ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the issue of power, albeit in a "microsocial" context. It focuses on the distribution of authority and control over the work situation in the individual enterprise. The chapter also focuses on some of the literature on enterprise management and industrial sociology which has been concerned with the structure of decision-making at the plant, the relations between "superiors" and "subordinates," and the empirical study of workers' participation in management. The legitimation of the theme of human relations signals the need for a modification of the traditional authoritarian management style. The fog of rhetoric surrounding the theme of "democratization of management" is an obstacle to the analysis of an important issue in Soviet society: the search for more effective modes of organization in economic enterprises. All forms of rural economic organization were obviously hierarchical in the sense that the frequency of perceived influence declined markedly as people move from the highest-ranking occupations to low-skilled and unskilled peasants and workers.
