Recent studies in economic anthropology have considered the moral values ascribed to money and market-based exchange, especially in small-scale societies in which the introduction of Western currencies and markets is challenged by local values stressing reciprocity. In the 1990s, a similar confrontation of values took place in postsocialist societies. Guided by socialist ideology, the citizens of Soviet-bloc countries had long been encouraged to believe that most forms of market exchange were immoral and that the state was responsible for providing economic security. With the postsocialist transition, socialist enterprises were dismantled, socialist benefits were eradicated, and new market values were introduced. The fascinating collection of essays in Markets and Moralities takes a close look at the “clash between deeply ingrained moralities and the daily pressures, opportunities and inequalities posed by market penetration” (p. 1). Each of the essays included in this volume is based on original ethnographic research in Eastern Europe, Mongolia, or the post-Soviet republics. Although there are several other edited collections dealing with the postsocialist experience, this volume is a welcome addition to the literature because of the ethnographic approach, microlevel analysis, and economic focus of each case study.

This volume contains an introductory essay by Caroline Humphrey and Ruth Mandel, followed by ten case studies, loosely organized into three sections. The essays in the first section examine changing cultural and moral values associated with trade, entrepreneurship, and money. Farideh Heyat, for example, describes the interplay between cultural values that limit Azeri women’s public activities and postsocialist realities that encourage them to pursue entrepreneurial opportunities in the trade and services sectors. In a chapter on rural markets in Bulgaria, Deema Kaneff argues that Bulgarians who view bazaar trade as immoral and shameful tend to define work in terms of something that benefits the state, whereas those who view bazaar trade more positively define work in terms of something that benefits the household. Julian Watt’s chapter also deconstructs moral attitudes toward entrepreneurship. In the Pomorye region of Russia, Watts argues, people make strong distinctions between immoral entrepreneurs who cheat their customers and profit from speculative trade and moral entrepreneurs who work hard and contribute to local economic development. In her chapter on currency usage in the Górale region of Poland, Frances Pine demonstrates how the social values attributed to different foreign currencies, including the U.S. dollar, have shifted from the socialist to the postsocialist period.

One of the most striking changes in the postsocialist states is the increased availability of consumer goods and the end of what Humphrey has referred to as “involuntary homogeneity.” No longer forced to wait in lines, consumers now have more options than they can possibly afford. The essays in the second section of this book examine how local actors understand and respond to these new consumer options. By comparing different approaches to home decorating and cleaning in Romania, Adam Drazin suggests that some Romanians are choosing to pursue what they consider a “modern” lifestyle by purchasing newly available cleaning products and redecorating their homes. Ingrid Rausing discovers that, in addition to associating Western goods with prestige and status, most Estonians view the consumption of Western goods, which are typically more expensive than local products, as a return to “normality” wherein Estonia is linked with Western European countries. In his study of a Western fried chicken chain in Hungary, André Czeglédy examines local responses to this new culinary option, the tension between international management and local franchise owners, and the impact of fast-food chains on cultural attitudes toward the division of labor.

The third section of this book examines the harsh realities faced by rural citizens in postsocialist states. Using both quantitative and qualitative data, Louisa Perrota’s chapter provides clear explanations for why collective farms in Ukraine are insolvent (although still in operation) and why rural households cannot easily profit from private farming or small business development. Although sympathetic to the plight of the poor, Perrota believes that local expectations regarding government aid limit efforts to develop local solutions to socioeconomic problems. In his chapter on economic reforms in rural Mongolia, David Sneath argues that neoliberal policies are unlikely to increase productivity and efficiency in the pastoral economy because private land ownership and other market-based concepts are not indigenous to Mongolia. In the final chapter, Rosamund Shreeves explores the gendered effects of decollectivization in rural Kazakhstan. Whereas the majority of rural men are emasculated by the struggle to provide for their families, women’s increased contributions to the household economy are undervalued as state farm salaries disappear and new private farms become registered in men’s names.

The essays in this volume are written in a lively style with a lot of attention to ethnographic detail. Regrettably, however, several of the chapters present one or two interesting case studies but do not provide enough information for the reader to assess whether or not these cases are representative of a larger pattern (Kaneff, Czegéldy, and Shreeves). A related problem is that the essays (with the exception of those by Rausing and Perotta) do not discuss research methods in sufficient detail.

On a theoretical level, the essays push for a better understanding of postsocialist experience. In reading these essays, one wonders how these postsocialist experiences compare with postcolonial situations, especially those in which similar structural adjustments have been introduced. This issue is not addressed in any of the essays, although, noting the diverging experiences in postsocialist spaces, the editors question how long scholars will continue to think in terms of “postsocialism.”

Despite these limitations, this volume successfully outlines the contradictions between socialist moral values and postsocialist market economies. Although the focus is on the postsocialist present, the essays benefit from historical descriptions of socialist and presocialist periods. For example, Heyat describes black market trade during the Soviet era, Czegéldy discusses local precedents to foreign fast-food, and Sneath discusses land use in presocialist Mongolia. The arguments found in these essays are strengthened by careful depictions of the local nuances associated with basic concepts, such as “work” (Kaneff), “entrepreurship” (Watts), “normality” (Rausing), and “ownership” and “property” (Sneath). Finally, several chapters (Heyat, Drazin, Szegéldy, and Shreeves) benefit from careful attention to gender issues.