Professor David Lane is an Emeritus Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge University, UK, and previously was Professor of Sociology at the University of Birmingham. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.
David was educated at the Universities of Birmingham and Oxford (Nuffield College) and has taught at the Universities of Birmingham, where he was Professor of Sociology, and at Essex University. He has been a visiting professor at Cornell, Odense, Harvard, Sabanci (Istanbul), Graz, the Kennan Institute (Washington DC), Shandong and Peking. He has visited and lectured at many universities and research institutes in the countries of the former USSR and eastern and central Europe China and Japan.
He has published widely on state socialist societies, the USSR, Marxism, elites, class and social stratification; his current research focuses on transformation, globalization, ‘varieties of capitalism’, neoliberalism, alternatives to capitalism, the enlargement of the European Union and the formation of the Eurasian Union.
Research Interests
Current research: unemployment under post-socialism, post-socialism. Political economy of transition from state socialism in general. Special interest in role of classes and elites. Particular interest in contemporary Ukraine and Russia; post socialist states in the world system; alternatives to capitalism.
Teaching Interests: sociology of politics; social class, civil society, social mobility, inequality and social stratification; the sociology of socialism; revolution and socialism; Russian and East European politics and society; political leadership and elites; transition in post communist society.
Teaching
Graduate supervision availability and interests:
Applications are invited in the area of the political economy of transition in Eastern Europe and the former USSR, elites and classes, enlargement of the EU and current debates on Marxism with respect to state socialism. Post-socialist states and the world system; alternatives to capitalism and neo-liberalism. In the first instance, contact David Lane direct via email (DSL10@CAM.AC.UK). Send a brief cv and a one page outline of your proposals.
Current Doctoral students:
Current and recent PhD students are studying: Commonwealth of Independent States, Privatisation in Poland, international Aspects of Transformation of Eastern Europe and Former USSR Russian Television, National and Ethnic Consciousness in the states of the former USSR, civil society in post-socialist states, national identity in central Asian Republics of former USSR, formation of post-communist ideology in Russian Federation, structure of electronic communications in contemporary China.
Recent PhDs have completed on Comparative Communism: the Case of North Korea, Small Business in Ukraine. Russian Television, Enlargement of European Union ; economic transformation of Ukraine and Russia; forms of participation of young people in electronic media.
Publications
Books
Global Neoliberal Capitalism and the Alternatives. From Social Democracy to State Capitalisms. Bristol University Press. 2023. Translated to Russian in 2024.
Kapitalisticheskaya tranformatsiya gosudarstvennogo sotsializma: sozdanie I razval gosudarstvennogo sotsializma I chto proizozhlov dal’she. St Petersburg: INIR im S.Yu.Vitte. 2022.
With Guichang Zhu, Changing Regional Alliances for China and the West. Lanham: Lexington Books. 2018.
The Eurasian Project in Global Perspective. London: Routledge. 2018.
With Vsevolod Samokhvalov (editor and contributor), Palgrave Macmillan 2015, The Eurasian Project and Europe. 2015.
The Capitalist Transformation of State Socialism. The making and breaking of state socialist society, and what followed. Routledge, 2013.
(Editor and Contributor), Elites and Identities in Post-Soviet Space. Routledge 2012.
With Stephen White, Rethinking the ‘Coloured Revolutions’, (Editor and contributor), Routledge, 2010.
With Andrew Gamble, European Union and World Politics,(editor and contributor), Palgrave 2009.
With Heinz Fassmann and Max Haller (Editors), Migration and Mobility in Europe, Edward Elgar 2009.
The Transformation of State Socialism: System Change, Revolution or Something Else? Palgrave, 2007. (Editor and contributor)
Revolution in the Making of the Modern World: Social Identities, Globalisation and Modernity, edited by John Foran, David Lane and Andreja Zivkovic. Routledge 2007. (Joint editor and contributor)
Varieties of Capitalism in Post Communist Countries, edited by David Lane and Martin Myant, Palgrave 2007. (Joint editor and contributor)
Russian Banking: Evolution, Problems and Prospects, Edward Elgar, 2002. (Editor and contributor).
