ABSTRACT
Scholars concerned with the social impact of market transition in postsocialist societies have often framed the issue in terms of “winners” and “losers” (e.g., Brainerd 1998; Titma, Tuma, and Silver 1998). This chapter demonstrates that the self-employed can be safely counted among the winners in Russia. Such status applies both to entrepreneurs who form businesses employing others and, more surprisingly, to those who engage in “individual work activity” (individual’ naia trudovaia deiatel’ nost’) without hiring employees. The chapter also shows that employment status, education, age, sex, affiliation with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), family background, and certain characteristics of place-of-residence all influence the chances Russians have of joining the ranks of the self-employed, at least for the period covered by our data, January 1991 to March 1998. While several of these factors operate in a similar way in Russia as they do in developed capitalist societies, others operate in a distinctive manner. This pattern most likely reflects the hybrid socioeconomic and cultural contexts of contemporary Russia and the relative novelty of self-employment as a route to material success.
