“This volume is by no means just an exposition of yet another point of view on the phenomenon of Russian work culture and its role in Russia‘s ‘modernization breakthroughs.’ It presents an unexpected and original approach, an absolutely new perspective of this seemingly old topic. On the one hand, the authors consider Russia’s national work culture in the context of ‘foreign influence’ and test it for resistance to external pressures. On the other hand, they reveal ‘the foreign trace’ in its fabric―the features that were introduced and internalized in the course of direct and indirect contacts with foreign cultures. For the authors, Russian national work culture is not a finished, static entity, but a dynamic system that is in permanent interaction with (predominantly) Western culture and has largely developed in direct competition with it. It is this approach that makes this book exceptionally appealing.” Vladimir N. Leksin, Institute of System Analysis of the Russian Academy of Sciences