According to Russian sociologist Nina Naumova, "Yawning Heights" were the only attempt in Soviet sociology to propose a description of the Soviet system. Russian-American philosopher and sociologist Oleg Kharkhordin considered "Communism as Reality" the best introduction to the sociology of Soviet life, noting the exceptional "clarity and power" of Zinoviev's conceptualization of informal activity. Kharkhordin saw the proximity of his model to the analysis of traditionalist communities by Pierre Bourdieu and found advantages in the Zinoviev model. Andrei Fursov brings Zinoviev's work closer to the "new social history" that arose in the 1970s based on the ideas of Edward Thompson, Michel Foucault, and others. This direction considers history not from the point of view of elites, but from the side of the oppressed. Therefore, Zinoviev, according to Fursov, was at the forefront of world social thought; "Zinoviev's system" offers a promising answer to the question of the possibility of social knowledge that overcomes the limited views of the ruling and oppressed groups (ideology and utopia). Abdusalam Huseynov believed that the realized Zinoviev's forecast of "Catastroika" undoubtedly proves his concept of Soviet communism.