Yuri Levada

Yuri Levada was a Soviet and Russian sociologist whose research on public opinion and social change led to the creation of an independent research center in Moscow.

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Boris Grushin: A Soviet sociologist who pioneered systematic study of public opinion and mass consciousness. Grushin’s early public-opinion research helped establish the field in which Levada worked.
Faculty of Philosophy at Moscow State University: A Moscow State University faculty that has trained scholars in philosophy and social sciences. Levada taught and conducted research there before Soviet authorities removed him from teaching.
Public opinion: The distribution of attitudes and judgments held by members of a population on public matters. Measuring public opinion was the central institutional purpose of Levada’s research work.
Russian polling: The systematic measurement of public attitudes and political preferences in Russia. Levada helped establish a durable independent tradition of polling in post-Soviet Russia.
Tatiana Zaslavskaya: A Soviet and Russian sociologist known for research on social change and economic reform. Zaslavskaya and Levada were leading figures in the revival of Soviet empirical sociology.
Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences: A Russian research institute devoted to the study of social structures, institutions, and change. Levada’s later research group operated within this institute before becoming independent.
Survey methodology: The principles and techniques used to design, conduct, and interpret surveys. Levada’s empirical claims depended on surveys designed to measure social attitudes reliably.
Foreign agent law (Russia): Russian legislation requiring certain organizations and individuals receiving foreign support to carry a foreign-agent designation. The law was applied to the Levada Center, intensifying disputes over its independence.
Vladimir Yadov: A Soviet and Russian sociologist who developed influential research on social attitudes and methodology. Yadov shared Levada’s effort to build empirical sociology under Soviet constraints.
All-Union Center for the Study of Public Opinion: A Soviet public-opinion research organization founded in 1987 during the glasnost period. Levada led this organization before its independence and later renaming.