Talk:Blat (favors)

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Old talk
I'm curious as to whether blat persists in the former Soviet states. Can anyone update the article to comment? Ukslim 13:49, 9 January 2007 (UTC)
 * "Blat" exists all over the world, only called "good connections" or "backstairs" or else. I see no particular reason for this article either. `'mikka 17:07, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

While the term "blat" originally meant criminal behavior, during the soviet era it took on a different meaning. It was kind of a social agreement between friends, neighbors, and family that allowed for people to have the things that they felt they needed in order to live comfortably (or as comfortable as they could). Most of the time it was used to acquire food items that were in limited supply without standing in lines, clothes, housing, or to get entertainment items that were normally shared with family and friends. It was seen as "corruption" only in an official capacity, and people in the "party" who didn't use blat were looked down upon by their peers. In fact the use of blat grew during the Stalin era and continued up until the fall of the communist system. It was when the shortages were seen to be over, did the definition of blat start to take on its connotations of being criminal again. A good academic source to read on this topic is a book called "Russia's Economy of Favours: Blat, Networking and informal exchange" by Alena V. Ledeneva. It is a little long winded in spots, but it is still worth taking a look at. archaeo12 03:01, 27 March 2007
 * I've been working on citing from Ledeneva's book: you're right, it is a great source of information for this article! TFCforever (talk) 17:43, 22 May 2010 (UTC)

Merge with Cronyism?
Looks to me that the subject of this article has already been covered there, and what Russians generally mean by blat is basically cronyism. The Russian term can be mentioned there. PRH (talk) 20:01, 11 January 2011 (UTC)
 * After reading wikipedia's Cronyism and Nepotism, I say Russian/Soviet "Blat" has its important peculiarities. By the way, the article sucks. Lovok Sovok (talk) 20:17, 8 April 2011 (UTC)
 * I would also like to voice my opinion that the article is seriously deficient and sucks. Specifically I believe the connections to other countries are artificial and additions done by folks who are not native speakers. I think the adverbial usage, по блату, refers to doing things the wrong, corrupt, and brutally pragmatic way. It could as easily mean breaking somebodies legs as it could mean using your social network.  --Frozenport (talk) 23:30, 7 September 2013 (UTC)
 * I would also say it should not be merged with cronyism as the words have quite different meanings.Leutha (talk) 21:46, 22 December 2013 (UTC)
 * This merger suggestion has been around for some time. I concur with others here who feel it is inappropriate. I will remove the tag. Bondegezou (talk) 19:04, 3 March 2014 (UTC)

Split
The concepts of blat and blatnoy mix two radically different notions: the one of Nepotism and the one of criminal underworld. The article must be split accordingly. Not to say that in its current state it has plentty of nonsense. Lovok Sovok (talk) 20:17, 8 April 2011 (UTC)

I would also agree that blatnoy deserves a separate page.Leutha (talk) 21:47, 22 December 2013 (UTC)

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