This book investigates rapid societal change in Russia during the early 1990s. The story of the anthropologist (author) and the people he studied reveals cultural similarities and differences between them. Russians and Latvians taught the author about the Soviet Union, its people, and its cultures. Formal axiology provides a novel way to access their changing values. Hartman Institute Axiology Studies (HIAS) is a scholarly project of the R.S. Hartman Institute, which is devoted to the study, development, and application of the formal axiology initiated by Robert S. Hartman. The Value Inquiry Book Series (VIBS) is an international scholarly program, founded in 1992 by Robert Ginsberg, that publishes philosophical books in all areas of value inquiry, including social and political thought, ethics, applied philosophy, aesthetics, feminism, pragmatism, personalism, religious values, medical and health values, values in education, values in science and technology, humanistic psychology, cognitive science, formal axiology, history of philosophy, post-communist thought, peace theory, law and society, and theory of culture.

这本书调查了20世纪90年代初俄罗斯社会的快速变化。人类学家（作者）和他所研究的人的故事揭示了他们之间的文化相似性和差异。俄罗斯人和拉脱维亚人向作者介绍了苏联、苏联人民和苏联文化。形式价值论提供了一种新的方法来获取它们不断变化的价值。哈特曼研究所价值论研究（HIAS）是R.S.哈特曼研究所的一个学术项目，致力于罗伯特·S·哈特曼发起的形式价值论的研究、发展和应用。价值调查丛书（VIBS）是一个国际学术计划，由Robert Ginsberg于1992年创立，出版价值调查所有领域的哲学书籍，包括社会和政治思想、伦理、应用哲学、美学、女权主义、实用主义、个人主义、宗教价值观、医疗和健康价值观，教育价值观、科学技术价值观、人文心理学、认知科学、形式价值论、哲学史、后共产主义思想、和平理论、法律与社会、文化理论。