Achieving a Career, Becoming a Master

“Achieving a Career, Becoming a Master” gives an insight into the everyday lives of young men in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent. As the Soviet Union made access to Central Asia an outright impossibility for foreign researchers, and due to the present autocratic system and its control of information, there exists very little expertise on Uzbek society and culture. The book explores what young Uzbeks strive for in the professional and private spheres and how they try to realize their aims. As most of them are inclined either to become successful businessmen or make a career within the state apparatus, special attention is given to Uzbek entrepreneurship and the civil service. Considering the challenge within the difficult labor market of earning enough money to marry, establishing the funds to afford the incredibly expensive wedding ceremony is regarded a real achievement. The cultural context and its influence on the way young Uzbeks think and act are also taken account of. Strategic planning informs the workplace agency of young employees struggling to build a career. Determined to carve out their personal trajectories and to assert themselves in the face of strong social and economic forces, the individuals portrayed here defy the stereotype of the collective-minded subject of post-Soviet Asia.