The issue of urban-rural inequality is recognised as one of the most pressing and unresolved challenges, particularly in post-Soviet countries. This article exam-ines territorial inequality in educational outcomes across seven post-Soviet coun-tries: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Moldova, Georgia, and Kazakhstan. The study analyses how students' PISA test scores vary by urban-rural location and investigates whether national educational policies, particularly school funding mechanisms and school network, have contributed to reducing or widening these disparities. Drawing on the generative theory of rurality, the study employs a mixed-methods design combining multilevel regression analysis of PISA 2009 and 2018 data with content analysis of national policy documents addressing post-Soviet educational reforms. The findings indicate a persistent and growing performance gap between urban and rural students, with the largest disparities observed in Moldova, Russia, and Lithuania. Rural location remains a statisti-cally significant predictor of lower student achievement even after controlling for socio-economic and institutional variables. Estonia emerges as an exception, combining relatively high reading scores with a weak rurality gradient in 2018. The policy analysis suggests that per-capita and voucher-based funding mecha-nisms, together with large-scale school closures, have only weakly addressed the structural sources of rural disadvantage. The discussion highlights institutional and governance-related factors that may explain the limited effectiveness of these reforms and offers tentative recommendations concerning school funding design, teacher recruitment, and policy.coordination.in education. The article concludes by discussing study limitations and directions for future research.
The article examines urban conflict using the Novosibirsk agglomeration as a case study for 2022 to 2024. The observed multiplicity of actors and issues, together with the persistence and interconnectedness of some urban conflicts in recent years, indicate not only a rise in complexity but also a change in the nature of urban conflict and a greater impact on social and economic spaces, infrastructure, and the investment attractiveness of ter-ritories. The study aims to identify mechanisms that sustain conflictuality by analyzing the interconnectedness of conflicting agendas and actors. The theoretical foundations are M. L & ouml;w's relational theory of space and N. Flig-stein's and D. McAdam's theory of strategic action fields. The empirical basis comprises data from the Geo-Information Database of Conflicts of the Novosibirsk Agglomeration (N= 774 conflicts), supplemented by a content analysis of 3,070 mentions of conflicts on social media. Two-step cluster analysis and content analysis were used as methods. The results show that the thematic spaces of urban conflict are currently structured around two cores: hierarchical conflicts related to development projects, construction, and land use; and horizontal, everyday conflicts focused on security, accessibility, and the protection of values. Infrastructures of con-flict-including skilled actors, stable networked conflict communities, and the media channels that serve them-play a significant role in sustaining and scaling conflicts, and in maintaining conflictuality both within indi-vidual strategic action fields and in the city's public space as a whole. The findings are relevant to urban studies, the management of urban conflicts, and the development of mechanisms for reconciling interests in the urban environment.
This qualitative study examines how funding status mediates doctoral students' perceptions and experiences of mandatory publication requirements in Russia, by comparing funded and self-funded doctoral students at a selective research-intensive university. Through 19 in-depth interviews, the research explores this understudied area. Although publication requirements were initially introduced to develop research skills, these institutional demands now function primar-ily to enhance university visibility, creating pressures that are strongly medi-ated by doctoral students' financial circumstances. The study initially aimed to explore how funding shapes doctoral experiences more broadly. However, as the interviews progressed, participants consistently redirected the discussion toward publication experiences, revealing publication as the primary site where funding disparities are most acutely experienced. This emergent theme subse-quently shaped the study's analytical focus. The findings reveal a clear divide in experiences shaped by funding status. Funded doctoral students, despite re-ceiving material support, describe intense psychological pressure and tensions between substantive dissertation work and institutional compliance demands. By contrast, self-funded doctoral students face persistent struggles for time and resources, as the necessity of external employment severely limits their ability to engage in both publication activities and dissertation writing. Drawing on Bourdieu's theory of practice, the analysis conceptualises funding as a form of economic capital that shapes doctoral students' positions within the academic field. Institutional support systems should therefore attend not only to funding levels but also to the broader material conditions of doctoral students' lives, rec-ognising that self-funded doctoral students require qualitatively distinct forms of support rather than simply greater quantities of existing support mechanisms.
