Housing the New Russia

Review "[Understanding] mortgages in Russia, argues Jane Zavisca in her new book Housing the New Russia, is crucial not only for understanding postsocialist Russia..Housing the New Russia engages many of the standard issues in the literature on housing and offers a fresh look at them.. [It] leaves readers better informed about the established and emerging mortgage markets and more critical about the American Dream, which 'suddenly seems more fraught with moral hazard' (p. 199)." -- Olga Sezneva ― American Journal of Sociology""[Zavisca's] work... breaks new ground by looking at why the sort of market-orientated housing policies that have come to dominate in the West despite extensive financial backing from organisations such as the USA’s Agency for International Development (USAID), proven to be so difficult to introduce into the Russian housing sector... Overall, there is much to applaud in Zavisca’s study. Her ability to effectively switch from macro-level political and economic analysis to micro-level discussions of individual Russians’ domestic arrangements is particularly impressive, as is her ability to make use of both quantitative and qualitative research methods. Likewise, her work must also be commended for attempting to systematically examine the relationship between housing and reproductive behaviour―an area that has received far too little attention from scholars of post-Soviet Russia... This book provides readers with a telling and multi-layered account of how and why successive have governments have found it so dif?cult to establish a market-based and mortgage-dependent housing regime in post-Soviet Russia." -- Matthew Hollow, Durham University ― Europe-Asia Studies"In an exciting new exploration of housing in contemporary Russia, Jane R. Zavisca examines the challenges related to the emergence of the housing market in the post-Soviet period..Zavisca's well-argued and clearly presented call for greater integration of housing issues into studies of inequality, family formation, and social satisfaction is on very solid ground. This is a fine work worthy of wide readership." -- Cynthia Buckley ― Slavic Review"The central argument in Jane Zavisca's excellent book is that the cultural attitudes to housing derived from the Soviet period continue to have a profound impact on the contemporary housing system in Russia, and help account for the failure to 'transplant' successfully the US model of housing finance.... Zavisca brings refreshing insights into the evolution of housing policy in Russia." ― Housing Studies"Zavisca meticulously examines the causes and consequences of mortgage housing market failure in the new Russia.... By providing insights into the new Russian society and the challenges it faces regarding housing, population and family life, economy, stratification, and social change, Zavisca makes an important contribution to Russian studies, economics, and political sociology. Highly recommended." ― Choice"Zavisca successfully demonstrates the complexity and richness of using housing as a measure of large-scale social change. The book is accessibly and engagingly written; even the most technical parts of the analysis are clearly communicated. It manages to speak to a wide range of audiences, including economic and cultural sociologists interested in markets, area specialists on Russia, anthropologists studying family and kinships structures, and demographers examining fertility... the book is highly recommended to all who seek to gain a better understanding of contemporary Russian society." -- Virág Molnár ― Russian Review"Zavisca's focus on sociocultural factors has important theoretical implications for all housing scholars. In particular, her focus on sociocultural factors complememnts the focus by political economists on material and economic factors in planning and policy. Her research clearly demonstrates that a cultural approach furthers our udnerstanding of why mortgage markets have failed in Rus