2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Consumer society under the Shortage economy: Development of the consumer goods market in the Soviet Union

Research Project

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Project/Area Number	15K03577
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Section	一般
Research Field	Economic history
Research Institution	Osaka University
Principal Investigator	Fujiwara Katsumi 大阪大学, 言語文化研究科(言語社会専攻、日本語・日本文化専攻), 教授 (50304069)
Project Period (FY)	2015-04-01 – 2019-03-31
Keywords	ソビエト / 消費社会 / 企業社会
Outline of Final Research Achievements	This study examined the actual situation of the consumer society in the Soviet Union known for “the Shortage economy”. If we defined “the mass consumer society” as the society where the increasing income levels of consumers caused the increase in the volume and variety of demanding goods, it was true of even the Soviet Union. However, there were unique features to the Soviet Union. Firstly, although many efforts were paid for improvement of assortment and quality of goods, the Soviet had the market which the accumulation of freight and shortage coexisted. Secondly, many consumer goods were offered through companies and distribution (consumption) through the workplace played an important role in the Soviet Union. In this sense, Soviet Union can be considered to be a kind of “corporate society” where the enterprise was at the center of people’s lives.
Free Research Field	ソビエトおよびロシアの経済
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	ソビエト連邦は「不足の経済」として知られており、国民の消費生活は貧しく味気ないものであったと見做されがちであるが、実際には国民の所得水準の上昇に伴って需要の量的拡大と質的多様化が観察され、その意味では「大衆消費社会」が出現していたと考えられる。とはいえ、西側とは異質な特徴を有していたことも事実であり、チェルニショヴァが『ブレジネフ時代のソビエト消費文化』のなかで指摘したように単純に「西側のような大衆消費社会が出現した」と見るべきではない。本研究の他の貢献としては、歴史学や社会学中心であった従来のソビエト・ファッション研究に、生産と流通という経済学的な側面からアプローチしたことが挙げられる。