On April 14, 2026, the session 'Non-Standard Forms of Consumption: The Role of Technology, Emotions, and Morality' was held as part of the XXVI April International Academic Conference named after Evgeny Yasin. The session focused on forms of consumer behaviour that fall outside the conventional rational choice model, bringing together researchers from eco-nomic sociology, psychology, and institutional economics. Five presentations were delivered: a comparative analysis of non-standard consumption forms (V. V. Radaev); ethical consumption as an instrument of civic engagement (M. A. Shabanova); psychological mechanisms of nostalgic consumption (T. A. Nestik); conspicuous consumption through the institution of consumer credit (A. V. Vernikov, A. A. Kurysheva); and compulsive buying as a form of addiction (O. S. Deyneka). Three recurring conceptual tensions were identified: the question of the openness and boundaries of the non-standard consumption typology; the problem of analytical distinctions between forms given their empirical overlap; and the contestation of the very concept of 'non-standard' in light of the plurality of rationalities in sociology.
Recently, anthropogenic climate change as a result of human activity during the Industrial Revolution, linked to accelerated fossil fuel combustion, greenhouse gas emissions, land-use change, and deforestation, has reached its peak and has been termed a climate crisis. From a social science perspective, the climate crisis is not only, and not so much, a geophysical phenomenon as a socioeconomic and political failure, an inevitable product of structural capitalist modernity. The latest book of Jens Beckert, Professor of Sociology and Director at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies at Cologne 'How We Sold Our Future: The Failure to Fight Climate Change' offers a systematic analysis of why modern societies are unable to respond adequately to the climate crisis. The author provides a structural diagnosis of systemic impasse and climate inaction, explaining why the pressure of the economic growth paradigm within capitalism is too strong to allow for a timely response to the climate crisis. Through the lens of 'capitalist modernity', Beckert demonstrates how the fusion of economic institutions (profit orientation, competition, credit), political structures (the state, multi-level governance, lobbying), and cultural patterns (individualism, belief in progress, nature as a resource) blocks necessary transformations. He systematically shows how the logic of short-term gain shapes the behavior of key actors: oil corporations employing the 'politics of uncertainty' and the 'politics of expectations'; states trapped in electoral cycles and dependent on business; and consumers whose identities are embedded in a culture of limitless consumption. Particular attention is devoted to critiquing the paradigm of 'green growth', which Beckert argues is a dangerous illusion that leaves the structures of capitalist modernity unchanged. In developing climate policy measures, the author adopts a stance of 'considered realism', placing hope in grassroots civic initiatives and the pursuit of politically feasible policies that account for the interests of the state, the economy, and society. The book makes a significant contribution to economic sociology by offering a conceptual framework for understanding the climate crisis as a failure not only of the market, but also of the state and culture.
In the contemporary world, food waste at the consumer (household) level poses a large-scale environmental, economic, social, and ethical problem. Its alleviation aligns with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (Goal 12.3). Based on data from three representative surveys in Russia (2020, 2022, and 2024; N = 2,000 respondents each), the paper examines changes in the level of consumer engagement in both throwing food away and various food rescue practices. Since preventing food waste accumulation is considered the most effective way of combating this problem, the paper explores consumer behavior at various stages of (non)ethical handling of foodstuffs (purchasing, usage, and disposal) from this perspective. Four types of consumers have been described ("consistently ethical", "inconsistently ethical", "stable non-throwers away", and "consistent throwers away") and heterogeneity of both throwers and non-throwers away have been revealed. It has been shown that inconsistent engagement in ethical consumption at different stages can either weaken the positive contribution of this phenomenon to the promotion of sustainable development goals (erosion of ethical consumers with "inconsistently ethical" ones) or replenish (and even reinforce it) it owing to the "catching up" incorporation of "stable non-throwers away" at a later stage. Links between the likelihood of joining different consumer groups and a number of value-action, socio-demographic, and status characteristics-as well as engagement in various food-saving practices-have been evaluated using regression analysis. A conclusion has been justified concerning the peripheral role of careful food handling within the family of ethical consumption practices. It also confirms that enhancing its role is a multifaceted goal requiring joint efforts by actors at various levels and types to create conditions that facilitate consumer trade-offs between personal benefits (health, enjoying food) and significant social identities, on one hand, and engagement in reducing food waste, on the other.