The Legacy of State Socialism and the Future of Transformation, Rowman and Littlefield, 2002. (Editor and contributor).
The Political Economy of Russian Oil, Rowman and Littlefield (Editor and Contributor). 1999.
The Transition from Communism to Capitalism: Ruling Elites from Gorbachev to Yeltsin (with Cameron Ross), New York: St Martin's and London: Macmillan. 1998. Japanese translation with new introduction. Tokyo: Mado-sha, 2001.
The Rise and Fall of State Socialism: Industrial Society and the Socialist State. Polity Press 1996. 225pp. Russian edition 2006 – Pod”em I upadok gosudarstvennogo sotsializma, Kiev Institut sotsiologii NANU.
Russia in Transition: Politics and Inequalities. (Editor and Contributor). Longman 1995. 236pp.
Russia in Flux. (Editor and Contributor). Edward Elgar 1992.
Soviet Society under Perestroika. Second Edition: Routledge 1991. (441pp); First Edition: Unwin Hyman 1990. 401pp.
Elites and Political Power in the USSR. (Editor and Contributor). Edward Elgar 1988. 299pp.
Articles and Book Chapters
In addition to below, David Lane publishes articles and papers on the Valdai discussion club (Moscow): https://valdaiclub.com/about/experts/322/?sphrase_id=1720692
The Transition to Socialism. Yesterday and Today. Pp. 89-100. In Innovative Marxist School in China. Berlin: Canut international publishers. 2023.
The Ambiguities of State Capitalism and the Rise of Hybrid State-controlled Capitalism, Eszmelet (Budapest) 2022.
Lenin and Revolution: A Critique – Yesterday and Today. International Critical Thought. 2021
Civilisation and the Globalisation of Capitalism, in Elena Chebankova and Piotr Dutkiewicz, Civilizations and World Order. London: Routledge 2022. pp. 127-144.
Lenin’s Ideas on Revolution. Are they Relevant Today? Theory and Struggle. No 122, 2021. Pp.178-189.
Teoriya sotsialistichskogo revolyutsii Vladimira Lenina. [Lenin’s Theory of Socialist Revolution] Mir Rossii. Vol 29, No4. 2020. pp. 112-133.
Russia Against the Rest. The Post-Cold War Crisis of World Order (Review). European Politics and Society, Vol 21:6, Issue 1:7. 2020
V.I. Lenin’s Theory of Socialist Revolution, Critical Sociology, Volume 47, Issue 3 2021. Pp. 1-19.
Building socialism: from ‘scientific’ to ‘active’ Marxism, in Third World Quarterly, Vol 41, No 8. 2020, pp.1306-1321
Post-Soviet Regions: From Interdependence to Countervailing Powers? In Changing Regional Alliances for China and the West. Lanham: Lexington Books. 2018. pp. 3-24.
The October Revolution and its Consequences in Society, Environment and Development (St Petersburg) 2018, no 3, pp. 31-41. Russian Translation: Oktyabr’skaya revolyutsiya i ee posledstviya, Obshchestvo, Sreda, Razvitie. 2018 no. 4.
Divergent social and economic consequences of transformation in post-communist states, in Crises in the Post-Soviet Space. Felix Jaitner, Tina Olteanu and Tobias Spori (editors). London: Routledge 2018. pp.39-60.
The De-Coupling of National Economic elites from Political Elites: Russia and the UK Compared, Corvinus, Journal of Sociology and Social Policy. Vol 8, 3S, 2017. pp.221-252.
The Significance of the October Revolution, Theory and Struggle, vol. 118, 2017. pp. 2-19.
The Shift of the Russian Economy to National Capitalism, pp. 147-163. In Rudolf Traub-Merz (ed.) Economic Crisis and Industrial Policies – Policy Options for a Return to Growth in Russia. – Moscow: Politicheskaya entsiklopediya. 2016.
