Cover Osteuropa 10/2007

In Osteuropa 10/2007

Interference in Communication
Why Levada, Dubin & Gudkov Are Not Read

Manfred Sapper


Deutsche Fassung

Abstract

Yurii Levada, who died on November 16, 2006, was one of Russia’s most important sociologists. In Germany, he remains largely unknown. The same finding goes for Lev Gudkov or Boris Dubin. They are present in Germany and are at the same time ignored. The reason for this lies in the specific hurdles blocking the transfer of scientific knowledge between Russia and the West. Precarious developments in academia also aggravate the situation. The destruction of specialised knowledge of Russia rooted in the social sciences at Germany’s institutions of higher learning impedes academic and cultural dialogue with Russian thinkers in the most basic of ways.

(Osteuropa 10/2007, pp. 95–102)