Centralized planning of science, technology, and society in the Soviet Union and its impact on educational policy, 1966-1984

This dissertation seeks to explain the following historical problem: In the early fifties, the Harvard Project revealed a positive relationship between education and political socialization: that is, the higher the level of education of Soviet citizens, the more likely they were to support the state. But in the eighties, the Soviet Interview Project found a negative relationship between education and political socialization.;In this dissertation, it is argued that the positive relationship between education and political socialization was caused by an expanding industrial economy which provided significant occupational (and social) rewards for each step up the educational ladder. On the other hand, this is contrasted with the situation in the mid- to late-seventies, when education significantly outpaced the government's ability to provide occupational and social rewards for each step up the educational ladder. Whereas the government's attempt to create a technological revolution was to have provided social and occupational rewards for education, this technological revolution failed to materialize, leaving many citizens underemployed.;This dissertation also pays attention to the main reasons for the government's failure to create a technological revolution. It is argued that there are profound differences between science and technology, which Soviet planners failed to appreciate--as demonstrated by their faith in the "linear model" of technological progress. It is also argued that without spontaneous, self-regulating feedback mechanisms between science, technology and society, Party control of science worked better under Party supervision than when scientists and technologists were left alone to follow their own inspiration. However, it is also argued that the efficiency of Party "bureaucratic push"--which worked well under Stalin's "extensive" economic strategy--dramatically declined as the economy expanded, making it increasingly impossible for the Party to monitor, check or control the simplest innovations.