Russia's Economy of Favours: Blat, Networking and Informal ExchangeCambridge University Press, 1998 M08 6 - 235 páginas The word blat refers to the system of informal contacts and personal networks which was used to obtain goods and services under the rationing which characterised Soviet Russia. Alena Ledeneva's book is the first to analyse blat in all its historical, socio-economic and cultural aspects, and to explore its implications for post-Soviet society. In a socialist distribution system which resulted in constant shortages, blat developed into an 'economy of favours' which shadowed an overcontrolling centre and represented the reaction of ordinary people to the social constraints they faced. In social and economic terms, blat exchanges became vital to the population, and to the functioning of the Soviet system. The book shows that the nature of the economic and political changes in contemporary Russia cannot be properly understood without attention to the powerful legacy of the blat economy. |
Contenido
the unknown commonplace | 11 |
Understanding blat | 39 |
a view from within | 73 |
The use of personal networks | 104 |
Otras ediciones - Ver todas
Russia's Economy of Favours: Blat, Networking and Informal Exchange Alena V. Ledeneva Vista previa limitada - 1998 |
Términos y frases comunes
acquaintance activities Akademgorodok allocation analysis arrange asked became blat connections blat networks blat practices blat relations blatmeisters blatnoi Boissevain bribe bribery bureaucracy cartoon from Krokodil caviar channels circle closed distribution system command economy Communist considered contexts corruption criteria dacha demand differences and similarities doctors emphasised engage in blat enterprise everyday everything example favours fiddling foodstuffs formal friends Homo Sovieticus illegal implies individuals informal economy informal practices institutions interviews involved in blat kolkhoz Komsomol Kotovsk meat misrecognition game moral Moscow mutual Natalia needs never nomenclatura Novosibirsk obtain occupations official one's organisation patronage personal contacts personal networks personal relations personalisation pervasive phenomenon political position post-Soviet privileges problem production queue rationing reciprocity recognised regime relationships respondents Russian Russian language second economy short supply social someone Soviet society Soviet system Soviet Union sovkhoz Stakhanovite Stalin subversion term blat things tickets tion word blat workers