ABSTRACT
This chapter utilizes social science research findings as a guide to identifying the conditions that historically have shaped the formation and success of women's movements. It describes the ideal context for emergent women's movements and examines the extent to which contemporary Soviet society provides a setting favorable to an incipient women's movement. Even with the removal of legal barriers to organization independent of state sponsorship, the development of a women's movement faces major obstacles, both structural and cognitive. Widespread cultural attitudes about "women's place" in particular limit women's sense of collective oppression; disparate treatment does not necessarily generate moral indignation. Social movements are characterized by spontaneity, evolving structure, and widespread changes in values and attitudes. Women's rights movements have succeeded in gaining energy only during times of generalized social reform. Thus the national crusade associated with glasnost and perestroika would seem to bode well for the revival of a women's movement in the Soviet Union.
