Social Distinctions in Contemporary Russia

Social Distinctions in Contemporary Russia PDF Author: Jouko Nikula
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000035840
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 233

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book analyses social change in Russia, in particular the development of a middle class, one of the most important social and political projects of Putin’s administration. Using unique survey data collected in 1998, 2007 and 2015, the authors make extensive and theoretically justified analyses of the changing social distinctions in Russia over the past 20 years. Offering a sophisticated analysis of classes and class they acknowledge that in class analysis there are different phases, requiring different concepts. The first phase is the analysis of class positions; the second is the study of the work and reproduction situations of class groups and the final step is the analysis of class interests. While acknowledging that there are a number Russian-specific factors that seriously complicate traditional class analysis, the authors maintain that the basic tenets of class analysis still hold true. The book will be of interest to students and scholars of sociology, political science, transition studies, social policy and Russian studies and anyone who wants to understand the internal divisions and organization of the middle class in Russia.

Social Distinctions in Contemporary Russia

Social Distinctions in Contemporary Russia PDF Author: Jouko Nikula
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000035840
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 233

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book analyses social change in Russia, in particular the development of a middle class, one of the most important social and political projects of Putin’s administration. Using unique survey data collected in 1998, 2007 and 2015, the authors make extensive and theoretically justified analyses of the changing social distinctions in Russia over the past 20 years. Offering a sophisticated analysis of classes and class they acknowledge that in class analysis there are different phases, requiring different concepts. The first phase is the analysis of class positions; the second is the study of the work and reproduction situations of class groups and the final step is the analysis of class interests. While acknowledging that there are a number Russian-specific factors that seriously complicate traditional class analysis, the authors maintain that the basic tenets of class analysis still hold true. The book will be of interest to students and scholars of sociology, political science, transition studies, social policy and Russian studies and anyone who wants to understand the internal divisions and organization of the middle class in Russia.

Fashion and the Consumer Revolution in Contemporary Russia

Fashion and the Consumer Revolution in Contemporary Russia PDF Author: Olga Gurova
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135020302
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 200

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book explores how clothing consumption has changed in Russia in the past 20 years as capitalism has grown in a postsocialist state, bringing with it a "consumer revolution." It shows how there has been and continues to be a massive change in the fashion retail market and how ideal lifestyles portrayed in glossy magazines and other media have contributed to the consumer revolution, as have shifts in the social structure and everyday life. Overall, the book, which includes the findings of extensive original research, including in-depth interviews with consumers, relates changes in fashion and retail to changing outlooks, identities, and ideologies in Russia more generally. The mentioned changes are also linked to the theoretical concept of fashion formed in postsocialist society.

By Honor Bound

By Honor Bound PDF Author: Nancy Shields Kollmann
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501706950
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 488

Get Book Here

Book Description
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Russians from all ranks of society were bound together by a culture of honor. Here one of the foremost scholars of early modern Russia explores the intricate and highly stylized codes that made up this culture. Nancy Shields Kollmann describes how these codes were manipulated to construct identity and enforce social norms—and also to defend against insults, to pursue vendettas, and to unsettle communities. She offers evidence for a new view of the relationship of state and society in the Russian empire, and her richly comparative approach enhances knowledge of statebuilding in premodern Europe. By presenting Muscovite state and society in the context of medieval and early modern Europe, she exposes similarities that blur long-standing distinctions between Russian and European history.Through the prism of honor, Kollmann examines the interaction of the Russian state and its people in regulating social relations and defining an individual's rank. She finds vital information in a collection of transcripts of legal suits brought by elites and peasants alike to avenge insult to honor. The cases make clear the conservative role honor played in society as well as the ability of men and women to employ this body of ideas to address their relations with one another and with the state. Kollmann demonstrates that the grand princes—and later the tsars—tolerated a surprising degree of local autonomy throughout their rapidly expanding realm. Her work marks a stark contrast with traditional Russian historiography, which exaggerates the power of the state and downplays the volition of society.

Middle Class Identities and Social Crisis

Middle Class Identities and Social Crisis PDF Author: Alejandro Grimson
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000802329
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 249

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book explores the dynamics of the "middle-class global rebellion" born of the frustration at declining living standards. Addressing narratives constructed by different social and political agents and groups, it examines contexts of social crisis in Latin America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Oceania, understanding the middle classes as a set of complex and conflicting political relationships. With attention to the manner in which people create "situated habits", consolidating new expectations and desires through a concrete biography, it analyzes continuities and changes in classed self-perceptions based on performative use. With new perspectives, including historical and intersectional approaches, Middle Class Identities and Social Crisis transcends disciplinary boundaries to explore the hybridity of research methods and techniques and challenge established analytical frameworks. It will therefore appeal to scholars across the social sciences with interests in class and questions of class identity.

The Politics of Poverty in Contemporary Russia

The Politics of Poverty in Contemporary Russia PDF Author: Ann-Mari Sätre
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351169424
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 187

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book provides an overview of poverty and well-being in Russia. Increasing poverty rates during the 1990s were followed by greater attention to social policies in the 2000s and increased efforts to engage people in socially oriented NGOs and ‘encourage’ them to contribute to the fulfillment of social aims. What impact did these developments have on the prevalence of poverty in contemporary Russian society? Tracing continuities from the Soviet system alongside recent developments such as the falling price of oil, economic sanctions, and changes in directions of social policy, this book explores the impact of poverty, inequality and social programmes. The author examines the agency of people living in poverty and those engaged in social policy, using official statistics, survey data and interviews from four Russian regions to explain the reasons and consequences of poverty and people’s attempts to get out of it. The approach is based on institutional theory, complemented by Amartya Sen’s capability approach highlighting the importance of agency and an institutional framework as a means for change. A timely book that will be of interest to students of contemporary Russian politics as well as those engaged in social policy issues.

