance long ascribed to it. This is perhaps unavoidable in such a situation.