Politics, Work, and Daily Life in the USSR: A Survey of Former Soviet Citizens

by James R. Millar

Overview

Based on the first comprehensive study of life in the USSR since the Harvard Project some 33 years ago, Politics, Work, and Daily Life in the USSR is designed to illustrate how the Soviet social system really works and how the Soviet people cope with it. Taken as a whole, the book describes the sources of support and alienation in the Soviet urban population during the late 1970s, discussing such issues as Soviet political beliefs, ethnic relations, economic inequality, quality of life, and perceptions of social status. The essays contained analyze the variations in attitudes and behavior reflected in the findings of the Soviet Interview Project, a 5-year, 7.5 million investigation of contemporary daily life in the USSR. Among these findings, generational differences and differential education attainment are found to be the most significant underlying determinants of the opinions on, and approaches to, the different issues; the young, the educated and the well-paid, that is, the "best and the brightest" of Soviet society, prove to be the most critical and least satisfied with life in the Soviet Union. This comprehensive investigation involved interviewing thousands of recent emigrants from the USSR to the United States as a means of learning about their former day-to-day living. These individuals provided for a large volume of first-hand reports. Some aspects of this survey dealt with areas the Soviets themselves had never investigated, so the data were not, and still are not, available even in unpublished Soviet sources.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521348904
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	10/30/1987
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	440
Product dimensions:	6.02(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.94(d)

Table of Contents

Foreword Joseph S. Berliner; Part I. Introduction: 1. History, method, and the problem of bias James R. Millar; 2. Quality of life: subjective measures of relative satisfaction James R. Millar and Elizabeth Clayton; Part II. Politics: Sources of Regime Support: 3. Politics, generations, and change in the USSR Donna Bahry; 4. Political beliefs of the Soviet citizen: sources of support for regime norms Brian D. Silver; 5. The attentive public for Soviet science and technology Linda L. Lubrano; Part III. Work: Economic/Demographic Trends: 6. Inequality of earnings, household income, and wealth in the Soviet Union in the 1970s Aaron Vinokur and Gur Ofer; 7. The life course of Soviet women born 1905–1960 Barbara A. Anderson; 8. Productivity, slack, and time theft in the Soviet economy Paul R. Gregory; Part IV. Life: Social Status, Ethnic Relations, and Mobilized Participation: 9. Perceptions of social status in the USSR Michael Swafford; 10. Nationality policy and ethnic relations in the USSR Rasma Karklins; 11. Mobilized participation and the nature of the Soviet dictatorship William Zimmerman; Appendixes; Glossary; General bibliography of Soviet Interview project publications; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"This capsule summary of a few of the SIP findings should whet the appetite for the many other insights in these rich papers and for the others that are in prospect. This initial volume reflects scholarship of the highest order. Each paper not only reports and analyzes its findings with meticulous attention to potential bias, but also interprets them in light of disciplinary theory and the results of relevant investigations undertaken by both Western and Soviet scholars. The SIP is an outstanding example of fruitful interdisciplinary cooperation, with results that are mutually enriching. Its first product should be 'must' reading for all Sovietologists and their graduate students." Gertrude E. Schroeder, Slavic Review

"This anthology is a major 'event' for the Soviet field and should become required reading for Soviet studies graduate students. Indeed, scholars teaching graduate comparative politics seminars may wish to examine this research for possible classroom adoption. The SIP studies forge bridges between the all-too-often-isolated realm of Sovietology and the disciplines of political science, sociology, and economics." Carol Nechemias, American Political Science Review

From the Publisher