Offering a rich
ethnographic account of blue-collar workers’ everyday life in a central Russian
industrial town coping with simultaneous decline and the arrival of
transnational corporations, Everyday
Post-Socialism demonstrates how
people manage to remain satisfied, despite the crisis and relative poverty
they faced after the fall of socialist projects and the social trends
associated with neoliberal transformation. Morris shows the ‘other life’ in
today’s Russia which is not present in mainstream academic discourse or even
in the media in Russia itself. This book offers co-presence and a direct
understanding of how the local community lives a life which is not only
bearable, but also preferable and attractive when framed in the categories of
‘habitability’, commitment and engagement, and seen in the light of
alternative ideas of worth and specific values. Topics covered include
working-class identity, informal economy, gender relations and transnational
corporations.