After reading Masha Gessen’s “The Dying Russians,” I almost immediately was skeptical of her ultimate claim that a lack of a “greater hope” is what is ultimately behind low Russian birth rates and high Russian death rates. In fact, I find certain parts of Gessen’s argument slightly contradictory, as she addresses events that would understandably lead to or are associated with a lack of hope, per se, such as “economic shock” and alcoholism, but then quickly determines that these things have little to no relationship to Russia’s ever-increasing mortality rates. While I am by no means saying that Russia’s admiration of vodka or the collapse of the Soviet Union are solely responsible for their mortality problem, in my mind these things tie in very closely to a lack of “greater hope,” as Gessen even quotes Parsons in saying that “drinking is, for what it’s worth, an instrument of adapting to the harsh reality and sense of worthlessness that would otherwise make one want to curl up and die.” While this may very well be true – alcoholism is an unhealthy coping mechanism for people across the globe – I find it extremely hard to believe that it is completely innocent when investigating what is truly culpable for Russia’s extraordinary mortality rate. With regards to the economic shock, Gessen fails to even acknowledge the extremely consequential effects that it has on Russian life and on individual Russians themselves. In addition to things like increased poverty and unemployment, economic shocks can lead to a lack of public education and access to necessary everyday items, directly correlating with a decrease in not only physical well-being but outlook on life as well. For Gessen to almost completely reject economic shock as at least partially leading to Russia’s increased mortality rate is baffling, as her ultimate conclusion is framed in a way that has almost no quantitative data to back it up.

Furthermore, I was surprised by the complete failure to mention anything related to political corruption and politically motivated killings. While obviously not the sole culprit in Russia’s mortality problem, I find it hard to believe that in a country plagued by corruption (especially compared to the other European countries that Gessen uses as controls in her article) political killings have played absolutely no part in at least contributing to the lack of hope that, according to Gessen, sits inside of so many Russian people.