Soviet Sociological Association Research Articles

К 60-летию Советской социологической ассоциации / Российского общества социологов (ССА/ РОС)

К 60-летию Советской социологической ассоциации / Российского общества социологов (ССА/ РОС)

The Soviet Sociological Association in Institutionalizing Sociology in the USSR

The Soviet Sociological Association in Institutionalizing Sociology in the USSR

The First Congress of the Soviet Sociological Association

The First Congress of the Soviet Sociological Association

From Statocracy to the Evolution of Civil Society

Last autumn in Moscow a conference of the International Sociological Association took place—for the first time in our country—with the participation of two of its committees (the sociology of labor committee and the sociology of urban and regional development committee) on the theme Self-management and social protection of workers in the city and in the enterprise. The Soviet Sociological Association, the S. Ordzhonikidze Institute of Management in Moscow (where the conference was held), the Society of Architects of the USSR and the scientific-and-technical cooperative Perspektiva organized the conference.

Sociology for the Glasnost Era: Institutional and Substantive Changes in Recent Soviet Sociology

Gorbachev's ascent to power created a new climate for sociological research in the Soviet Union. For the first time, Soviet sociologists find themselves in a position where twy not only can pursue critical inquiry but also significantly affect the nation's political agenda. The present situation is not without its dangers, however, as it confronts social scientists with the need to balance scholarship and advocacy, scientific inquiry and political engagement. This article presents an overview of institutional, substantive, and methodological innovations in recent Soviet sociology. It examines the contribution that Soviet sociology has made to the reform process and assesses its future impact on the course of perestroika. An argument is made that even though for the time being Soviet sociologists and Party reformers act in concert, this alliance might come under strain if the pursuit offree inquiry interferes with the Communist Party's political agenda. Soviet sociology has had many ups and downs throughout its troubled history, its fortunes rising and falling with every new attempt to open up Soviet society. It sprang to life in the 1920s, during the NEP (New Economic Policy) era, which saw the pioneering efforts of Gastev, Kabo, Strumilin, and others bear impressive results in areas as diverse as labor-management relations, rural marriage and the family, prostitution, and suicide. These early successes proved short-lived. With the NEP liberalism waning, empirically oriented sociology in the Soviet Union came under attack from orthodox Marxists. In the 1930s, the fledgling discipline faded away, and so did the term sociology, which reappeared only after World War II as a name for the bourgeois pseudo-science of society' incompatible with the teachings of Marx, Lenin, and Stalin (Masalkov 1988; Osipov 1988; Zaslavskaia 1988a). The next wave of reforms ushered in by Khrushchev brought a revival of sociological research in the Soviet Union. In 1958, the Soviet Sociological Association (SSA) was formed. The next ten years produced a steady growth in empirical studies Tis is a revision of a paper presented at the workshop on sociology and Soviet area studies, University of Texas-Austin, April 1989. I wish to thank Dr. Wesley Fisher, whose comments and suggestions were helpful in preparing thefinal version of this articleDirect correspondence to the author at the Department of Sociology, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale,

The Institutionalization of Soviet Sociology: Its Social and Political Context

Existing accounts of the history of Soviet sociology are deficient in that they sometimes attribute the reemergence of sociology in the USSR to a single cause; or they place too much emphasis on separate groups or individuals. The development of sociology in the USSR must be seen as shaped by the interplay of various important state and party institutions-the Central Committee of the Communist party of the USSR, the Academy of Sciences, the Soviet Sociological Association, the Ministry of Education, and the major universities. The part played by the Communist party, as active promoter and supporter of sociology, is underlined; as is the important influence of the universities of Marxism-Leninism (organized by the Party) in preparing cadres of sociologists throughout the country. This was especially crucial since such professional education was lacking in the more traditional schools. The evolution of these various interlocking influences during two periods of the development of sociology (1956-60 and 1960-68) is traced. The analysis of the revival of Soviet sociology leads us to recognize two major differences between Soviet and American sociology: the mode of thinking (hence the nature of social research, itselp; and the character of the organization and development of a community of sociologists. Soviet sociology is distinguished from any Western brand by its propensity for measuring everything from a collectivistic rather than individualistic point of view. An analyis of the employment of members of the Soviet Sociological Association shows a large proportion of party officials among the sociologists: Soviet sociology has close and multiple connections with the establishment. It is essential to recognize the practical functions of Soviet sociology, its intricate connection to the power system, and its particular pragmatic and ideological orientation.

