ABSTRACT
In 1997, while pursuing fieldwork in Moscow, I had the great pleasure of becoming acquainted with several members of the Moscow Institute of Sociology who – through their work on the landmark collection, Sud'by Liudei [The Fates of People] 1 – helped to firmly establish a role for life-history approaches in post-Soviet sociology. In one of our discussions, these colleagues shared an article which had recently occupied their attention, 'Freedom in the USSR', by the political scientist L.G. Ionin. 2 They mused that, in certain respects, this article provided a perfect companion piece to Sud'by Liudei.
