Russians are increasingly using online communication for professional and business reasons in addition to personal ones. They are exploring advanced solutions and strategies to access, process, and share information on the web, according to a study by the HSE's Laboratory for Studies in Business Communications

Top-ranking LiveJournal (LJ) bloggers in Russia differ from casual contributors by how much they blog, but offer largely the same content, according to a study by Sergey and Olessia Koltsov of the HSE's Internet Research Laboratory (St. Petersburg)

Despite the wide income gap between the rich and poor in Russia, their basic values and attitudes are not dissimilar. However, there are indications of an impending rift, says Svetlana Mareeva, Associate Professor of the HSE's Sub-department of Socio-Economic Systems and Social Policy, based on her findings from a survey of poor Russians

Rural residents are not concerned if televised news or its interpretation misrepresents information. Television plays an entertaining role in rural areas, and the internet is more and more often the primary source of news, researchers from the HSE Laboratory of Media Studies revealed in a study of media consumption in rural areas. The results were presented at the HSE’s XV April International Academic Conference on Economic and Social Development

The younger a lawyer is the more cynical his attitude towards his profession. In legal circles a readiness to sacrifice ethical and moral standards for financial gain is not uncommon. A report by the HSE Institute for Industrial and Market Studies (IIMS) suggests that change requires active engagement from lawyers’ associations and regular research investigations of the legal community

If laws exist at the state level that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, then the impact of individual values creating a negative attitude towards homosexuality falls. People are inclined to adapt their behavior to conventional norms. A group of European researchers came to this conclusion over the course of an international study, the results of which Peter Schmidt presented at the XV April International Academic Conference on Economic and Social Development of the Higher School of Economics

The tension between migrants from the North Caucasus and local residents in Russia is due to cultural and value differences. Migrants share collectivist values, while the local population is more individualistic. Olga Verbilovich and Viktoria Galyapina, researchers at the HSE Laboratory for Socio-cultural Research, investigated the specifics of the mutual attitude between migrants and local residents in Moscow and Stavropol Krai through the use of focus groups

Nationalism in the post-Soviet republics did not arise solely as a result of the economic and political crisis in the Soviet Union. The longstanding policy of the Soviet elite aimed at forming a multinational state is what enabled it. Authorities sought to use ethnic diversity to strengthen the state structure, but the result was exactly the opposite. A study by Andrey Shcherbak, senior research fellow at the HSE’s Laboratory for Comparative Social Research (LCSR)*

In countries which have gone through transition from communism to capitalism people are now facing inner conflict. The new capitalist economy creates individualists with conflicting values torn between family and work, close relationships and self-development, money and morality. Christopher S. Swader, Senior Research Fellow of the HSE Laboratory for Comparative Social Research (LCSR) and Assistant Professor of the Faculty of Sociology, writes about these tensions in his book The Capitalist Personality: Face-to-Face Sociality and Economic Change in the Post-Communist World

Informal connections between a supervisor and direct reports increase an employee’s commitment to a company. The higher employees’ attachment to their leader, the more likely it is that they will work devotedly for the good of the company, noted Lusine Grigoryan, a junior researcher in HSE’s Faculty of Psychology, in a study entitled “Informal Connections and Organizational Loyalty: A Cross-cultural Analysis”

How to reform the labour market is one of the most discussed issues in Russian society. Germany introduced major labour market reforms in the 2000s and is one of the few countries that has achieved significant results in doing so. The German experience is worth looking at, even though it may not be directly applicable to other countries. Here are some findings made by researcher Nina Vishnevskaya of the HSE Centre for Labour Studies

Most law students develop a negative perception of their own profession while at law school. Taking advantage of loopholes in the law, cheating on clients, and being mistrusted are just a few negative aspects of the legal profession which law students should be prepared to face. A study by Anton Kazun, researcher at the HSE International Centre for the Study of Institutions and Development