Consumption and social change in a post-Soviet middle class / Jennifer Patico.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Patico, Jennifer.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Middle class--Russia (Federation)--Saint Petersburg--Economic conditions.

Middle class.

Professional employees--Russia (Federation)--Saint Petersburg--Economic conditions.

Professional employees.

Consumption (Economics)--Social aspects--Russia (Federation)--Saint Petersburg.

Consumption (Economics).

Social change--Russia (Federation)--Saint Petersburg.

Social change.

Cost and standard of living--Russia (Federation)--Saint Petersburg.

Cost and standard of living.

Consumption (Economics)--Social aspects.

Economic conditions.

Saint Petersburg (Russia)--Economic conditions.

Saint Petersburg (Russia).

Saint Petersburg (Russia)--Social conditions.

Russia (Federation)--Saint Petersburg.

Physical Description:

xvii, 244 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Washington, D.C. : Woodrow Wilson Center Press ; Stanford, Calif. : Stanford University Press, [2008]

Summary:

What happens when your once-dignified profession no longer supports a dignified lifestyle? In 1990s St. Petersburg, teachers had to find out the hard way, as their salaries shrank but the range of available consumables ballooned and the ways of getting money broke wildly free of Soviet-era structures. In this fascinating new ethnographic study, Patico examines the various ways in which teachers have adjusted their activities and interactions as consumers, demonstrating how this has led to dramatic shifts in their assessment of their own lives and of the society around them. Drawing from theories of post-socialist consumption as well as from more traditional theories of anthropology, Consumption and Social Change in a Post-Soviet Middle Class presents a much-needed look at the lives of ordinary people, while helping to illustrate some of the broader socioeconomic changes taking place in Russia today.

Contents:

The price of bananas and the value of postsocialist subjects

Finding-and losing-one's place in the middle

Teachers and bandits : logics of value at school and beyond

Consumer dilemmas and the state of Russian civilization

Femininity and the work and leisure of consumption

"Signs of attention" : gifts and the recognition of social worlds

A more "normal" future?

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 219-234) and index.

ISBN:

9780804700696

0804700699

9780804761697

0804761698

OCLC:

226304724