Abstract
In the USSR, as in other industrial economies, families derive benefits from the state’s social security system; the state also provides a range of goods and services either free of charge or at subsidised prices. Soviet economists and statisticians refer to expenditures for these purposes as social consumption; one might also refer to them as the Soviet welfare state or, from a different point of view, as the social wage. It is the purpose of this chapter to describe the main features of the Soviet welfare state, to outline its major programmes, identify their beneficiaries and assess the contribution that they make to the wider goals of Soviet policy. Section 1, therefore, deals with Soviet attitudes towards welfare and inequality, Section 2 describes the composition of Soviet social consumption and its sources of finance. Sections 3 and 4 examine individual programmes in an attempt to assess their impact. The chapter ends with a brief assessment of the achievements and shortcomings of the Soviet system.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
V. A. Acharkan, ‘Sotsialisticheskii printsip raspredeleniya po trudu i sotsial-noye obespecheniye’, Sotsialisticheskii trud, No. 11 (1974) 119–29.
Itogi usesoyuznoi perepisi naselenia 1959 goda (Moscow, 1962).
Itogi vsesoyuznoi perepisi naselenia 1970 goda (Moscow, 1972).
I. Kalinyuk, ‘Starenie naselenia SSSR’, Narodonaselenia, No. 19 (1977) 14–24.
V. S. Kulikov, Rol finansov v povyshenii blagosostoyania sovetskoqo naroda (Moscow, 1972).
M. S. Lantsev, Sotsialnoe obespechenie v SSSR (Moscow, 1976).
A. McAuley, Economic Welfare in the Soviet Union (London and Madison, Wis., 1979).
A. McAuley, Women’s Work and Wages in the USSR, London, 1981.
V. F. Maier, Dokhody naseleniya i rost blagosostoyaniya naroda (Moscow, 1968).
V. F. Maier and B. V. Rakitskii, ‘Obshchestvennye fondy potreblenia i rost blagosostoyania naroda’, in Oplata truda pri sotsialisme: voprosy teorii i praktiki (Moscow and Warsaw, 1976) pp. 190–206.
Narodnoe khozyaistvo SSR, Statisticheskii ezhegodnik (Moscow, various years).
Narodnoe obrazovanie, nauka i kultura v SSSR (Moscow, 1977).
G. Ofer and A. Vinokur, Private Sources of Income of the Soviet Urban Household (Santa Monica, 1980)
N. E. Rabkina and N. M. Rimashevskaya, Osnovy differentsiatsii zarabotnoi platy i dokhodov naselenia (Moscow, 1972).
B. V. Rakitskii, Obshchestvennye fondy potreblenia kak ekonomicheskaya kategoria (Moscow, 1967).
A. S. Revaikin, Neobkhodimyi produkt, ego velichina i struktura pri sotsializme (Petrozavodsk, 1974).
G. S. Sarkisyan, Uroven, tempy i proportsii rosta realnykh dokhodov pri sotsializme (Moscow, 1972).
M. L. Zakharov and V. M. Piokov, Sotsialnoe obespechenie i Strakhovanie v SSSR (Moscow, 1979).
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 1984 Leonard Schapiro and Joseph Godson
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
McAuley, A. (1984). Welfare and Social Security. In: Schapiro, L., Godson, J. (eds) The Soviet Worker. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-17577-2_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-17577-2_8
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-36644-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-17577-2
eBook Packages: Palgrave Social & Cultural Studies CollectionSocial Sciences (R0)