Serfdom in Russia Great, businesses began to send serfs into those areas in an attempt to harvest their large amount of untapped natural resources Tsar Alexander I wanted to reform the system but was thwarted in this ambition. New laws allowed all classes (except the serfs) to own land, a privilege that had previously been confined to the nobility. Russian serfdom was finally abolished in the emancipation reform of 1861 by Tsar Alexander II. Scholars have proposed multiple overlapping reasons to account for the abolition, including fear of a large-scale revolt by the serfs, the government's financial needs, evolving cultural sensibilities, and the
Sociology in Russia and encyclopedias of sociology, were published in Russia. Sociology in Russia Sociology in Russia has developed since the beginning of the 20th century, despite an official ban on sociology in the Soviet Union from 1929 to 1956 and the dominance until recently of Marxist sociology. Despite sharp divisions since the breakup of the Soviet Union, the field of sociology in Russia now includes over 300 university departments, approximately 30 academic journals and several professional associations. The first sociological thinkers in the Russian Empire were significantly influenced by utopian thought. The first Department of Sociology in Russia was opened in 1907,