This title was first published in 1973. The selections from Soviet sociological literature presented in this volume are significant from at least three standpoints. First, they reveal the extent to which the issue of social and economic inequality has become a subject for legitimate public discussion in the Soviet Union.  Second, these selections offer the reader a means of appraising the quality of work in what, under Soviet conditions, is the formative period of a new intellectual discipline.  Third, the selections provide abundant empirical evidence bearing on the forms and degrees of inequality currently found in Soviet society.
