Post-Soviet Social: Neoliberalism, Social Modernity, Biopolitics - Paperback

by Stephen J. Collier (Author)

The Soviet Union created a unique form of urban modernity, developing institutions of social provisioning for hundreds of millions of people in small and medium-sized industrial cities spread across a vast territory. After the collapse of socialism these institutions were profoundly shaken--casualties, in the eyes of many observers, of market-oriented reforms associated with neoliberalism and the Washington Consensus. In Post-Soviet Social, Stephen Collier examines reform in Russia beyond the Washington Consensus. He turns attention from the noisy battles over stabilization and privatization during the 1990s to subsequent reforms that grapple with the mundane details of pipes, wires, bureaucratic routines, and budgetary formulas that made up the Soviet social state.

Drawing on Michel Foucault's lectures from the late 1970s, Post-Soviet Social uses the Russian case to examine neoliberalism as a central form of political rationality in contemporary societies. The book's basic finding--that neoliberal reforms provide a justification for redistribution and social welfare, and may work to preserve the norms and forms of social modernity--lays the groundwork for a critical revision of conventional understandings of these topics.

Back Jacket

"This fascinating book makes a crucial intervention into debates over neoliberalism, biopolitics, and the transition away from socialism. I have no doubt that it will become a central text for understanding post-Soviet social dynamics."--Martha Lampland, University of California, San Diego

"This is an important and timely book. Unlike previous scholars who have attempted a Foucaultian analysis of Soviet governmentality, Stephen Collier situates his study in relation to both Tsarist disciplinary forms and post-Soviet neoliberalism. This is therefore a highly ambitious book, whose aim is to examine a historical series that has always been in contrast with more intensively analyzed Euro-American social forms."--Caroline Humphrey, University of Cambridge

Author Biography

Stephen J. Collier is an anthropologist and assistant professor in the Graduate Program in International Affairs at The New School. He is the coeditor of Bio-security Interventions and Global Assemblages.