Anne White is Senior Lecturer in Russian and East European Studies, University of Bath. She is the author of De-Stalinization and the House of Culture: declining state control over leisure in the USSR, Poland and Hungary, 1953-89 (Routledge, 1990) and Democratization in Russia under Gorbachev, 1985-1991: the birth of a voluntary sector (Macmillan, 1999).

• Acknowledgements Introduction 1. Socio-Economic and Demographic Trends in Russia and its Regions 2. Characteristics of Small Towns across Russia: Sub-Regional Variation in Living Standards and Population Trends 3. The Fieldwork Towns and their Regions 4. State Sector Employees: the New Poor 5. Livelihood Strategies 6. The Intelligentsia, the 'Middle Class' and Social Stratification 7. Civil Society and Politics 8. Multiple Identities: Local, Regional, Ethnic, National Conclusions Appendix 1: Interview Schedule Appendix 2: Household Composition, Livelihoods and Identities: Five Case Studies Bibliography Index