Sotsial’no-ekonomicheskie itogi transformatsiy v postsotsialisticheskikh stranakh, (The Divergent Social and Economic Consequences of Transformation in Post Socialist Countries) in Mir Rossii (Moscow), Vol 25, no 4, 2016. pp. 7-29.
The International Context: Russia, Ukraine and the Drift to East-West Confrontation. International Critical Thought. Vol., 6. No 4. (2016). Pp. 623-644.
‘Post-kapitalizm’ kak novaya ekonomicheskaya sistema: kritika. (‘Post-capitalism’ as a new Economic System: A Critique). In Voprosy politicheskoy ekonomii (Moscow), 2016, no 3. pp. 8-21.
Skhodyashchiesya sotsialno-ekonomicheskie posledstviya transformatsiy postsotsialisticheskikh stran (Divergent Social and Economic Consequences of Transformation in Post-Communist States) in Nova li novaya Rossiya? Pod Red. O.I.Shkaratana i G.A. Yastrebova, Moscow 2016: Universitetskaya kniga, pp. 53-75.
Editor of The Eurasian Project in Global Perspective, Supplement to European Politics and Society Volume 17, 2016. The issue included his Preface and paper: Post-Socialist Regions in the World System.
‘Evraziyskaya regional’naya integratsiya kak otvet neoliberal’nomu proektu globalizatsii’, Mir Rossii. Vol 24, no 2. 2015. pp. 6-27.
‘Eurasian integration as a Response to Neo-liberal Globalisation’ in David Lane and Vsevolod Samokhvalov, Palgrave-Macmillan 2015.
‘1968: The Times of Troubles’ in Ken Plummer (Ed.), Imaginations: Fifty Years of Essex Sociology. Wivenhoe: Wivenbooks. 2014. pp. 54-9.
‘Bezrabotitsi i preobrazovaniya: masshtaby, politika i kontrmery’, [Unemployment and Transformation: Incidence, Policies and Remedies]. Sotsiologiya (Kiev Academy of Sciences), 2014, no 1, pp. 112-131.
‘British Elite De-Coupling from Classes,’ in Heinrich Best and John Higley (Eds), Political Elites in the Transatlantic Crisis. New York: Palgrave Macmillan 2014. pp.101-120.
Kakova al’ternativa? Natsional’ny kapitalizm ili rynochny sotsializm?, Mir Peremen, Moscow, No 1 2013. pp.161-166.
Grazhdanskoe obshchestvo v stranakh ES: ideologiya, instituty I predvizhenie demokratii. Politicheskie Issledovaniya (Polis), Moscow. No 2, 2012. pp. 98-116. (Journal of the Russian Political Science Association).
Sotsiologicheskie posledstviya dvadtsati let preobrazovaniy: kak sblizhayutsya Vostok i Zapad? Sotsiologiya. Kiev Jan-March 2012 No 1, pp.20-42. (Academy of Sciences of Ukraine).
‘The Impact of Economic Crisis: Russia, Belarus and Ukraine in Comparative Perspective’, Journal of Communist and Transition Politics, vol. 27, Nos 3-4. September 2011. pp. 587-604.
‘”Coloured Revolution” as a Political Phenomenon', Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics, June 2009. 25:2,113 - 135. Translation of above: ‘“Tsvetnaya” revolyutsiya kak politicheski fenomenon’, Sotsiologiya, Teoriya, Metody, Marketing. (Institute of Sociology, Ukrainian Academy of Sciences), 2010/1, Janvar’-Mart 2010, 16-38.
‘Oranzhevaya revolyutsiya: ‘narodnaya revolyutsiya’ ili revolyutsionny perevorot?, Polis (Moscow) No 2 2010. pp. 31-53. Translation of: ‘The Orange Revolution: ‘People’s Revolution’ or Revolutionary Coup?’ British Journal of Politics and International Relations, November 2008 vol. 10, pp.525-549.
‘Rossiyskaya transformatsiya: stanovlenie mirovoy derzhavy? In Mir Rossii (Moscow). Vol xix no 4, 2010. Pp. 3-24.
