Elites and classes in the transformation of state socialism

Includes index.

Elite and class perspectives on social change and transformation -- Introduction : the elite and class paradigms -- Theoretical approaches to transformation and social change -- Class and elite paradigms of transformation from state socialism -- The transformation of the USSR -- Preconditions of reform : the modernisation of the Soviet Union -- Transforming elites under Gorbachev and Eltsin -- Who 'made' the Gorbachev elite's decisions? -- The Eltsin political elite -- Conclusions : the transformative role of the political elites -- Class outcomes -- The formation of Russian capitalism -- The place of the socialist and post-socialist states in the capitalist world system -- Popular support for, and opposition to, reform.