Shaninka was Teodore’s personal project

Abstract

Vadim Radaev, one of the first Shaninka teachers with whom Teodor Shanin coordinated important personnel decisions, talks about a little-known stage in the existence of the Moscow school that preceded its organization: an unsuccessful start in the early 90^s and internships of teachers in the preparatory period. The interview also touched upon the circumstances of the “golden time” of the existence of the Moscow school, which accounts for the teaching of the “great four”, which left a huge mark in the history of Russian sociology: Gennady Semenovich Batygin, Alexander Fridrikhovich Filippov, Alexander Olegovich Kryshtanovsky, Vadim Valerievich Radaev, they were students’ supervisors and were responsible for university admissions exams and the general program. During this period, representatives of the older generation also taught their courses at the faculty: Teodor Shanin, Tatyana Ivanovna Zaslavskaya, Vladimir Alexandrovich Yadov. The practical meaning of the principle of university autonomy, which was guided by Shanin himself and fellow teachers, is revealed. The significance of the Moscow School as an innovative educational model that served as a model for other state and non-state universities is revealed. The organization of research activities in the Intercenter, the first scientific unit of Shaninka under the leadership of Vadim Valerievich Radaev, this center was founded before the opening of the Moscow School. The conversation was conducted by Irina Dudenkova, Candidate of Philosophical Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Theoretical Sociology and Epistemology of the RANEPA, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the MSSES (Shaninka)

For citation: Radaev, V. (2025). “Shaninka was Teodore’s personal project”. Interview about the creation of Shaninka”. Russia’s Directions. Vol. 3. No. 3. P. 66–78.

Additional Info

Submitted: July 3, 2025

Copyright: © Auhtors, 2025

Distribution: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)