Informant-based and mail-tampering (perlustration) soviet sociology of 1922-1959

Abstract

This article examines the history of Soviet sociology in the 1920-1950s , as well as its interpretation and influence in subsequent decades. The author challenges the claims regarding the absence of concrete sociological research in the USSR during the 1930s –1950s , providing examples of published studies. The article proposes considering the reports of state security agencies as a valuable sociological source. These documents were based on the accounts of secret informants (secsots) and the perlustration of postal correspondence. Such observations were selective in nature during 1922-1941 and 1946–1959 but became total (comprehensive) during 1941– 1945; the perlustration of international correspondence remained total until 1969. 
From a sociological perspective, the work of secret informants can be regarded as an analog of the “participant observation” method, while perlustration effectively employed content analysis methods, including the use of special coding instructions. The surviving reports of perlustrators and censors are unique documents that reflect the state of public opinion in the USSR during the specified period. The author proposes to distinguish a special — “secret informant and perlustration” — period of research in the history of Soviet sociology.

For citation: Dymshits, M. N. (2026). Perlyustratsionnaya sovetskaya sotsiologiya 1922-1959 [Informant-Based and Mail-Tampering (Perlustration) Soviet Sociology of 1922– 1959]. Sotsiologiya zaboty [Russian Sociology of Care]. Vol. 1. No. 2. P. 73–104. (In Russ.)