‘The impact of economic crisis: russia, belarus and ukraine in comparative perspective’, Journal of Communist and Transition Politics, vol. 27, nos 3-4. September 2011. Pp. 587- 604.
‘Civil Society in the Old and New Member States’, European Societies, July 2010: 1- 22.
‘”Coloured Revolution” as a Political Phenomenon', Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics, June 2009. 25:2,113 - 135.
Оранжевая революция: “народная революция” Или революционный переворот? Polis (Moscow) No 2 2010. pp. 31-53.
‘European and Central Asian Trajectories of Change from State Socialism’, in Rudiger Frank and Sabine Burghart, Driving Forces of Socialist Transformation: North Korea and the Experience of Europe and East Asia. Vienna: Praesens Verlag 2009. pp. 61-88.
‘Global Capitalism and the Transformation of State Socialism’ Studies in Comparative International Development, 44, June 2009 pp.:97–117. Russian Version, Mirovoy kapitalizm I transformatsiya gosudarstvennogo sotsialisma, Mir Rossii, 2009, No 1, pp.47-73
Translation of: ‘The Orange Revolution: ‘People’s Revolution’ or Revolutionary Coup?’ British Journal of Politics and International Relations, November 2008 vol. 10, pp.525-549.
‘Russia’s Asymmetric Capitalism in Comparative Perspective’, in Stephen White (Ed.), Media, Culture and Society in Putin’s Russia, Palgrave-Macmillan, 2008. pp.181-204.
‘Perestroika or katastroika?’ (Review article), The Political Quarterly, Vol. 79, no 1, Jan-March 2008. pp.126-129
‘From Chaotic to State-led Capitalism’, in New Political Economy, Vol. 13, No 2, June 2008. 177-184.
‘Post Communist States and the European Union’, in Communist Studies and Transition Politics. Vol. 23, No 4, December 2007. 461-477.
‘In or Out of Europe? What Prospects for Ukraine?’ in Perspectives on European Politics and Society, Vol. 8. No 4. December 2007. 495-504.
‘Transformatsiya Rossiya i Ukrainy: sotsial’nye osnovy reform i antireform’,(translated into Russian) Mir Rossii, 2007, no 2. pp. 3- 24.
‘Outcomes of Transformation’ and ‘The Transformation of Russia and Ukraine: The Social Bases of Reform and Anti-Reform’, in David Lane (Ed), The Transformation of State Socialism: System Change, Revolution or Something Else? Palgrave, 2007. 1-32 and 57-76.
‘”Transformation’ of State Socialism or Class Revolution?’ in Revolution in the Modern World: Social Identities, Globalisation and Modernity, edited by John Foran, David Lane and Andreja Zivkovic. Routledge 2007. 45-62.
‘Civil Society and the Transformation of State Socialism’, in N.Genov and R. Kreckel, Soziologische Zeitgeschichte, Berlin: Sigma, 2007. 189-204.
‘Post state socialism: A Diversity of Capitalisms?’ in Varieties of Capitalism in Post Communist Countries, edited by David Lane and Martin Myant, Palgrave 2007. 13-39.
‘Modernisation and the Changing Social Structure of State Socialism’, in Markku Kangaspuro and Jeremy Smith, Modernisation in Russia Since 1900, Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society, 2006. pp. 52-73.
(With Iulia Shevchenko), ‘Social Structure and the Left-Right Divide: The Socio- Economic Background of Voting in the First Russian Parliament’, Perspectives on European Politics and Society. Vol.7, No3, September 2006: 237-252
'From State Socialism to Capitalism: The Role of Class and the World System’, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, Vol. 39: 2006: 135-152.
‘Explaining the Transformation from State Socialism: Revolution, Class and Elites’, in Sven Eliaeson, Building Democracy and Civil Society East of the Elbe: Essays in honour of Edmund Mokrzyski. London: Routledge, 2006. pp.125-144.
‘Padenie gosudarstvennogo sotsializma’, Mir Rossii, Vol. XIV, No 3. 2005. pp. 105-141.