The article analyzes the relationship between illegal activity, civic engagement, and labor, with theoretical conclusions supported by empirical data analysis. Social sciences offer established views on this relationship. Domestic studies predominantly show a positive relationship between these categories, while foreign research- such as works by D. Graeber, T. Veblen, and S. Bridgen-indicates it is mediated by social traditions of labor as an educational practice, ranging from strictly negative to positive. For adolescents, V. Zelizer notes labor as a marginal practice unlinked to law-abidingness. Domestic consensus may stem from the Soviet Marxist school, which integrates Marx's early and late ideas, fostering a tradition of labor rehabilitation for law-conflicting adolescents. The study's relevance lies in explaining Russian sociology's theoretical consensus and empirically testing its underlying model. The authors draw on a synthesis of Russian scholars (K. Chermit, B. Rakhmatulina, T. Bagulina, L. Andrianova, L. Minaeva) and D. Greber's ideas on how social traditions condition links between civic activity, labor, and law-abidingness. The analysis demonstrates that socio-civic activity positively impacts adolescents' shared labor attitudes and professional practices when thematically related to military-patriotic activities. These results refine debates on law-abidingness and labor, informing programs for labor rehabilitation of law-inconflictin adolescents.
This paper represents the first comprehensive analysis of the impact of the second wave of foreign sanctions on informal employment in the Russian labour market. It focuses on changes in the structure of various types of informal employment in 2022-2023, as well as on an assessment of the possible impact of sanctions on the dynamics of the probability of informal employment, which allows to clarify the reaction of the Russian labour market to large-scale sanctions pressure and adaptation to it. The general analytical framework of the study is based on theoretical approaches and empirical works that consider changes in the level of informal employment depending on the stages of the economic cycle. The results, obtained on the basis of the RLMS HSE data, indicate that the initial reaction of the Russian labour market in 2022 is accompanied by an increase in the share of both formal and informal workers in the overall structure of the population, while already in 2023 the overall level of informal employment and its characteristics return to pre-sanction values, and the share of formal workers continues to grow. This process is explained by the short-term movement of workers between formal and informal jobs (for example, to various forms of self-employment and individual entrepreneurship) after losing their job or in search for higher earnings, which is again replaced by formal employment as enterprises adapt to the sanctions pressure. The identified dynamics of informal employment was concentrated in certain economic sectors-the public sector, construction, as well as in the housing and communal services and social services. At the same time, the estimation of dynamic multinomial logit models did not reveal any independent effect of sanctions on the probability of informal employment of various types, confirming that it was accumulated in specific industries. Sanctions pressure in 2022-2023, all other things being equal, also did not lead to an increase in the risks of job loss (transition to unemployment or inactivity state) after previous employment-in contrast to the period of the COVID crisis, they generally either remained stable or decreased.
Amidst the ongoing crisis of social mobility and pronounced differentiation within the Russian higher education sector, investigating perceptions of inequality and mobility experiences among socially disadvantaged groups becomes particularly relevant. This study analyzes patterns of subjective upward mobility and stratification beliefs among first-generation students (FGS)-individuals without familial experience of higher education-compared to other youth groups distinguished by their own and their parents' educational backgrounds. The focus lies on the perceived barriers and drivers of life success and their relation to subjective mobility experiences. The empirical foundation is drawn from waves 9-10 (2020-2021) of the longitudinal study "Trajectories in Education and Careers," which provides data on a contemporary cohort of Russian youth. Using binary logistic regression, we examine the likelihood of subjective upward mobility in connection with accumulated educational capital and stratification beliefs regarding success resources. Findings reveal that FGS perceive higher education is as a critical social elevator. Notably, embracing a 'dual consciousness'-assigning equal importance to both individual agency and structural factors-proves especially advantageous for FGS's subjective upward mobility. Furthermore, FGS status acts as a key mediator linking stratification beliefs and mobility outcomes within groups sharing either similar individual educational attainment (higher education) or comparable parental educational background. This research offers significant contributions to the conceptualization of FGS in the Russian context and enhances understanding of the internal heterogeneity within the population of university graduates.
