... the countryside was quiet. Why? This article analyzes sources of rural stability in Russia through the prism of the social contract. Rural quiescence occurred because of a transformation in the rural social contract. As market reforms unfolded, the Soviet era rural social contract ended, or at the very least...

...Sarah Ashwin Various arguments have been put forward to explain the social stability of the post-Stalin era, in particular theories of a “social contract”, “incorporation” or “atomisation”. This article argues that all these theories have been cast into serious doubt by the response of workers...