Presenting the leading edge of current scholarship, the essays assembled here focus on the social and cultural dimensions of the Soviet industrialization drive of the late 1920s and 1930s and their impact on the process of Soviet industrial transformation. Among the themes studied are urbanization, social mobility, questions of social identity and of the cultural construction of the industrialization drive, and the social dimensions of work, management relations, and the organization of industrial production. Careful attention is paid to the comparative dimensions of Soviet industrialization from the European perspective and the phenomenon of industrialization as a totalizing process. Concentrating on the 'great change' as a multi-dimensional social and cultural process, the book provides an invaluable complement to existing literature on Soviet Russia's economic growth. It is essential reading for scholars and students seeking a comprehensive understanding of the Soviet 1930s. Contributors are Katerina Clark, Stephen Coe, R. W. Davies, Geoff Eley, Sheila Fitzpatrick, Stephen Kotkin, Hiroaki Kuromiya, Moshe Lewin, Stephan Merl, William G. Rosenberg, David Shearer, Lewis H.
Siegelbaum, Peter Solomon, Jr., and Ronald G. Suny.