Book excerpt: Although considerable attention has been paid to those cultural revolutions which result in fundamental social upheavals, the less spectacular silent cultural revolutions which leave the existing social structure intact, focusing instead on the behavioural dimension of ideology, have been neglected. In this book, which was originally published in 1981, Christel Lane examines such a silent revolution, exploring the ways in which it was achieved in the Soviet society of the time through the instrument of ritual. Dr Lane argues that ritual in the Soviet Union serves as a means of rendering sacred the existing social and political order; and her comparison of Soviet ritual with the rituals of other societies highlights the way in which ritual mirrors both the problematic social relations of society and political leaders' major concerns. This book will interest sociologists of religion, anthropologists, political sociologists, and Soviet studies.