Money and social connections in the Soviet and post-Soviet Uzbek city

Central Asian Survey

Volumn 17, Issue 4, 1998, Pages 579-596

  Koroteyeva, Victoria ^a   Makarova, Ekaterina ^b  

^a INSTITUTE OF ETHNOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY   (Russian Federation)

^b UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

COMMUNISM; CULTURAL TRADITION; POST-COMMUNISM; SOCIAL NETWORK; TRANSITIONAL ECONOMY; URBAN SOCIETY;

SAMARKAND; UZBEKISTAN;

EID: 0032446077     PISSN: 02634937     EISSN: None     Source Type: Trade Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/02634939808401057     Document Type: Article

References (31)

1. D. Kandiyoti, 'Modernization without the market? The case of the "Soviet East'", Economy and Society, Vol 25, No 4, pp 529-542.
2. The research in 1993-95 was funded by Fondazione Giangiacomo Feltrinelli. We are grateful to Marco Buttino, Francesca Gori and Irina Novichenko for their help and support at every stage of the project.
3. The literature on the second economy in the Soviet system points to the existence of different regional patterns. Central Asia along with the Caucasus figures among regions where the second economy was a particularly prominent feature of local life. See G. Grossman, The "Second economy" of the USSR', Problems of Communism, September-October, 1977, pp 25-40; G. Mars, and Y. Altman, The cultural bases of Soviet Central Asia's economy (Uzbekistan and Tajikistan)' Central Asian Survey, Vol 5, No 3/4, pp 195-204, 1986. We are not engaging here in a wider and more general discussion of the functioning of the second economy in Uzbekistan but restrict our analysis to the area of consumption and exchange. We would like to note, however, that we do not view this phenomenon purely in terms of corruption of the system as for instance do B. Rumer, Soviet Central Asia: A Tragic Experiment (Boston: Unwin Hyman, 1989); and S. Poliakov, Everyday Islam: Religion and Tradition in Rural Central Asia (New York and London: M. E. Sharpe, 1992); rather we view it as an intrinsic part of the Soviet system.
4. The literature on the second economy in the Soviet system points to the existence of different regional patterns. Central Asia along with the Caucasus figures among regions where the second economy was a particularly prominent feature of local life. See G. Grossman, The "Second economy" of the USSR', Problems of Communism, September-October, 1977, pp 25-40; G. Mars, and Y. Altman, The cultural bases of Soviet Central Asia's economy (Uzbekistan and Tajikistan)' Central Asian Survey, Vol 5, No 3/4, pp 195-204, 1986. We are not engaging here in a wider and more general discussion of the functioning of the second economy in Uzbekistan but restrict our analysis to the area of consumption and exchange. We would like to note, however, that we do not view this phenomenon purely in terms of corruption of the system as for instance do B. Rumer, Soviet Central Asia: A Tragic Experiment (Boston: Unwin Hyman, 1989); and S. Poliakov, Everyday Islam: Religion and Tradition in Rural Central Asia (New York and London: M. E. Sharpe, 1992); rather we view it as an intrinsic part of the Soviet system.
5. The literature on the second economy in the Soviet system points to the existence of different regional patterns. Central Asia along with the Caucasus figures among regions where the second economy was a particularly prominent feature of local life. See G. Grossman, The "Second economy" of the USSR', Problems of Communism, September-October, 1977, pp 25-40; G. Mars, and Y. Altman, The cultural bases of Soviet Central Asia's economy (Uzbekistan and Tajikistan)' Central Asian Survey, Vol 5, No 3/4, pp 195-204, 1986. We are not engaging here in a wider and more general discussion of the functioning of the second economy in Uzbekistan but restrict our analysis to the area of consumption and exchange. We would like to note, however, that we do not view this phenomenon purely in terms of corruption of the system as for instance do B. Rumer, Soviet Central Asia: A Tragic Experiment (Boston: Unwin Hyman, 1989); and S. Poliakov, Everyday Islam: Religion and Tradition in Rural Central Asia (New York and London: M. E. Sharpe, 1992); rather we view it as an intrinsic part of the Soviet system.
