Vladimir Putin’s Aggression: A Cultural-Interactionist Perspective

About this event

In this talk, Sergei Erofeev makes the case that if the problem of Vladimir Putin’s never-ending threat to the world is not solved through his defeat in Ukraine or a domestic coup, he may be driven to putting an end to it himself through suicide “amidst a revolution”. Unlike any of Putin’s military actions, such a suicide does have the potential of an unacceptable nuclear disaster. Sergei Erofeev employs a sociological approach addressing the traditions of symbolic interactionism and deviance studies to analyze pros and cons of Putin’s suicide perspective as well as the mafia nature of his rule and his war.

Speaker

Professor Sergei Erofeev is currently a lecturer at Rutgers University in New Jersey. His research interests are in cultural theory and social change. Previously, Dr. Erofeev served as a Vice Rector for International Affairs at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, the Dean of international programs at the European University at Saint Petersburg, and the Director of the Center for Sociology of Culture at Kazan Federal University in Russia. Sergei Erofeev’s current work is focused on developing a methodology to study “tectonic value shifts”, the culture of mafia state and state terrorism.