Translation from the original Russian edition. The first Soviet text-book on sociolinguistics, the book introduces the reader to some of its basic problems, such as language and social structure, language as a social factor, language and nation, language and culture, language and the sociology of an individual, sociolinguistics and Marxist sociology. It focuses on such theoretical issues as the subject-matter of sociolinguistics, the functioning of sociocommunicative systems, language policy and social aspects of verbal behavior.