Leonid Grinin
Encyclopedia
Leonid Grinin is a philosopher
of history
and sociologist.
Born in Kamyshin
(the Volgograd
Region), Grinin attended Volgograd Pedagogical University, where he got an M.A.
in 1980. He got his Ph.D. from Moscow State University
in 1996. He is a Research Professor and Director of Volgograd Center for Social Research, a vice-editor of the journals History and Modernity and Philosophy and Society, and a co-editor of the Social Evolution & History
and Journal of Globalization Studies and co-editor of almanacs History & Mathematics and Evolution. Grinin is the author of 18 books and over 200 other scholarly publications dealing with his research interests.
studies, economic cycles, the long-term trends in the cultural evolution
and evolution of technologies, periodization of history, political anthropology
and long-term development of the political systems, world-systems studies.
of historical process. The transition from one stage to another is the change of all basic characteristics of the respective stage. As the starting point of such a change Grinin proposes the production
principle that describes the major qualitative stages of the development of the world productive forces
. Grinin singles out four principles of production: Hunter-gatherer
; Craft-Agrarian; Industrial; and Information-Scientific. To clear up the chronology of the beginning of each respective stage he proposes the three production revolutions: the Agrarian or Neolithic Revolution
; the Industrial Revolution
, and the Information-Scientific Revolution
and Peter Skalnik is not sufficient, and suggests that it should be modified as "Early State – Developed State – Mature State", emphasizing that the differences between developed and early states are no less pronounced than the ones between the former and the mature states.
is widely debated. Grinin argues that on the whole globalization contributes to the change and reduction of state sovereign powers, and he investigates the reasons and consequences of the deliberate voluntary reduction of sovereign prerogatives as most states voluntarily and deliberately limit the scope of their sovereignty.
Among other things it has been suggested by Grinin to view social Anagenesis
/aromorphosis as a universal / widely diffused social innovation that raises social systems’ complexity, adaptability, integrity, and interconnectedness.
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
of history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
and sociologist.
Born in Kamyshin
Kamyshin
Kamyshin is a city in Volgograd Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Volgograd Reservoir of the Volga River, in the estuary of the Kamyshinka River. Population: 101,000 ; 24,000 ....
(the Volgograd
Volgograd
Volgograd , formerly called Tsaritsyn and Stalingrad is an important industrial city and the administrative center of Volgograd Oblast, Russia. It is long, north to south, situated on the western bank of the Volga River...
Region), Grinin attended Volgograd Pedagogical University, where he got an M.A.
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in 1980. He got his Ph.D. from Moscow State University
Moscow State University
Lomonosov Moscow State University , previously known as Lomonosov University or MSU , is the largest university in Russia. Founded in 1755, it also claims to be one of the oldest university in Russia and to have the tallest educational building in the world. Its current rector is Viktor Sadovnichiy...
in 1996. He is a Research Professor and Director of Volgograd Center for Social Research, a vice-editor of the journals History and Modernity and Philosophy and Society, and a co-editor of the Social Evolution & History
Social Evolution & History
Social Evolution & History is a peer-reviewed academic journal focused on the development of human societies in the past, present and future. In addition to original research articles, Social Evolution & History includes critical notes and a book review section. It is published in English twice a...
and Journal of Globalization Studies and co-editor of almanacs History & Mathematics and Evolution. Grinin is the author of 18 books and over 200 other scholarly publications dealing with his research interests.
Major Contributions
Leonid Grinin's current research interests include globalizationGlobalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
studies, economic cycles, the long-term trends in the cultural evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
and evolution of technologies, periodization of history, political anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
and long-term development of the political systems, world-systems studies.
Periodization of history
Grinin suggest a four-staged periodizationPeriodization
Periodization is the attempt to categorize or divide time into named blocks. The result is a descriptive abstraction that provides a useful handle on periods of time with relatively stable characteristics...
of historical process. The transition from one stage to another is the change of all basic characteristics of the respective stage. As the starting point of such a change Grinin proposes the production
Production (economics)
In economics, production is the act of creating 'use' value or 'utility' that can satisfy a want or need. The act may or may not include factors of production other than labor...
principle that describes the major qualitative stages of the development of the world productive forces
Productive forces
Productive forces, "productive powers" or "forces of production" [in German, Produktivkräfte] is a central idea in Marxism and historical materialism....
