Making Ends Meet in Contemporary Russia: Secondary Employment, Subsidiary Agriculture and Social Networks

Throughout the 1990s, Russian households experienced a dramatic fall in their traditional sources of subsistence: wages and social benefits. Many commentators have argued that households have adopted 'survival strategies' that enable them to make ends meet, particularly taking second jobs, growing their own food and calling on the help of family and friends.

This book reviews the available data to analyse the forms, scale and incidence of these phenomena. The author finds that so-called 'su...