This post
almost
nails something about Russia:
> “The fetishization of actual freedom [pop culture]…has allowed for the restriction of formal [political] freedom”
Almost, but not quite. There has never been
either
actual/economic/pop-culture freedom
or
political freedom in Russia, during or after the USSR. The difference is what gets fetishized or dreamt about most.
In the Bad Old Days ™ there was relative prosperity (everything is relative), no political freedom, but an idolization political freedom. Now there is relative political freedom, economic collapse, and dreams of consumer culture.
[all this brought to you by the talking-out-of-my-ass department: obviously I don’t have any real knowledge here]