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18th CENTURY SOCIETY & CULTURE
18th CENTURY SOCIETY & CULTURE
POPULATION
1725: 13 Million
1762: 19 Million
1796: 36 Million
Overwhelming rural
18th CENTURY SOCIETY & CULTURE
AGRICULTURE & SERFDOM
Continued expansion
But no modernization or increase in productivity
Focus = subsistence production
Serfs often supplemented income with crafts
18th CENTURY SOCIETY & CULTURE
INDUSTRY & LABOR
Growth in # of manufactories & # of laborers
State maintained directive role
But also encouraged private enterprise
Continued to conscript peasants into labor force
18th CENTURY SOCIETY & CULTURE
TRADE
Internal
South traded food products for finished products from north
External
Exports & imports tripled
Russia became important grain supplier
18th CENTURY SOCIETY & CULTURE
SOCIAL CLASSES
Golden age of nobility
1% of population
But dominated country
Loyal service generously rewarded
But new western lifestyle expensive
18th CENTURY SOCIETY & CULTURE
SOCIAL CLASSES
Peasantry = majority
Serfs (privately owned)
State peasants
Owed landlords 2 kinds of service:
• OBROK = monetary payments
• BARSHCHINA = labor
18th CENTURY SOCIETY & CULTURE
SOCIAL CLASSES
Clergy
Position deteriorated
• anti-clericalism
• state seizure of lands
• compensation inadequate
18th CENTURY SOCIETY & CULTURE
SOCIAL CLASSES
Townspeople
Population growth
Divided into 3 categories:
• merchants
• artisans
• workers
But still not prominent or numerous
18th CENTURY SOCIETY & CULTURE
CULTURE
Distinct period in Russian history
In many ways = break with past
Main influence = Enlightenment
Domain of nobility
• secular
• urban
• western-oriented
18th CENTURY SOCIETY & CULTURE
CULTURE
Phases of cultural development:
Under Peter: borrowed western technology
Mid-century: adopted western manners, fashion, art
Under Catherine: brought western ideas & philosophy
18th CENTURY SOCIETY & CULTURE
CULTURE
Process was incomplete
Very little effect on peasantry
Created large gap between elites & masses
Old traditions persist & reject new