. Grinin singles out four principles of production: Hunter-gatherer
Hunter-gatherer
A hunter-gatherer or forage society is one in which most or all food is obtained from wild plants and animals, in contrast to agricultural societies which rely mainly on domesticated species. Hunting and gathering was the ancestral subsistence mode of Homo, and all modern humans were...
; Craft-Agrarian; Industrial; and Information-Scientific. To clear up the chronology of the beginning of each respective stage he proposes the three production revolutions: the Agrarian or Neolithic Revolution
Neolithic Revolution
The Neolithic Revolution was the first agricultural revolution. It was the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture and settlement. Archaeological data indicates that various forms of plants and animal domestication evolved independently in 6 separate locations worldwide circa...
; the Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
, and the Information-Scientific Revolution
Development of political systems
Grinin insists that the two-stage scheme of the state macroevolution (Early State – Mature State) proposed by Henri ClaessenHenri J. M. Claessen
Henri J. M. Claessen is a famous cultural anthropologist. He is Professor of Social Anthropology at Leiden University, an honorary member of several scholarly institutions ; Center for Asian and Pacific Studies ;...
and Peter Skalnik is not sufficient, and suggests that it should be modified as "Early State – Developed State – Mature State", emphasizing that the differences between developed and early states are no less pronounced than the ones between the former and the mature states.
Globalization and sovereignty
In the world political science the subject of change, ‘diffusion’, or ‘disappearing’ of national sovereigntySovereignty
Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...
is widely debated. Grinin argues that on the whole globalization contributes to the change and reduction of state sovereign powers, and he investigates the reasons and consequences of the deliberate voluntary reduction of sovereign prerogatives as most states voluntarily and deliberately limit the scope of their sovereignty.
People of Celebrity
Grinin also investigates the influence of the personal celebrity factor on the social life of modern society, analyses celebrities as a special stratum and reasons for the rapid increase in the importance of social role of personal celebrity. He argues that personal celebrity is to be added to the list of those features that determine the major forms of inequality and by analogy with Berger's ‘knowledge-class people’ suggests defining the stratum of people whose occupation is connected with celebrity and whose major capital is celebrity with the notion ‘people of celebrity’.Among other things it has been suggested by Grinin to view social Anagenesis
Anagenesis
Anagenesis, also known as "phyletic change," is the evolution of species involving an entire population rather than a branching event, as in cladogenesis. When enough mutations have occurred and become stable in a population so that it is significantly differentiated from an ancestral population,...
/aromorphosis as a universal / widely diffused social innovation that raises social systems’ complexity, adaptability, integrity, and interconnectedness.
Selected Bibliography
- Philosophy, Sociology, and Theory of History (in Russian)
- Productive Forces and Historical Process (in Russian)
- Formations and Civilizations (in Russian)
- State and Historical Process (in Russian)
- Global Crisis in Retroespective (coauthored with Andrey KorotayevAndrey KorotayevAndrey Korotayev is an anthropologist, economic historian, and sociologist, with major contributions to world-systems theory, cross-cultural studies, Near Eastern history, and mathematical modeling of social and economic macrodynamics.Education and career=Born in Moscow, Andrey Korotayev attended...
, 2010, in Russian). - The Early State and its Analogues: A Comparative Analysis. In Early state, its Alternatives and Analogues Edited by: Leonid E. Grinin, Robert L. Carneiro, Dmitri M. Bondarenko, Nikolay N. Kradin, and Andrey V. Korotayev. Volgograd: Uchitel Publishing house, 2004. Pp. 88–136. http://www.socionauki.ru/book/early_state_en/
- Democracy and Early State http://www.socionauki.ru/journal/articles/129961/
- Periodization of History: A theoretic-mathematical analysis (in History & Mathematics, pp.10-38. Moscow: KomKniga/URSS, 2006),
- Aromorphoses in Biological аnd Social Evolution: Some General Rules for Biological and Social Forms of Macroevolution.
- Will the Global Crisis Lead to Global Transformations? 1. The Global Financial System: Pros and Cons (in coauthorship with Andrey Korotayev). Journal of Globalization Studies. Vol. 1, num. 1. 2010. http://www.socionauki.ru/journal/articles/126975/