The failure to create a consumer society in the USSR (1953–1985) as one of the factors of the collapse of a single state

Abstract

The article analyzes the stages of the formation of consumer society in the USSR in 1953–1985. The main directions of the social policy of the Soviet state to meet the material needs of the Soviet population are considered. The conclusion is made about the growing contradictions between the consumer aspirations of the masses and the limited capabilities of the Soviet economy as the reason for the collapse of the unified Soviet Union.

Keywords

• social policy
• state of social services
• soviet people
• soviet elites
• consumer society
• socialist values
• ideology of consumerism