Gender and Housing in Soviet Russia Private Life in a Public Space

by Attwood, Lynne

• ISBN13: 9780719081453
• ISBN10: 0719081459
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-05-15
• Publisher: Manchester University Press

Summary

This book explores the housing problem throughout the 70 years of Soviet history, looking at changing political ideology on appropriate forms of housing under socialism, successive government policies on housing, and the meaning and experience of "home" for Soviet citizens. She examines the use of housing to alter gender relations, and the ways in which domestic space was differentially experienced by men and women. Much of Attwood's material comes from Soviet magazines and journals, which enables her to demonstrate how official ideas on housing and daily life changed during the course of the Soviet era, and were propagandized to the population. Through a series of in-depth interviews, she also draws on the memories of people with direct experience of Soviet housing and domestic life. Attwood has produced not just a history of housing, but a social history of daily life which will appeal both to scholars and those with a general interest in Soviet history.

Author Biography

Lynne Attwood is Senior Lecturer in Russian Studies at the University of Manchester.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. vi
Introduction	p. 1
New byt, new women, new forms of housing	p. 22
The New Economic Policy	p. 40
Housing cooperatives	p. 61
Communes, hostels and barracks	p. 76
The 'second socialist offensive'	p. 87
The retreat from new byt	p. 107
Communal living by default	p. 123
The Great Patriotic War and its aftermath	p. 140
The Khrushchev era: 'To every family its own apartment'	p. 154
The Brezhnev years	p. 180
The Gorbachev era: the end of a socialist housing policy	p. 200
Personal tales	p. 219
Conclusion	p. 241
Bibliography	p. 249
Index	p. 259
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