Russia's Economy of Favours
Blat, Networking and Informal Exchange

This book examines the little-known phenomenon of blat - the use of informal contacts and personal networks to obtain goods and services under the rationing which pervaded Soviet Russia.

Alena V. Ledeneva (Author)

9780521627436, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 6 August 1998

256 pages, 19 b/w illus. 9 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.38 kg

'In a most felicitous fashion this book weds analytical sophistication to the initimate, inside knowledge and 'feel' of Russian realities. Whether a seasoned expert in Russian history and culture or just a person interested in unfamiliar yet fascinating ways of life, the reader will be richly rewarded by a much deeper understanding of how Soviet and post-Soviet society, worked and goes on working, and what the experience of living in that society feels like.' Zygmunt Bauman, University of Leeds

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.

List of cartoons
List of figures and tables
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Blat: the unknown phenomenon
2. Understanding blat
3. The Soviet order: a view from within
4. The use of personal networks
5.Blat as a form of exchange: between gift and commodity
6. Networking in the post-Soviet period
Appendix
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Social issues & processes [JFF]