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
February 14, 2014
An aggressive low-achiever can be the most popular kid even in a class that’s highly motivated simply because teenagers admire his rugged machismo, while top-of-the-class pupils tend to be popular when their classmates study hard too. Daniil Alexandrov, Head of the Research Laboratory for Sociology in Education and Science at HSE St Petersburg and his colleagues, Chief Research Fellow Valeriya Ivanyushina and Junior Research Fellow Vera Titkova found this and more in their research
February 13, 2014
According to many researchers and politicians, inequality can be a serious problem for society and can even provoke social catastrophe. Others, however, fail to see a direct link here. Whatever the case, our subjective perception of inequality may have little to do with the actual situation, according to Vladimir Gimpelson, Director of the HSE's Laboratory for Labour Market Studies, and Galina Monusova, Senior Researcher at the HSE's Laboratory for Comparative Studies in Mass Consciousness, in their paper 'Attitudes to Inequality and Social Mobility'
February 12, 2014
Alcohol consumption in Russia depends on the individual’s social status, age, and education. Successful, educated, married middle-aged men drink more. They prefer wine, whiskey, rum, and tequila. Less successful individuals choose cheap local brands, mostly beer and vodka, Petr Martynenko and Yana Roshchina say in their study ‘Alcohol consumption as a social group indicator in modern Russian cities’
February 11, 2014
Hierarchical relationships and outdated methods of internal communication prevail in many Russian companies. Less common are participatory communication, collegiality, and a commitment to negotiation and conflict prevention, suggests the study 'Internal Communication and Internal Marketing as Tools for Advancing Corporate Mission and Strategy' conducted by the HSE’s Higher School of Marketing and Business Development
February 10, 2014
Russian light industry is slowly dying, and the only way for it to survive is to become integrated into the global supply chain. Support measures, other than keeping businesses afloat for a while, are not likely to make a difference, states the report 'Is it Possible to Save Russia's Light Industry?', presented by Vadim Radaev, the HSE's First Vice Rector and Head of the Laboratory for Economic and Social Research
February 06, 2014
Russian students may be materially and physically dependent on their parents, but unlike their american peers, it doesn’t stop them feeling they are socially independent beings. HSE student Ekaterina Novikova presented her research, «Social independence as a consequence of economic independence; a comparison between Russian and American students»
February 05, 2014
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”
February 05, 2014
The informal nature of employment does not affect an employee's social status, because the differences between formal and informal employment are insignificant in Russia, says Anna Zudina, Junior Researcher at the HSE's Centre for Labour Market Studies
February 03, 2014
Family and school are losing their influence over children’s upbringing, and the gap is being filled by mass media. Bedtime stories are being replaced by cartoon series, the best of which are facilitating the development of children’s emotions. And, fantasy novels are satisfying teenagers’ cravings for action. Researchers Katerina Polivanova, Elena Sazonova, and Marta Shakarova have examined how contemporary culture is influencing children
January 31, 2014
The government-set objectives for the health care system for the next three to five years barely conform tothe fiscal policy set for that period. In his report, ‘The Russian Health Care System: Problems and Prospects for Development’, Sergey Shishkin, Academic Supervisor of the HSE Institute for Health Economics, analysed the opportunities to meet these objectives in the context of the institutional changes taking place in that industry
January 30, 2014
The parts of Russia which migrant workers from the CIS find most attractive are changing. The ‘map’ of migration flows depends on which way the investments are going. But at the same time, the general picture is unchanged: we don’t yet have an efficient system for gathering the foreign labour force we need. In an article in the HSE journal ‘Demoscope Weekly’, Olga Chudinovskikh, Mikhail Denisenko and Nikita Mkrtchyan explained their research findings
January 23, 2014