Russia's Economy of Favours: Blat, Networking and Informal ExchangeThe 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. |
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Russia's Economy of Favours: Blat, Networking and Informal Exchange Alena V. Ledeneva Limited preview - 1998 |
Common terms and phrases
acquaintance activities Akademgorodok allocated analysis arrange became blat connections blat networks blat practices blat relations blat transactions blatmeisters blatnoi bribe bribery bureaucracy cent circle codes command economy Communist considered contexts corruption dacha deal doctors economic emphasised enterprise ethics everyday everything example favour fiddling foodstuffs formal friends friendship Homo Sovieticus imply important informal economy informal practices institutions intermediary interviews involved kolkhoz Komsomol Krokodil married means misrecognition game moral Moscow mutual help nomenclatura Novosibirsk obligations obtain official one's organisation party patronage perestroika personal contacts personal networks personal relations personalisation political post-Soviet principles privatisation privileges problems queue rationing reciprocity recognised regime relationships respondents role roubles rules Russian Russian language short supply shortage situation social socialist someone Soviet society Soviet system Soviet Union sovkhoz Stakhanovite Stalin status things tickets tion workers
Popular passages
Page 1 - blat" as "the use of personal networks and informal contacts to obtain goods and services in short supply and to find a way around formal procedures