This is the 2011 edition of a biennial series of compendia describing key education outcomes and contexts of education in the Group of Eight (G-8) countries--Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The report is organized into five topical areas: population and school enrollment,…

Education rests on the foundation of culture in the broadest sense of that word. How deeply and solidly that foundation has been laid down determines the size and solidity of the building that can be constructed on it. This applies in particular to higher education, which is by no means designed solely to offer just a body of specialized…

The literature on cultural consumption documents the displacement of highbrow snobbery by cultural omnivorism among high status groups. This article interrogates the status meanings of cultural omnivorism through a case study of reading in Russia. Post-socialist transformations have destabilized the status of social groups and the honorability of…

Addresses social and cultural changes of reading in Russia: (1) changes in cultural hierarchy; (2) changes in reader behavior; (3) declining importance of classic literature; and (4) rise of mass culture and its effects. Tables present information on the genre of books that were best sellers and books borrowed from Russian libraries. (JMV)

This article reports the results of a study examining the reading attitudes of the Russian people. This study also investigates the motives that guide adults in their choice of literature. Researchers have noted that two motives stand out: (1) "normative" or "pragmatic" reading (for school, exams, and reports; for carrying out…

Examines reading habits of Estonians with studies dating back to the 1960s and discusses the impact of the printed word on culture. Focuses on changes since the Estonian's transition to the market economy: (1) reading has become casual and less frequent; (2) literary preferences have shifted; and (3) smaller home libraries have increased the need…

Reports on the reading interests of 450 Russian secondary school graduates enrolled in a mathematics and physics-oriented technical school in Moscow. Finds that students' interests changed during two periods in recent Russian history: (1) 1988-1990--the perestroika period; and (2) 1991-1992--the "market" period. (CFR)

This article presents a study based on surveys conducted annually for the past nine years by the Samara Foundation for Social Research, commissioned by the committee for youth affairs of the administration of Samara Oblast. The sample consists of about 800 young people aged fourteen to thirty. In the present study the authors have focused on…