First Published in 1988

Understanding Soviet Society has grown out of the authors’ experience as sociologists researching and teaching about the Soviet Union. Meant initially as an update to Contemporary Soviet Society: Sociological Perspectives from 1980, this became a new volume because of the addition of six new authors, but also because of the major changes occurring in the USSR today that in many ways necessitated new approaches. It examines the fundamental institutions of Soviet society — from work and social welfare to politics and the Party — in order to provide an objective understanding of the social underpinnings of the Soviet System.