ABSTRACT
The origins of scientific psychology can be understood only in the context of social and political developments. Russian society under the Autocrat is almost a perfect example of social equilibrium. Tsarism, as a form of government, was the integral product of evolution within, and diffusion across, a territory of vast expanse, inhabited by millions of illiterate peasants, capable of only a low level of agricultural technique. A type of oriental despotism fitted the objective needs of this situation for long periods, at least as far as the vast bulk of the population was concerned. Had it been possible for the Russian Empire to remain an autarchy, isolated from all other human society, its characteristic institutions – autocratic government; Orthodox religion accepted by, or imposed on, all citizens; serfdom for the great majority; and a bureaucratic routine which maintained the administrative machine as a going concern – could have persisted until the last judgement. But this could not be. A succession of ‘Westernizers’ – the first being a reigning Tsar, Peter I – opened up avenues for the diffusion of external, exotic materials and productive processes, innovations in government and religion, aspirations towards a different way of life. Among these exotic materials were ideas about what constitutes ‘the good life’ and about human nature in general.
