Российская психология в пространстве мировой науки

Contemporary Russian professional community was formed on the remains of the paradigm of Soviet psychological science. Soviet psychology had been, in a measure forcibly kept within the framework of a mono methodological trend, oriented to standards of natural sciences and based on Marxist philosophy, with a priority of fundamental research. During the Soviet period psychological practices were restricted and research centers were scarces. There were only few units providing applied psychological research in big clinical centers, in defence industry central institutions, etc. Universities were the main centers providing psychological research and education, and there were only three universities in Russia (eight all together in the USSR), where there were psychology faculties: Moscow (MSU), Yaroslavl (YarSU), and Leningrad university (LSU). University faculties were more research centers than educational institutions, e.g., LSU graduated each year about 50 full-time students, YarSU was smaller, MSU graduated over hundred students. All education was free, the entrance was on a competitive basis. There were fully equipped laboratories, where all the students got profound training. And these faculties were doing research for the government, very well financed. The faculties and the departments were headed by well-known researchers who were directing the investigations for which the faculties got their money from the state.

When perestroika began financial support of science and education was seized. Researchers had to find some new sources for living. Many Russian specialists in mathematics and physics went abroad. For psychologists this appeared to be not so easy because of the language barrier and because of their specific theoretical background. But another powerful source of finance sprang up: the "customer demand" for practical psychology. Three product areas opened where psychologists were called for and very well paid:

• Politics. Elections, gubernatorial and others. Politicians believed that psychologists could help them to exert influence upon the voters.

• Young and wild Russian business. New Russians believed that psychologists could help them to sell their products and to raise labor productivity.

• Psychological education. People were interested in psychology. They believed that it could help them to get rid of their stresses and inner conflicts and to be influential. Psychological education became very popular, and it was provided at all levels, from short time courses up to university diplomas.

So, psychology has been boosted in Russia since "Perestroika". The number of graduated psychologists has increased dramatically. In 2003 there were about 300 institutions of higher education in psychology in Russia from which about 5 000 students annually graduated. You can guess that these universities were very different from the old ones. The "father" University faculties also changed to meet the situation: now they were making money not on fundamental research, but on "educational services".

The totalitarian government during the Soviet period had treated psychology as a gardener shaping his tree: letting only those branches grow which fit his plan. Any deviation was illegal. With the fall of the Soviet state, ideological barriers to the development of Russian psychological science were removed. Many of older psychologists were just tired of sticking to the old theoretical "rules". The majority of the newly graduated psychologists had little knowledge of what the theoretical basics of Soviet Psychology were, and no interest to know about it. Most rapidly developing areas of contemporary Russian psychology were those which had been virtually abandoned during the Soviet period: counseling psychology social psychology etc. Naturally Western psychological theories were generally recognized and widely employed. Lots and lots of textbooks translated into Russian had no references to Russian authors whatsoever.

Thus, the majority of the contemporary Russian psychological community does not at all refer to the paradigm prevailing in Soviet psychology.

What part of the contemporary professional community masters theories of Soviet psychology? A very small one. That knowledge had to be transmitted directly from teachers to students, particularly taking into account the role of oral tradition in psychological education in Soviet Russia. There were no tutorials and classbooks for future psychologists. Their studies were based on monographs and papers, which were written in "Aesopian" language. The texts of our classics require hermeneutics, require reading together with the teacher.

That theory is mastered today by a very small part of the professional community, by those who have been specially trained and educated. Moreover, not all of these people cling to the old theoretical positions, so that this group's size gradually decreases.