The New Entrepreneurs of Europe and Asia: Patterns of Business Development in Russia, Eastern Europe and China

While attention has been focused on high-level struggles over control of giant enterprises in China and the former Soviet bloc, a remarkable but underreported revolution has been occurring at the ground level.

This volume examines the profiles of entrepreneurs and the patterns of business development in the transitioning countries. Bringing together the perspectives of all the social science disciplines, from economics and political science to sociology and anthropology, the contributors identify the criteria for survival and success of independent business in different environments. Their findings shed light not only on the "transition from socialism" at the micro-level, but also on the effects of different economic, historical, legal, and social conditions on the conduct of independent economic initiatives.

Elzbieta W. Benson is a doctoral candidate in the department of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley Victoria E. Bonnell is director of the Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies and professor of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley Theodore P. Gerber is assistant professor of sociology at the University of Arizona Bruce Gilley is a contributing editor at the Far Eastern Economic Review in Hong Kong and a visiting scholar at the Graduate School of Journalism, University of California, Berkeley Thomas B. Gold is associate professor of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley Doug Guthrie is associate professor of sociology at New York University Lyn Jeffery has a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from the University of California, Santa Cruz and is currently at the Institute for the Future in Menlo Park Gyorgy Lengyel is professor and chair of the Department of Sociology and Social Policy at the Budapest University of Economic Sciences and Public Administration (BUESPA) Gerald A. McDermott is assistant professor of multinational management in the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania Margaret M. Pearson is associate professor of government and politics at the University of Maryland, College Park Vadim Radaev is vice-rector and chair of economic sociology at the State University-Higher School of Economics in Moscow Akos Rona-Tas is associate professor of sociology at the University of California, San Diego Vadim Volkov is associate professor of sociology, Department of Political Science and Sociology, The European University at St. Petersburg Alexei Yurchak is assistant professor of anthropology at University of California, Berkeley.