ABSTRACT
The enthusiasm of Soviet citizens for technological progress and industrial expansion is probably declining rather than increasing. The praise of technology in early Soviet culture was based on a turning away from the past history of peasant Russia and a greeting of the technological future. In the name of industrial strength and the scientific-technological revolution, Soviet citizens in the past two generations have been so harangued and coerced that many of them have become immune to, if not alienated from, further calls for technological modernization or, for that matter, acceleration. One way of judging Soviet interest in technology is by looking at the popularity of engineering as a career choice among young people. The world is in a different technological and managerial phase than it was when the patterns of Soviet science, technology, and industry were formed, and principles of manufacturing that were once novel and exciting are obsolete.
