Yu.A. Levada is a Russian sociologist, professor, Director of the All-Russian Centre for Public Opinion (VCIOM). The book contains essays published in the journal “Monitoring of Public Opinion. Economic and Social Changes” in 1993-2000. The first part deals with the trends in the political and social changes in Russia and in its public opinion in the last few years. The second part is devoted to theoretical questions related to the nature and structure of public opinion. The third section contains articles on the research project “The Soviet Person” conducted by VCIOM since 1989.

The empiric base of the publications is abundant data of regular and ad-hoc mass surveys conducted by VCIOM.

This book is for sociologists and political scientists studying the social changes and public opinion in modern Russia.