"I could have written my autobiography where I figure as a regime's victim, a successful careerist, a talent not completely realized, and a mediocrity that fulfilled its potential to the max". Interview with Igor Kon

In: Sociologičeskij žurnal: Sociological journal, Volume 25, Issue 3, p. 157-175

Abstract

This interview is the last in the series of conversations between Dmitri Shalin and Igor Semenovich Kon (1928–2011), recorded between 1990 and 2008. The present conversation took place in Las Vegas, U.S.A., 26–28 May 2008. The text reproduces a portion of the interview where I.S. Kon talks about his career and assesses his contribution to social science. The interview reflects the author's interest in the biographical sources of sociological imagination and biocritical hermeneutics – a research program articulated in the online projects International Biography Initiative (IBI) and The Erving Goffman Archives (EGA). The conversation sheds new light on Kon's scholarly activity in the soviet and postsoviet periods, helping us understand this major figure in the Russian social science as he casts critical glance on his professional career, reflects on inevitable compromises he had to make with the authorities, and reveals the impact that the generational shift had on his work and life.