ABSTRACT
Western discussions of Soviet social problems and their relationship to Soviet political institutions and trends have been influenced by two conditions. One has been the absence, or limitation, of accurate and comprehensive information. The second influence on Western views of Soviet social problems has been wishful thinking about the connections between Soviet domestic problems and the nature of the entire political system, including its foreign policies. Modernization, in both Soviet and other varieties, is the crucial breeding ground of social problems. Soviet modernization has in some ways been more incomplete, in other ways more sweeping and penetrating than modernization in the West, and this has had an effect on the character of Soviet social problems. In the Soviet Union ideology has created social problems by providing new, demanding criteria against which to measure social phenomena and human behavior. Many social problems undermine economic efficiency and challenge the social order, and the Soviet authorities are well aware of this.
