Car Culture in the Soviet Union in the 1960s and 1980s

The "socialist automobile" meant many things: a serious piece of wealth, a status symbol and also represented the turn of the "really existing socialism" towards consumerism. The author let us a glimpse into the special culture that was built around the socialist automobile: what communities were formed by searching maintenance, car parts and often also petrol. What kind of inequalities developed by having or not having a car, how it affected socialist moral, and how successful was the sOriginal publication: Lewis H. Siegelbaum: "Car Culture in the Soviet Union in the 1960s and 1980s" Technology and Culture, Volume 50. Number 1, January 2004.