Social History of the Russian Empire
1650-1825

By Janet M. Hartley
Nov 1998
Pearson Education / Longman
ISBN: 0582215277
328 pages
$59.50 Paper original

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This is a major and wide-ranging survey of the social history of Russia from before Peter the Great right through to the post-Napoleonic era. Janet Hartley traces the significant developments of her multi-faceted subject, concentrating particularly on two major themes: the relations of society and the state and the relations between the different social groups that made up this 'Russian society'. Throughout she reveals the complexity of the social dynamics within Russia's vast multi-ethnic empire.

Contents

Introduction: society and state
1. Land and people
2. The social estates: structure and composition
3. Rights and obligations
4. Social institutions
5. Law and order
6. Education and welfare
7. Occupations: agriculture, industry and crafts
8. Lifestyle: housing, dress, diet and pastimes
9. The family
10. Belief: religion, magic and paganism
Conclusion: Russia in 1825Maps
Select Bibliography
Appendix 1 Chronology
Appendix 2 Glossary
Index

Features

• launches this major new Longman series on the social history of the nations and regions of Europe
• illuminates the social dynamics within the huge multi-ethnic empire
• shows the contrasts and tensions between westernizing influences and the incorporation of different ethnic groups and social and religious traditions as the empire expanded to the east and south
• explores such issues as the transformation of Church-State relations, the introduction of an education system, the creation of a standing army and navy, but also shows what was not transformed - the slowness to urbanize, the failure to abolish serfdom - and what this meant for the future

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