Borodkin L.I. Kokhanovskiy A. G. Social transformation of Belarusian society (1861–1914). Minsk: BDU, 2013. 335 pp. In Belarusian.

Abstract: The reviewed book studies the modernisation processes that occurred in Belarusian society during the course of more than half a century – beginning with the Great Reforms up to the First World War. The reviewer notes that the social transformation of society on the territory of Belarusian provinces is addressed in the wider context of the modernising processes concurrently taking place in the Russian empire in general. The book analyses the most diverse aspects of the given subject: the government policy itself, directed towards social transformation, the dynamics of the literacy level indicators among the population, the changes in the structure of the population and demographic processes in the region in general, the evolution of estate institutions in Belarusian society, the formation processes of a bourgeois society and its institutional foundations. The reviewer highlights the exceptional scientific value of this research and of its conclusions. In particular, the author’s assertion that the government introduced restraining laws had the aim of not only enforcing the Russian influence on Belarusian provinces, but also of changing the traditional system of social and economic relations. Also noteworthy is the author’s comment that in the studied provinces – in comparison with other regions of Russia – the government often played a more reserved role in the realisation of modernising changes. The review contains some critical notes, among which is the author's insufficient attention to statistical data, which describes the dynamics of work conflicts on industrial enterprises in Belarusian provinces.

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