Health and Social Change in Russia and Eastern Europe

For the first time, life expectancy is declining in an industrialized society. In this pioneering work, William C. Cockerham examines the social causes of the decline in life expectancy beginning in the 1960s in the former Soviet Union: Russia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and East Germany. He argues that the roots of this change are mainly social rather than biomedical--the result of poor policy decisions, stress and unhealthy livestyle. Cockerham presents a theory of postmodern social change that goes beyond the borders of Eastern Europe.