"Digital Russia provides a comprehensive analysis of the ways in which new media technologies have shaped language and communication in contemporary Russia. It traces the development of the Russian-language internet, explores the evolution of web-based communication practices, showing how they have ... both shaped and been shaped by social, political, linguistic and literary realities, and examines online features and trends that are characteristic of, and in some cases specific to, the Russian-language internet." (Publisher description) more

"This book provides a multi-faceted picture of the many complex processes taking place in the field of contemporary Russian media and popular culture. Russian social and cultural life today is strongly individualised and consumers are offered innumerable alternatives; but at the same time options ar ... e limited by the new technologies of control which are a key feature of Russian capitalism. Based on extensive original research by scholars in both Russia itself and in Finland, the book discusses new developments in the media industry and assesses a wide range of social and cultural changes, many of which are related to, and to an extent generated by, the media. The book argues that the Russian mass media industry, whilst facing the challenges of globalization, serves several purposes including making a profit, reinforcing patriotic discourse and popularizing liberalized lifestyles. Topics include changing social identities, new lifestyles, ideas of "glamour" and "professional values". Overall, the book demonstrates that the media in Russia is far from homogenous, and that, as in the West, despite new technologies of control, media audiences are being offered a new kind of pluralism which is profoundly influencing Russia's cultural, social and political landscape." (Publisher description) more

"Examining the role of dramatized narratives in Russian television, this book stresses the ways in which the Russian government under Putin use primetime television to express a new understanding of what it means to be Russian, answering key questions of national identity for modern Russians in deal ... ing with their recent history: 'What really happened to us?' and, accordingly, 'Why?' The book covers important issues in Russian television today, including:"the reworking of new 'national' on-screen heroes its relationship with classic literature, the revisionist portrayal of a romantic portrait of life in the Soviet era, the role of thematic elements such as love, fidelity, humour and irony, the particularly pressing problem of crime and its representation on screen as Mafia or police adventure, and its political usage by the Putin administration." This book provides a detailed account of the critical issues in contemporary Russian television, relating them to broader social and political developments in Russian society." (Publisher description) more