‘Russia’s Asymmetric Capitalism in Comparative Perspective’ in Heiko Pleines (Ed.), How to Explain Russia’s Post-Soviet Political and Economic System. Forschungsstelle Osteuropa Bremen. No 69. September 2005: 46-60.
‘Social Class as a Factor in the Transformation from State Socialism’, Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics. Dec 2005.Vol. 21, No 4: 417-434.
‘Emerging varieties of capitalism in former state socialist societies’, Competition and Change. Vol. 9, No 3. September 2005: 221-241.
‘Global’ny kapitalizm i transformatsiya gosudarsvennogo sotsialisma’, Sotsiologicheski zhurnal, No 1, 2005: 51-72. (Journal of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Sociology).
‘Revolution, Class and Globalisation in the Transition from State Socialism’, European Societies, vol. 7, No 1 (2005) 131-156.
‘Transformatsiya gosudarstvennogo sotsialism’, in Postcommunist Transfrormations: (translated into Russian) edited by O.D Kutsenko and S.S. Babenko, (Kharkov National University 2004),pp 83-107.
'Global Capitalism and the Transformation of State Socialism', in Shinichiro Tabata and Akihor Iwashita, Slavic Eurasia's Integration into the World Economy and Community, Slavic Research Center, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, 2004, pp. 27-60.
'From Shock to Therapy: The Political Economy of Post-Socialist Transformations', Economic Systems. Vol. 27, No 3, Sept 2003.
'Economic Transformation in Russia: A State Capitalist Future?' translated into Japanese in Comparative Economic Studies (Hikakukeizaitaisei kenkyu), Published by the Society of Japanese Researchers on Comparative Economic Studies. No.10, May 2003. 20-35.
'Kakoy kapitalism dlya Rossii', Vestnik Mezhdunarodnogo Slavyanskogo universitieta (g. Khar'kov), Seriya, Sotsiologiya, Vol 5. no 4 (2002), 3-7.
'The Economic Legacy: What Putin had to Deal with and the Way Forward', in Cameron Ross, Russian Politics under Putin, (Manchester University Press, 2004). pp.95-113
'Trajectories of Transformation: Theories, Legacies and Outcomes' in The Legacy of State Socialism and the Future of Transformation, Rowman and Littlefield, 2002. (Editor and contributor). pp.3-30.
'The Evolution of Post-Communist Banking', (with Irene Lavrentieva), 'The View from the Ground - Case Studies of Three Major Banks', in Russian Banking: Evolution, Problems and Prospects, Edward Elgar, 2002. (Editor and contributor).
'The Political Economy of Russian Oil', in Peter Rutland (Ed), Business and the State in Contemporary Russia. Westview Press, 2001.
'The Transformation of State Socialism in Russia: What Kind of Capitalism?' Communist and Post-Communist Studies. December 2000. Vol. 33. no 4.
'The Transformation of State Socialism in Russia: from "Chaotic" Economy to State-led Cooperative Capitalism', in Michel Dobry, Democratic and Capitalist Transitions in Eastern Europe. Klewer Publishers, Dortrecht 2000, pp.181-196. ISBN 0-7923-6331-0.
'Russia: The Oil Elite's Evolution, Divisions, Outlooks', in J. Higley and G. Lengyel, Elites After State Socialism: Theories and Analysis. Rowman and Littlefield: 2000. pp. 179-98.
'Sociology, Equality and Socialism' in Aleksandra Janinska-Kania, Melvin L. Kohn, Kazimierz M. Slomczynski (Eds), Power and Social Structure: Essays in Honor of Wlodzimierz Wesolowski. Warsaw: Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, 1999. pp.275-291. ISBN 83-235-0128-9.
'Introduction', 'Structure and ownership' with I. Seifmulukov, 'The Russian Oil Elite: Background and Outlook' Appendix: Company Profiles: LUKoil, YuKOS, Surgutneftgaz, Sidanko, in David Lane, The Political Economy of Russian Oil, Rowman and Littlefield. 1999.
