Smith clearly demonstrates that the soslovie system remained at once both vital and obsolete.

Steven L. Hoch, Canadian-American Slavic Studies

The resulting work does not so much recast our understanding of imperial Russia as greatly enrich and deepen it... [E]xpansive treatment.

Valerie A. Kivelson, Slavic Review

this [the book] will surely stand as a landmark in the field, just as it will spur others on to further exploration of the meanings of Russian social boundaries.

Simon Dixon, Slavonic and East European Review

Se alle

Researchers and advanced students of Russian history will undoubtedly find this a useful study

J. Zimmerman, CHOICE

Smith's study is a dense and ambitious examination of the meaning of the social order in Russia, built, from the ground up, of individual experiences rather than from a top-down consideration of the legal system ... subtle, but important, revisions to our understanding of the Russian government, where authorities relied upon the engagement of the public at all levels to forge its modern state.

Matthew P. Romaniello, English Historical Review

Alison Smith's book can provide a good entry point for historians in other fields to get a hands-on feel for Russian society and its fluidity and successfully controverts tired stereotypes of absolutism, social rigidity, and backwardness. It is a serious, archivally driven investigation of hundreds of specific cases of individuals changing soslovie

Journal of Modern History

Every subject of the Russian Empire had an official, legal place in society marked by his or her social estate, or soslovie. These sosloviia (noble, peasant, merchant, and many others) were usually inherited, and defined the rights, opportunities, and duties of those who possessed them. They were also usually associated with membership in a specific geographically defined society in a particular town or village. Moreover, although laws increasingly insisted that every subject of the empire possess a soslovie "for the common good and their own well-being," they also allowed individuals to change their soslovie by following a particular bureaucratic procedure. The process of changing soslovie brought together three sets of actors: the individuals who wished to change their opportunities or duties, or who at times had change forced upon them; local societies, which wished to control who belonged to them; and the central, imperial state, which wished above all to ensure that every one of its subjects had a place, and therefore a status. This book looks at the many ways that soslovie could affect individual lives and have meaning, then traces the legislation and administration of soslovie from the early eighteenth through to the early twentieth century. This period saw a shift from soslovie as above all a means of extracting duties or taxes, to an understanding of soslovie as instead a means of providing services and ensuring security. The book ends with an examination of the way that a change in soslovie could affect not just an individual's biography, but the future of his or her entire family. The result is a new image of soslovie as both a general and a very specific identity, and as one that had persistent meaning, for the Imperial statue, for local authorities, or for individual subjects, even through 1917.
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Every subject of the Russian Empire had an official, legal place in society marked by his or her social estate, or soslovie. This book looks at the many ways that soslovie affected individual lives, and traces its legislation and administration from the early eighteenth through to the early twentieth century.
Les mer
Contents ; Preface and Acknowledgments ; Introduction ; Chapter 1: The Meaning of Soslovie ; Chapter 2: Legal Standards and Administrative Reality: Local Interests and ; Central Ideals in the 18th Century ; Chapter 3: The Freedom to Choose and the Right to Refuse ; Chapter 4: Communities and Individuals: Soslovie Societies and their Members ; Chapter 5: The Death and Life of Sosloviia in the Post-Reform Empire ; Chapter 6: The Evolution of Collective Responsibility ; Chapter 7: Soslovie in Context: Life Stories ; Conclusion ; Appendix: Archival Sources ; Selected Bibliography ; Notes ; Index
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"The resulting work does not so much recast our understanding of imperial Russia as greatly enrich and deepen it....[E]xpansive treatment..."--Valerie A. Kivelson, Slavic Review "Bristling with all manner of fascinating detail, For the Common Good and Their Own Well-Being is the most original and significant study of the soslovie system for a generation .[T]his will surely stand as a landmark in the field, just as it will spur others on to further exploration of the meanings of Russian social boundaries."--Simon Dixon, Slavonic & East European Review "Smith clearly demonstrates that the soslovie system remained at once both vital and obsolete."--Steven L. Hoch, Canadian-American Slavic Studies "Alison Smith's book can provide a good entry point for historians in other fields to get a hands-on feel for Russian society and its fluidity and successfully controverts tired stereotypes of absolutism, social rigidity, and backwardness. It is a serious, archivally driven investigation of hundreds of specific cases of individuals changing soslovie"--Journal of Modern History "[W]ell-written...[Smith] uses successive legal structures, judicial decisions, and bureaucratic analyses and rulings to examine both the legal structures and, on a more anecdotal level, the reality for those Russians who sought to change their place of residence or occupational level. Researchers and advanced students of Russian history will undoubtedly find this a useful study..."--CHOICE "Smith's book is an original, thought-provoking, multifaceted exploration of the estate system, and as such it has much to offer any reader interested in imperial Russia."--The Russian Review "In order to understand the impact of soslovie in people's lives, Smith strategically focuses on those who moved across estate lines, an approach that allows her to examine the legal, administrative, financial, and, remarkably, emotional ramifications of soslovie and soslovie-crossing for all parties concerned."--Slavic Review
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Selling point: New understanding of a major part of imperial Russian social structures Selling point: Use of virtually untouched archival sources Selling point: Attention to women in a subject that has often been seen as something associated with men Selling point: Attention to understudied parts of imperial Russian society-particularly its urban inhabitants
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Alison K. Smith is Professor of History, University of Toronto.
Selling point: New understanding of a major part of imperial Russian social structures Selling point: Use of virtually untouched archival sources Selling point: Attention to women in a subject that has often been seen as something associated with men Selling point: Attention to understudied parts of imperial Russian society-particularly its urban inhabitants
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Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9780199978175
Publisert
2014
Utgiver
Vendor
Oxford University Press Inc
Vekt
522 gr
Høyde
165 mm
Bredde
236 mm
Dybde
31 mm
Aldersnivå
U, P, 05, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet
Antall sider
296

Forfatter

Om bidragsyterne

Alison K. Smith is Associate Professor of History, University of Toronto.