Aiming to explain many Russians' ambivalence to recent changes, this work examines the unequal distribution of the costs and benefits of reform, its impact on the socioeconomic structure of the population, and the ways in which these changes violate social perceptions of equity and fairness.

Why are so many Russians ambivalent about the rapid economic and political changes they have been experiencing over the past decade? To answer that question, this book examines the unequal distribution of the costs and benefits of reform in Russia, its impact on the socioeconomic structure of the population, and the ways in which these changes violate social perceptions of equity and fairness. Among the major issues examined in this context are -- the emergence of the "new poor"; -- the changing economic and social status of women; -- the highly differentiated impact of marketization on various sectors of the working class; -- the social sources of recruitment of Russia's new entrepreneurial class and business elite.