Sociological Services to Enterprises and Problems of Improving the Effectiveness of Sociological Research

The practical implementation of scientific methods of management of social processes has required the creation of special services providing sociological information on various aspects of the life of society. Today, according to data from the Institute of Sociological Research, Academy of Sciences USSR and from the Soviet Sociological Association, there are over 400 entities in this country doing work in sociology, of which 250 operate within the system of institutions of the Academy of Sciences USSR and those of the various republics as well as in higher educational institutions, and dozens function on a voluntary basis in association with Party bodies. The largest sociological service, in scale and facilities, is being established within the Moscow Party organization. Many ministries have sociological centers that provide guidance on research methods within their respective branches of industry. Hundreds of associations, enterprises, and organizations have groups of employees engaging in sociological st...

The Development of Soviet Sociology, 1956-1976

On June 19, 1958, a group of prominent Soviet philosophers, economists, and historians met in the Institute of Philosophy, USSR Academy of Sciences, and established the Soviet Sociological Association (SSA). As Soviet sociologists prepare to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their first professional organization, we have an opportunity to review the progress of Soviet sociology as an academic discipline and examine its prospects for future development. The case of Soviet sociology, despite its apparent idiosyncrasies, is a paradigmatic one. It provided a rare opportunity to observe in vivo the evolution of sociology into an academic discipline. It is partly for this reason that it continues to attract so much interest outside the Soviet Union. The first reactions in the West following the emergence of Soviet sociol­ ogy reveal a peculiar mixture of surprise, skepticism, and hope (Labedz 1956, 1963; Brodersen 1957; Roucek 1958; Kassof 1961, 1965; Merton & Riecken 1962; Ahlberg 1964; Feuer 1964). As sociological research contin­ ued to advance in the 1960s, a note of optimism about the future of Soviet sociology could be easily detected (Fischer 1964, 1966, 1967; Weinberg 1964; Allen 1965; Parsons 1965; Kiss 1966; Simirenko 1966, 1969; Vucinich 1968). Among the works of the current decade, probably the most thorough general review of the field available includes a book by Weinberg (1974), an article by Lipset (1973) on Soviet stratification research, and two works by Gouldner (1970) and Simirenko (1973), which present alternative mod­ els of the development of academic sociology in the USSR and the USA. With perhaps two exceptions (ShaHn 1976; Simirenko 1976), recent works deal with the past and largely neglect the organizational and theoreti­ cal developments of Soviet sociology in the last few years. Yet there is good reason to believe that the events of the current decade have been crucial for

The Functions of the Family as Understood by the Modern Rural Resident

The present article is based on part of the data resulting from interdisciplinary sociological studies of rural life conducted in 1966-67 in accordance with a program developed by the Committee on Sociological Problems of the Countryside of the Soviet Sociological Association.

The Siberian Countryside: Present and Future

In July 1973 the Institute of Economics and Organization of Industrial Production of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences and the Siberian Department of the Soviet Sociological Association, together with the Institute of Economics of Agriculture of the Siberian Branch of the V. I. Lenin All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences, held in Novosibirsk a scientific-practical conference on Problems and Prospects in the Social and Economic Development of the Siberian Countryside. On the basis of a comprehensive systems approach, participants in the conference examined phenomena and processes occurring in the countryside in their unity and interdependence, and also from the standpoint of overcoming substantial differences between town and country. Side by side with economists, philosophers, and sociologists there was also participation in the discussion of problems by physicians, teachers, architects, and practical workers.

Discussion of Iu. A. Levada's Course of Lectures on Sociology

From November 20 to 25, 1969, a joint meeting of the departments of philosophy of the Academy of Social Sciences and the Higher Party School of the Central Committee of the CPSU was held on the Academy's premises for the purpose of discussing the Lectures on Sociology [Lektsii po sotsiologii] delivered by Iu. A. Levada, Dr. Phil. Sci., at Moscow University in 1967, and published in two parts in the Information Bulletin [Informatsionnyi biulleten'] by the Scientific Council on Problems of Concrete Social Research, USSR Academy of Sciences, the Soviet Sociological Association, and the Institute of Concrete Social Research of the USSR Academy of Sciences. The participants in the discussion included the faculties of the two departments and personnel of the Institute of Concrete Social Research, as well as personnel of the Institute of Philosophy, USSR Academy of Sciences, faculty members at higher educational institutions, and representatives of other organizations. The need for books and teaching aids in Mar...

Current Problems in Soviet Sociological Research (Second General Meeting of the Soviet Sociological Association)

The second general meeting of the Soviet Sociological Association was held at Moscow, Feb. 8-9, 1961. It was participated in by representatives of the scholarly institutions belonging to the Association and also by a significant number of scholars occupied with sociological problems.