This book sets out to provide a Marxist analysis of the microenvironment under socialism to define its specific char­ acteristics and its place in the system of broad social links, and to investigate the structure of the microenvironment in socialist society and certain tendencies towards change within that structure. An attempt is also made to bring out the dialectic of the interaction between the individual and the microenvironment with reference to the active nature of the ties connecting the individual with his social environ­ ment, to define the main levels of social determination of the individual, to demonstrate the role of the micro­ environment, and first and foremost its all-important com­ ponent—the primary work team or collective—in the for­ mation of the individual. Analysis of this particular subject also incorporates critical review of the way in which this subject is approached in bourgeois sociological writing.This book is based on materials drawn from sociological case studies conducted by the Section for Research in the Sociology and Psycho-physiology of Labour in Industry (SRSPL) at the Perm Telephone Factory (PTF) in which the author participated, and also on data drawn from other case studies published recently in both the Soviet and foreign press.