75 he word “market” is at the core of the process of mod- ernization in Russia, especially in regard to the eco- nomic aspects of modernization. This article analyzes the usage of the word “market” (rynok in Russian) in the metropolitan and provincial press in the Soviet Union and in post-Soviet Russia from 1990 to 2010. “Market” has been a key- word — in the dictionary sense of a word, expression, or concept of particular importance or signifcance 1 — in the Russian press over the past twenty years: this is evident in its frequency and in the range of contexts in which it is used. 2 In this article, I analyze the relationship of language and soci- ety by studying the usage of the word “market” (rynok) in the late Soviet and post-Soviet Russian press since 1990. I examine how the word takes on new meanings, and how its changing usage is related to the changing social and political roles of print media in a modernizing environment. The material studied consists of newspaper and magazine texts collected by a search of the Integrum database. 3 The examples are taken from ten selected publications: the nationally distributed magazines Vokrug sveta, Ogonek, Kommersant-Weekly, and Kommersant Dengi; the nationally distributed news- papers Nezavisimaia gazeta, Rossii- skaia gazeta, and Vedomosti; and the regional newspapers Delovoi Peterburg, Nizhegor- odskie novosti, and Cheliabin- skii rabochii. 4 Since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the beginning of Russia’s transition to a new economic order, a new lexicon has come into use. The term “market” has become a central one in the discussion of econom- ics and business. The media have framed the events and pro- cesses of Russia’s post-communist transformation, including its economic transformation. 5 Ekecrantz, Maia, and Castro point out that the world media have produced a linear narrative of Russia’s transition from “communist dictatorship” to a “free market and democracy” 6 . In Russian media, however, the narrative is not as straightforward as in the materials researched by Ekecrantz et al., and my aim in the present study is to show how “market”, as an element of the press vocabulary, has gained new meanings and become an active keyword. IN THIS ARTICLE, “modernization” refers mainly to urbanization, industrialization, and other developmental paths connected with the transition from a rural to a modern, industrialized society. The development of modern society has brought with it funda- mental changes, including the bureaucratization of administra- tion, monetization, industrialization, urbanization, the secularization of culture, and the formation of the positive legal system. 7 From the point of view of media research, modernity may imply universal literacy, high newspaper circulation, high utilization of media technology, and high penetration of television or radio. 8 A major change has occurred in media market structures in post-Soviet Russia. The Russian media have gone from the centralized Soviet system to a more pluralistic one: in 1990, there were 43 national The concept of market in Russian media, and the question of modernization by Katja Lehtisaari “THE TERM ‘MARKET’ HAS BECOME A CENTRAL ONE IN THE DISCUSSION OF ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS.” peer-reviewed essay