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Understanding Political Change in Post-Soviet Societies: A Further Commentary on Finifter and Mickiewicz

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

Arthur H. Miller ,
William M. Reisinger  and
Vicki L. Hesli
Arthur H. Miller
Affiliation:
The University of Iowa
William M. Reisinger
Affiliation:
The University of Iowa
Vicki L. Hesli
Affiliation:
The University of Iowa
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Abstract

Modernization theory suggests that in the post–World War II period increased education promoted public support for democratic principles and an individual opportunities society in the former Soviet Union. Finifter and Mickiewicz (1992), however, based on a 1989 survey in the Soviet Union, found that the less well educated were more supportive of individual locus of control than were the better educated. Examining survey data collected in the former USSR during 1990, 1991, 1992, and 1995, we find consistent reconfirmation of the modernization theory, despite a major decline in support for an opportunities society that occurs between 1992 and 1995. This recent increase in preference for socialism is explained by rising nationalism, growing nostalgia for communists, and disillusionment with certain aspects of the market economy, particularly the perceived growth of social inequality.

Type
Forum
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 90 , Issue 1 , March 1996 , pp. 153 - 166
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1996

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