Celebrity and Glamour in Contemporary Russia

Celebrity and Glamour in Contemporary Russia PDF Author: Helena Goscilo
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136924345
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 612

Get Book Here

Book Description
This is the first book to explore the phenomenon of glamour and celebrity in contemporary Russian culture, ranging across media forms, disciplinary boundaries and modes of inquiry, with particular emphasis on the media personality. The book demonstrates how the process of ‘celebrification’ in Russia coincides with the dizzying pace of social change and economic transformation, the latter enabling an unprecedented fascination with glamour and its requisite extravagance; how in the 1990s and 2000s, celebrities - such as film or television stars - moved away from their home medium to become celebrities straddling various media; and how celebrity is a symbol manipulated by the dominant culture and embraced by the masses. It examines the primacy of the visual in celebrity construction and its dominance over the verbal, alongside the interdisciplinary, cross-media, post-Soviet landscape of today’s fame culture. Taking into account both general tendencies and individual celebrities, including pop-diva Alla Pugacheva and ex-President and current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, the book analyses the internal dynamics of the institutions involved in the production, marketing, and maintenance of celebrities, as well as the larger cultural context and the imperatives that drive Russian society’s romance with glamour and celebrity.

Studies in Contemporary Journalism and Communication in Russia’s Provinces

Studies in Contemporary Journalism and Communication in Russia’s Provinces PDF Author: Greg Simons
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000564169
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 213

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book examines the contemporary communicational practices of journalists and media outlets and the consumption and reception patterns of audiences in Russia’s provinces with an emphasis on the intergenerational transmission of culture and memory. Investigating the interaction and issues of contemporary identity, culture, audiences and journalism in a rapidly changing and evolving Russia, this volume goes beyond the large metropolitan centres into the provincial regions of Russia to develop a more comprehensive overview. Despite a popular image that is often projected of Russia as a homogeneous, often threatening entity, its regions are very far from being uniform, with diverse, varied geographies, ethnicities, religions, cultures, resources and economic infrastructure. The perspectives offered by a range of scholars and practitioners explore the generational, political and regional diversities that exist across this vast country and analyse local and regional media. Covering topics not often discussed, this volume offers an important contribution for everyone interested in Russian politics, culture, journalism and history and the study of local and regional communication studies.

Marriage, Household and Home in Modern Russia

Marriage, Household and Home in Modern Russia PDF Author: Barbara Alpern Engel
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350014494
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 289

Get Book Here

Book Description
Barbara Alpern Engel's Marriage, Household and Home in Modern Russia is the first book to explore the intricacies of domestic life in Russia across the modern period. Surveying the period from 1700 right up to the present day, the book explores the marital and domestic arrangements of Russians at multiple levels of society and the impact of broader historical developments, including war and revolution, upon them. It also traces the evolution of marriage, household and home as institutions over three centuries, whilst also highlighting the inter-relationship between public policy and private life, in what is a wholly original historical assessment of domesticity in modern Russia. In the process, the author expertly synthesizes the key works, arguments and discussions in the field, mapping out the historiographical landscape of this compelling aspect of Russian social history. Marriage, Household and Home in Modern Russia is crucial reading for any student or scholar of modern Russian history.

Russian Modernization

Russian Modernization PDF Author: Markku Kivinen
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000226840
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 362

Get Book Here

Book Description
Building on an original interpretation of social theory and an interdisciplinary approach, this book creates a new paradigm in the Russian studies. Taking a fresh view of Russia’s multiple experiences of modernization, it seeks to explain the Putin era in a completely new way. This book explores the paradoxical and contradictory aspects of Russia, analyzing the energy-dependent economy and hybrid political regime, but also religion, welfare, and culture, and their often complex interrelations. Written by a community of both Western and Russian scholars, this book re-affirms the value of social science when confronting a society that has undergone enormous and costly systematic changes. The Russian elites see modernization narrowly as economic and technological competitiveness. The contributors to this volume see contemporary Russia facing a series of antinomies, which are macro-level dilemmas that cannot be abolished, either by philosophical mediation or by immediate political decisions. As such, they are the tension fields that constitute choices for various competing agencies. This book will be of interest to scholars and students of Russian studies, transition studies, sociology, social policy, political science, energy policy, cultural studies, and stratification studies. Professionals involved in energy, ecology, and security policy will also find this publication a rich source.

Eurasian Integration and the Russian World

Eurasian Integration and the Russian World PDF Author: Aliaksei Kazharski
Publisher: Central European University Press
ISBN: 9633862868
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 225

Get Book Here

Book Description
This volume examines Russian discourses of regionalism as a source of identity construction practices for the country's political and intellectual establishment. The overall purpose of the monograph is to demonstrate that, contrary to some assumptions, the transition trajectory of post-Soviet Russia has not been towards a liberal democratic nation state that is set to emulate Western political and normative standards. Instead, its foreign policy discourses have been constructing Russia as a supranational community which transcends Russia's current legally established borders. The study undertakes a systematic and comprehensive survey of Russian official (authorities) and semi-official (establishment affiliated think tanks) discourse for a period of seven years between 2007 and 2013. This exercise demonstrates how Russia is being constructed as a supranational entity through its discourses of cultural and economic regionalism. These discourses associate closely with the political project of Eurasian economic integration and the "Russian world" and "Russian civilization" doctrines. Both ideologies, the geoeconomic and culturalist, have gained prominence in the post-Crimean environment. The analysis tracks down how these identitary concepts crystallized in Russia's foreign policies discourses beginning from Vladimir Putin's second term in power.