Measuring Social and Economic Change in Rural Russia

Reviews / Votes

Measuring Social and Economic Change in Rural Russia is valuable in its empirical research and in its ability to connect rural household strategies to village and region level responses during Russia's agricultural reforms....Especially provocative, and providing a sense of hope on this complex topic, is the authors' argument for developing sustainable communities in rural Russia that are equipped to compete in a globalizing economy. It is a useful text for students in summarizing Russia's agricultural reforms and in connecting Russia to policy discussions on sustainability in international development projects. * American Journal of Sociology * Based upon more than ten years of survey data from Russian villages, this is an ambitious book in terms of scope and method, and succeeds on many different levels. This book offers a unique view of rural change in Russia during its transition from communism. The authors present a compelling argument by demonstrating that rural households were opportunistic during the first decade of reform. They convincingly argue that we need to move beyond path dependencies if we are to understand rural change in Russia. Instead, the village experience in Russia shows the importance of institutions that shape incentives. The message carried by the book is a welcome relief to the conventional wisdom that argues rural dwellers resisted reform or that little has changed in rural Russia. The result is an outstanding contribution to the literature that will be useful to academics and policy makers internationally. -- Stephen K. Wegren, Southern Methodist University