Isolated local society in Solovky: a view from 1995

Abstract

The article contains two plans — methodological and analytical — and consists of two parts — a field diary and an empirical description of the socio-economic situation in an isolated northern community in the mid–1990s. At that time, it was the first sociological description of the Solovetsky local society and was of intelligence, pilot character. A number of identified problems of local society continue to remain unresolved even after a third of a century. The author’s forecasts of the economic development of Solovki turned out to be mostly incorrect. On the contrary, the socio-political forecasts have been completely fulfilled.