Soviet Family Research

Abstract

Soviet research on marriage and the family has developed very rapidly over the past decade or so, though not so rapidly as other areas of sociology in the USSR. While in a number of ways still a small part of the country's total social science effort, research on marriage and the family has been of great importance in the public consumption and utilization of sociology in the Soviet Union. In terms of the resources devoted to it, family research is a minor branch of Soviet sociology: in comparison to other topics, there has been relatively little Soviet work on the family; few Soviet scholars specialize in the area; and there are almost no research organizations in the USSR exclusively concerned with it. Family research is a minor branch of Soviet sociology in some intellectual respects as well since, from the standpoint of Marxism-Leninism, the family as an institution is defined for the most part by society's economic base and greater political and social structure-i. e., research on the family is considered to be of less theoretical importance than research on such matters as stratification and economic and political life. Particularly during periods such as the current one when it is being stressed that historical materialism must serve as the grand theory to which discussion of all social life must be linked, the family assumes a very secondary place in comparison with other institutions. However, when it comes to popular interest in sociology and to the utilization of research findings by decision-makers, Soviet family sociology is of major importance. Public discussion of family issues is freer and more widespread than of other sociological topics, and party and state organizations are generally more ready to accept participation by Soviet sociologists in decisions regarding the family and to react to their suggestions than they are to researchers in other areas. Such a state of affairs in which an area of human intellectual endeavor is kept within limited boundaries by the official ideology while at the same time appealing greatly to the population and influencing the nation's leaders is not uncommon in the USSR. The