6. The literature on the second economy in the Soviet system points to the existence of different regional patterns. Central Asia along with the Caucasus figures among regions where the second economy was a particularly prominent feature of local life. See G. Grossman, The "Second economy" of the USSR', Problems of Communism, September-October, 1977, pp 25-40; G. Mars, and Y. Altman, The cultural bases of Soviet Central Asia's economy (Uzbekistan and Tajikistan)' Central Asian Survey, Vol 5, No 3/4, pp 195-204, 1986. We are not engaging here in a wider and more general discussion of the functioning of the second economy in Uzbekistan but restrict our analysis to the area of consumption and exchange. We would like to note, however, that we do not view this phenomenon purely in terms of corruption of the system as for instance do B. Rumer, Soviet Central Asia: A Tragic Experiment (Boston: Unwin Hyman, 1989); and S. Poliakov, Everyday Islam: Religion and Tradition in Rural Central Asia (New York and London: M. E. Sharpe, 1992); rather we view it as an intrinsic part of the Soviet system.
7. See e.g. C. Humphrey, Karl Marx Collective: Economy, Society and Religion in a Siberian Collective Farm (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983); and Zaslavsky, V. The Neo-Stalinist State: Class, Ethnicity, and Consensus in Soviet Society (Armonk, New York: Sharpe, 1982).
8. See e.g. C. Humphrey, Karl Marx Collective: Economy, Society and Religion in a Siberian Collective Farm (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983); and Zaslavsky, V. The Neo-Stalinist State: Class, Ethnicity, and Consensus in Soviet Society (Armonk, New York: Sharpe, 1982).
9. N. Lubin, Labour and Nationality in Soviet Central Asia (London: Macmillan, 1984).
10. The mahalla is a neighbourhood community, an urban institution in the Muslim world, found among Uzbeks and Tajiks. As an institution it was recognized by the Soviet state, incorporated into the system of Soviet institutions and thus legitimized. The Soviet state was content to leave the mahalla to its traditional functions as long as it maintained the ideological appearance of a Soviet institution. For more details on the functioning of the mahalla see V. Koroteyeva and E. Makarova, 'The assertion of Uzbek national identity: Nativitization or state-building process?', forthcoming in T. Atabaki & J. O'Kane (Eds) Post-Soviet Central Asia (London: I. B. Tauris, 1998).
11. For detailed descriptions see F. Lushkevich, Traditsii mezhsemeinykh svyazei uzbeksko-tajikskogo naseleniya Srednei Azii (k probleme bytovaniya kalyma i drugikh patriarkhal'nykh obychaev)', Sovetskaya Etnografiya, 1989, No 4.
12. This argument was developed particularly strongly by Poliakov, op cit, note 3.
13. Humphrey, op cit, note 4, pp 191-192.
14. A. Appadurai, 'Introduction: commodities and the politics of value', The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective, edited by A. Appadurai (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986); J. Davis, Exchange (Buckingham: Open University Press, 1992); J. Parry and M. Bloch, 'Introduction: Money and the morality of exchange', Money and the Morality of Exchange, edited by J. Parry and M. Bloch (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989).
15. A. Appadurai, 'Introduction: commodities and the politics of value', The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective, edited by A. Appadurai (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986); J. Davis, Exchange (Buckingham: Open University Press, 1992); J. Parry and M. Bloch, 'Introduction: Money and the morality of exchange', Money and the Morality of Exchange, edited by J. Parry and M. Bloch (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989).