The socio-economic situation in small towns in Russia has long been at the center of the management agenda. The contradictory nature of support measures for such settlements lies in attempts to focus on the economic and managerial aspects of their efficiency. At the same time, both scientific literature and management practice pay insufficient attention to the typology of economic activity and living conditions of local societies, social and status relations, and many other non-economic factors that play an important role in the functioning and development of small towns. Sources of small-town development are most often associated with external investments and related support measures, while internal sources remain on the periphery of scientific interest. This article attempts to explore the social potential of a small town through the new lens-the activities of "grassroots" sustainability agents that constitute the core of the social potential for sustainable development of a small town. The authors consider "grassroots" agents of sustainability as initiators of change-both individuals and groups-who use their power, knowledge, experience, and relations for the development of the local environment and society. They include entrepreneurs (creative, institutional, social), representatives of government and civil society (NGOs), and public opinion leaders. The article concludes that it is necessary to explore the structure of "grassroots" sustainability agents in the development of small towns with limited opportunities for external investment. The results of such studies will expand the understanding of the social potential for sustainable development of small towns and thereby create an information base for making effective management decisions.
The book "Acceleration and Cultural Changes: Dialogues from an Overheated World" features dialogues between leading anthropologist Thomas Hylland Eriksen and young scholar Martina Visentin. This volume aims to introduce academic and non-academic readers to a novel approach to globalization capable of synthesizing and interpreting social change that has been happening at lightning speed, unequally and unevenly. According to Professor Eriksen, the social issue is that modernity faced accelerating processes of change and various developments that are growing and accelerating without a thermostat, without a regulating mechanism which tells them it's time to stop. Using overheating as a metaphor for unregulated acceleration since the 1990s, the authors discuss key topics including biodiversity loss, migration-driven differences, climate intersections, heated identities and protests, digital time perception, university pressures, youth disillusionment, and post-COVID reflections. The Journal of Economic Sociology publishes the seventh chapter, "Life in the Digital World," where the authors explore smartphones' role in reshaping daily social life rhythms.
The aim of this study is to assess the impact of various factors, including social networks, on labor market mobility in modern Russia. The main assumption is that weak ties facilitate taking a better job. The empirical base consists of data from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS) of HSE for 2016-2017 and 2018-2019. Based on exploratory factor analysis, indicators of different types of social ties were constructed: weak ties include ties with acquaintances and colleagues; with organizations; online networks; and strong ties include ties with friends and relatives. Binary logistic regression estimated the chances of the unemployed going to work, while multinomial logistic regression assessed the chances of employed people for vertical and horizontal interfirm and intrafirm mobility, as well as transitions to unemployment or inactivity. Men, people with higher education, and lower specific work experience are more inclined to labor mobility. The best opportunities for intra-firm growth are among those employed by state enterprises and those holding a higher position. The study found a significant positive effect of increased education and improved health on mobility, a negative effect of health deterioration, and a higher propensity for mobility among those dissatisfied with their current job. Granovetter's assumption about a greater influence of weak social ties on the ability to get a good job could not be confirmed, although due to the instability of the results, it cannot be refuted either. The model estimates showed a stable and equally strong effect of both strong (with friends) and weak (with acquaintances, former colleagues, neighbors) ties on the chances of finding a job for the unemployed, as well as a negative effect of online social networks on the chances of becoming inactive for the employed. No effect of social connections on intra-firm growth was found, and the effect of online networks on inter-firm promotion was inconsistent.
