Soviet boomer nostalgia is a real phenomenon, because - in stark contrast to the US - Soviet boomers got screwed particularly hard by the collapse.
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When the USSR collapsed, Soviet boomers had two decades of their adult life or more invested in the existing system, with the promise of an early and comfortable retirement ahead.
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Replying to @BeijingPalmer
Didn't life expectancy for men drop by a decade or something?
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Replying to @Pinboard @BeijingPalmer
Yes, but that was already collapsing in the 1980's and was heavily tied to the specific cohort that was born in the 1920's and 1930's. The Gorbachev alcohol prohibition propped it up a bit, but when that ended mortality spiked again.
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A lot of people like to tie it to shock therapy, but that massive a wave of heart failure in the 50-60 range is very much a lifetime of stress catching up to people.
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Replying to @SashoTodorov1 @BeijingPalmer
The impact of the anti-alcohol campaign and then the arrival of basically unregulated booze afterwards is really striking.pic.twitter.com/kJOjK7VCQh
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Replying to @Pinboard @SashoTodorov1
One of the points in Dying Unneeded, a good book about this era, is how hard men struggled to find a new social role, whereas women adjusted (painfully). Same in US rural areas, per the excellent Those Who Work, Those Who Don’t
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Replying to @BeijingPalmer @Pinboard
A massive factor in my view is family. There's a strong societal role carved out for both mother and grandmother, so even when you've had everything stripped from you there's still something that gives your life meaning and is externally valued.
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Russia and a lot of rural areas make this even worse by being deeply patriarchal, so men have even less of an ability to fall back on father/grandfather roles to give themselves something to wake up for every day that isn't booze.
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Plus they have that delicious herring...
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