For the common good and their own well-being : social estates in imperial Russia / Alison K. Smith.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Smith, Alison Karen, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Estates (Social orders)--Russia--History--18th century.

Estates (Social orders).

Estates (Social orders)--Russia--History--19th century.

Peasants--Russia--History.

Peasants.

Social policy.

Social conditions.

Taxation--Social aspects.

History.

Taxation.

Group identity.

Community life.

Russia.

Community life--Russia--History.

Group identity--Russia--History.

Taxation--Social aspects--Russia--History.

Russia--Social life and customs--1533-1917.

Manners and customs.

Russia--Social conditions--18th century.

Russia--Social conditions--1801-1917.

Russia--Social policy.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

ix, 278 pages ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2014]

Summary:

"This book shows how the imperial Russian system of social estates (sosloviia), which derived from the government's need to categorize and rank its subjects, held power over individual identities and life choices in Russia throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Though in part modeled on the orders of old regime Europe, also called estates, the Russian system had its own peculiarities, two of which include the imprecision in the (oft changing) laws of its rules and procedures, allowing for endless interpretations and realignments, and its stamina, not being swept away until the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. For the imperial state, estates were a means of making the population productive; for individuals, they were a source not only of individual identity, but of community, in ways at times demanding and at times supportive"--Provided by publisher.

Contents:

The meaning of soslovie

Legal standards and administrative reality : local interests and central ideals in the 18th century

The freedom to choose and the right to refuse

Communities and individuals : soslovie societies and their members

The death and life of sosloviia in the post-reform empire

The evolution of collective responsibility

Soslovie in context : life stories

Conclusion

Appendix: Archival sources.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780199978175

0199978174

OCLC:

888554963

Publisher Number:

40024266179