'Transformation of State Socialism: From Communism to Chaotic Capitalism?', Sociology, Vol. 33, No. 2. May 1999.
'Social Theory, The collapse of State Socialism and After: Convergence or Divergence? in Michael Cox (Ed.), Rethinking the Soviet Collapse. London: Pinter 1998. 150-163. pp.150-164.
'Elite Cohesion and Division: Transition in Gorbachev's Russia' in John Higley, J. Pakulski and W. Wesolowski, Post-Communist Elites and Democracy in Eastern Europe. Macmillan and St Martin's Press, 1998. pp. 67-96.
'Ruling Elite in Transition: Nomenklatura or Political Class?', in G. Lengyel and B. Vedres, Changing Elites and Changing Rules of the Game. Budapest: Budapest University of Economic Sciences, 1998. 15-38. Another version published as: 'The Russian Ruling Elites: Nomenklatura or Political Class?' in Polish Academy of Sciences, Sisyphus: Social Studies, Warsaw: IFiS Publishers. Special issue on Post- socialist Institution Building, Vol. XI 1998. pp.31-60.
'Transition under Eltsin: the Nomenklatura and Political Elite Circulation'. Political Studies, Vol. 45, No. 4. (December 1997). 855-74.
Key Publications - Books
Lane, D. and Guichang Zhu (Eds). 2018. Changing Regional Alliances for China and the West. Lanham: Lexington Books.
Lane, D (Ed). 2018. The Eurasian Project in Global Perspective. London: Routledge.
Lane, D. and Vsevolod Samokhvalov (Eds). 2015. The Eurasian Project and Europe: Regional Discontinuities and Geopolitics. Palgrave Macmillan.
Lane, D. 2013. The Capitalist Transformation of State Socialism: The making and breaking of state socialist society, and what followed. Routledge.
Key Publications - Book Chapters
Lane, D. 2018. Post-Soviet Regions: From Interdependence to Countervailing Powers? In Changing Regional Alliances for China and the West. Lanham: Lexington Books. pp. 3-24.
Lane, D. 2018. Post-socialist regions in the world system. In The Eurasian Project in Global Perspective. London: Routledge. pp. 46-66.
Lane, D. 2018. Divergent social an economic consequences of transformation in post-communist states. In Crises in the Post-Soviet Space. Felix Jaitner, Tina Olteanu and Tobias Spori (eds). London: Routledge. pp. 39-60.
Lane, D. 2016. The Shift of the Russian Economy to National Capitalism. In Economic Crisis and Industrial Policies: Policy Options for a Return to Growth in Russia. Moscow: Politicheskaya entsiklopediya. pp. 147-163.
Lane, D. 2015. Eurasian integration as a Response to Neo-liberal Globalisation. In The Eurasian Project and Europe: Regional Discontinuities and Geopolitics. Palgrave Macmillan.
Key Publications - Journal Articles
Lane, D. 2020. Russia Against the Rest. The Post-Cold War Crisis of World Order (Review). European Politics and Society, Vol 21:6, Issue 1:7.
Lane, D. 2018. The October Revolution and its Consequences. Society, Environment and Development (St Petersburg), no 3, pp. 31-41.
Lane, D. 2017. The De-Coupling of National Economic elites from Political Elites: Russia and the UK Compared. Corvinus, Journal of Sociology and Social Policy. Vol 8:3S, pp. 221-252.
Lane, D. 2016. The International Context: Russia, Ukraine and the Drift to East-West Confrontation. International Critical Thought, 6(4), 623-644.
Lane, D. 2016. Post-Socialist Regions in the World System. European Politics and Society, Vol 17:S1.
Lane, D. 2017. The Significance of the October Revolution. Theory and Struggle, vol. 118, pp. 2-19.
Grants and Projects
Dr Lane has received research grants from the British Academy and the Leverhulme Trust to research unemployment in Russia and Ukraine with collaborators in Moscow, Kharkov and Kiev. Recent grants from the British Academy have supported a network on strategic elites in the process of European Enlargement. The Centre for East European Based Language Area Studies in support of a network on Eurasia.
