Soviet Society Today by Michael Rywkin

Author:Michael Rywkin [Rywkin, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Ethnic Studies, General, Sociology, Urban, Regional Studies
ISBN: 9781315493596
Google: Lj4rDwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 3327521
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 1955-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

United States

USSR

Top:

businessmen executives

politicians academicians

Upper:

encountered some resistance because many

salesclerks military executives

Medium:

politicians scholars military writers

managers skilled workers scholars

Lower:

teachers engineers skilled workers

physicians unskilled workers teachers, lawyers

Bottom:

white-collar workers salesclerks unskilled and manual labor

white-collar workers unskilled and manual labor

As one can see, only toward the bottom of the scale are the rows comparable. One also has to keep in mind that practically all Soviet managers, as well as those clerks who work in trade or services, make a good deal of money on the side, increasing their financial resources significantly.

With our tendency to view the Soviet Union as politically, economically, and socially uniform, often we not only simplify the social situation but picture the Soviet way of life in a regionally undifferentiated manner. Those who know the Soviet Union better succumb in turn to a different set of simplifications, influenced by the popular conceptions prevailing among the Soviet population. Thus, Moscow is perceived as the epitome of better living, the Transcaucasian republics as the home of wheeler- dealers, Central Asia as the mainstay of private initiative, provincial Russia as the most deprived region, and the Baltic republics as the most Westernized. On closer examination, some but not all of these preconceptions are confirmed.

The highest standards of living are to be found in the Baltic republics, especially in Estonia. In Transcaucasia, Georgia and Armenia are better off than Azerbaijan. All three of these republics are fertile grounds for moneymaking, but the disparity in incomes between those who manage to make it and those who don’t is wide, so that average living standards are not so impressive. In short, while there is a great deal of money and corruption around, the average citizen is worse off than someone living in the Baltic republics.

Private initiative is alive and well in Central Asia and Transcaucasia. A great deal of this is due to climatic conditions, closer family ties, and a general dislike of factory work and discipline. Ukraine and southern Russia, with their fertile soil and “southern” disposition, do manage better than the northern areas.

Moscow’s standards are also misleading since more than half of the inhabitants work for administrative or academic institutions. Privileges flourish there, closed distributors proliferate, foreigners are a source of imported goods, and, in general, Soviet trade authorities give high priority to Moscow’s needs. But non- privileged Muscovites, who after all do exist, are worse off than their counterparts in the Baltic region, where the distribution system appears to be fairer and less dependent on privileges.

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