Russian Studies Workshop

Ted Gerber, Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, will present a lecture on: "Market and Non-market Pathways to Homeownership and Social Stratification in Hybrid Housing Regimes: Evidence from Four Post-Soviet Countries."

The lecture will be in GA 4067, but if you cannot join us live, register to join us via Zoom:

 Register (Zoom attendees only)

Abstract:  We propose that market and non-market pathways to homeownership have different implications for social stratification. Specifically, acquiring a home via purchase on the housing market is associated more strongly with higher socioeconomic and social status, better housing quality, more quantity (space), and greater housing-related subjective well-being, compared to receiving a home via a transfer. In contrast, having deceased parents predicts receiving a home via transfer, but not via the market. Post-Soviet societies allow these claims to be tested, because their mass privatization of state-owned housing after the collapse of the USSR and their stultified mortgage markets have produced hybrid housing regimes where private homeownership overwhelmingly predominates, but most owners acquired their homes through transfers from the state or relatives, and housing markets play limited, if growing roles. Our primary data come from the Comparative Housing Experiences and Societal Stability (CHESS) survey, which we fielded in Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Ukraine in 2015.

Sponsored by the Russian Studies Workshop, Robert F. Byrnes Russian and European Institute, Department of Sociology, Department of Economics, and the Inner Asian and Uralic National Resource Center.