Cheating behavior among students of four Moscow institutes

This paper reports the results of the first survey conducted in Moscow on student cheating behavior in December of 1991. I propose that cheating, like many other forms of deviant behavior, can be explained as rooted in the social structure. I propose a way of combining Merton's structural approach with the learning theory of deviant behavior. Merton's typology of individual adaptation is extended to a case where there is a difference between official and unofficial goals and means. I use the theory of neutralization to understand how students justified cheating in such social conditions. The survey revealed that an overwhelming majority of students cheat, and that students justify cheating by saying that it is the fault of the education system. In addition my results suggest that there was a linkage between the macro structure of Soviet society (including its educational system) and cheating behavior among students. The structure of the Soviet system provided opportunities and motivation to cheat together with the rationale to justify cheating. The changes which were introduced with Perestroika only worsened the situation by blurring the notions of appropriate and deviant behavior in many spheres of life. The implications for the present changes going on in Russia are discussed.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Eastern Sociological Society Meeting (Boston, March 1993). I am grateful for the helpful comments of Jerry A. Jacobs, Ewa Morawska, Harold Bershady and Paul Wolpe.