16. A. Appadurai, 'Introduction: commodities and the politics of value', The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective, edited by A. Appadurai (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986); J. Davis, Exchange (Buckingham: Open University Press, 1992); J. Parry and M. Bloch, 'Introduction: Money and the morality of exchange', Money and the Morality of Exchange, edited by J. Parry and M. Bloch (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989).
17. K. Verdery, 'Theorizing socialism: a prologue to the transition', American Ethnologist, Vol 18, No 3, 1991, pp 419-439; and Z. Gitelman, 'Working the Soviet system: Citizens and urban bureaucracies', The Contemporary Soviet City, edited by H. Morton, R. Stuart (London: Macmillan, 1984), pp 221-243.
18. K. Verdery, 'Theorizing socialism: a prologue to the transition', American Ethnologist, Vol 18, No 3, 1991, pp 419-439; and Z. Gitelman, 'Working the Soviet system: Citizens and urban bureaucracies', The Contemporary Soviet City, edited by H. Morton, R. Stuart (London: Macmillan, 1984), pp 221-243.
19. G. Snesarev, Traditsia muzhskikh soyuzov v ee pozdncishem variante u narodov Srednei Azii', Materialy Khoremzkoi expeditsii, Vypusk 7, No 2, 1963, pp 155-205; R. Rakhimov, 'Muzhskie doma' v traditsionnoi kulture tajikov (Leningrad: Nauka, 1990).
20. G. Snesarev, Traditsia muzhskikh soyuzov v ee pozdncishem variante u narodov Srednei Azii', Materialy Khoremzkoi expeditsii, Vypusk 7, No 2, 1963, pp 155-205; R. Rakhimov, 'Muzhskie doma' v traditsionnoi kulture tajikov (Leningrad: Nauka, 1990).
21. S. Mirkhasilov, 'Iz istorii obshchestvennogo byta uzbekov', Sovetskaya Etnografya, No 5, 1963; and Snesarev, ibid, p 156.
22. S. Mirkhasilov, 'Iz istorii obshchestvennogo byta uzbekov', Sovetskaya Etnografya, No 5, 1963; and Snesarev, ibid, p 156.
23. Since both connections and bribes go together - to enter the department of law at Samarkand university one needed 'good connections and big money'-the sums of bribes could vary by nationality. N. Lubin attributed this practice to affirmative action schemes: Lubin, op cit, note 5. This explanation can be complemented by another one - the insufficiencies of 'connections' among Europeans were compensated for by bigger sums of money they had to pay. It would be naive to think that one would charge an 'abstract' European more than an 'abstract' co-ethnic. The point is that this co-ethnic is more likely to be not an anonymous person but part of a specific network, and the nature of networks is such that services can be repaid at a later date and in a variety of ways.
24. See inter alia Lubin, op cit, note 5.
25. For more detail on the state policies which attempted to incorporate the mahalla into the practice of state-building see Koroteyeva and Makarova, op cit, note 6.
26. For the general trends in economic policy in Uzbekistan in this period see Yu. Kulchik, Respublika Uzbekistan v .Seredine 90-h Godov (Moscow: Institut Etnologii I Antropologii, 1995); and M. Kaser, 'Economic transition in six Central Asian economies', Central Asian Survey, Vol 16. No 1, 1997, pp 5-12.
27. For the general trends in economic policy in Uzbekistan in this period see Yu. Kulchik, Respublika Uzbekistan v .Seredine 90-h Godov (Moscow: Institut Etnologii I Antropologii, 1995); and M. Kaser, 'Economic transition in six Central Asian economies', Central Asian Survey, Vol 16. No 1, 1997, pp 5-12.
28. Koroteyeva and Makarova, op cit, note 5.
29. For a description of this Tajik tradition, see O. Sukhareva, Islam v Uzbekistane (Tashkent: Fan, 1960); and M. Andreev, 'Po Tajikistanu', vypusk I (Tashkent, 1927).
30. For a description of this Tajik tradition, see O. Sukhareva, Islam v Uzbekistane (Tashkent: Fan, 1960); and M. Andreev, 'Po Tajikistanu', vypusk I (Tashkent, 1927).
31. According to the Uzbek demographer Gulnara Kuzibaeva, the average age of first marriage among Uzbek women declined from 21 in 1993 to 19.5 in 1997. She also points to an increase in under-age (younger than 17) marriages in the last five years. See G. Kuzibaeva, Fertility transition in Uzbekistan', paper presented at the conference Women in Central Asia: the Politics of Change, New York, Columbia University, 15 April 1998).