In the context of the growing demand for psychological services in Russia and the spread of therapeutic culture, digital platforms like YouTube are becoming a key locus for the commercialization of emotions. However, the mechanisms of commodification, particularly concerning happiness, remain underexplored in this digital environment. This article examines how popular Russian psychological bloggers on YouTube construct, package, and commodify the abstract concept of 'happiness' as a standardized commodity, which we term an 'emodity.' The research employs a sequential explanatory mixed-methods design, combining quantitative (content analysis and thematic modeling of 118 videos) and qualitative (analysis of rhetorical and performative strategies) approaches. The analysis reveals four dominant marketing personas-'academic', 'esoteric', 'caring', and 'hybrid'. These are built upon three primary performative goals: establishing authority (via science, wisdom, or personal experience), diagnosing consumer problems (often by invoking Soviet history or gender stereotypes), and presenting distinct 'emodity' packages (conceptualized as either reflective psychology or positive psychology). Furthermore, these strategies correspond to different models of audience engagement, aimed at either maximizing reach, cultivating loyalty, or generating viral content. The study adapts and applies the concept of 'emodities' to the Russian therapeutic culture, describing how the Western individualistic therapeutic narrative becomes 'commensurate' with the post-Soviet social imaginary. The article contributes to economic sociology by demonstrating how the digital market for emotions transforms collective social anxieties into individualized consumer practices.
Microhistories of Technology: Making the World presents a multifaceted global history of technology and material culture, viewed through the lens of diversity. The microhistories presented in this book demonstrate that the spread of modern technology did not lead to the elimination of artisanal tools and production methods. Rather, the new often fruitfully coexisted with the old. The cultural encounters between the old and the new resulted in count-less innovative solutions, many of which have remained unreported in the history of technology. By shedding light on the material culture of ordinary people across the globe-in Africa, Asia, and Latin America-Microhistories of Technology reveals how inventive individuals and groups shaped their own lives. Each chapter demonstrates how the persistent application of traditional, homemade, or hybrid technologies helped people maintain autonomy in a "globalized" world. The Journal of Economic Sociology publishes the introduction to the book "Sharpening Local Techniques in a Global Context," in which Professor M.Heard reveals his understanding of the technology, discusses the research design, and defines the structure of the book.
The article proposes a concept of a general model of mechanisms for joint socioeconomic activity based on the principles of institutional design developed within the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework. The initial thesis is the assumption of the existence of universal functions that implement the processes of coordination and governance/management in various types of mechanisms for regulating joint socio-economic activity. The set of the universal functions and the general structure of the abstract mechanism for joint activity are derived from the principles of institutional design of the IAD. The article considers a general approach to the embodiment of six universal functions in the form of a set of design elements used to create real mechanisms. The initial set of design elements is formed on the basis of the methods for implementing these functions within the three main modes of communication - direct, indirect, and rule-based - between participants in joint activity. The properties of the embodied mechanisms are considered, including the manifestation of these properties in real regulatory structures such as "network", "hierarchy", "market," and "rules/ institutions". The process of constructing embodied mechanisms for joint activity is interpreted as a task of choosing a combination of design elements that best suit the characteristics of a specific joint activity and environmental conditions. The principles of optimization of mechanisms for joint activity with heterogeneous operations are proposed, which leads to the possibility of hybridization of mechanisms. The main results of the study are presented in the form of a concept of a general model of joint activity mechanisms. The proposed approach can serve as a basis for the analysis of collective actions, research into the transformation of forms of social coordination and the potential impact of digital technologies, including AI, on the development of joint activity mechanisms. The model can be used in studies of cooperation, management of public resources, organizational design, and digitalization of socio-economic institutions.
This study critically examines the development trajectory of artificial intelligence (AI), challenging dominant narratives that frame AI as a neutral or inevitable technological progression. Drawing on and extending theoretical frameworks such as Feenberg's critical theory of technology, Zuboff's surveillance capitalism, and Acemoglu's democratic erosion, the paper introduces the concept of algorithmic hegemony to explain how AI is increasingly shaped by concentrated power structures, institutional displacement, and ideological imperatives. Through a critical interpretive analysis of global investment flows, sectoral imbalances, and transparency deficits, the study reveals that AI is being developed primarily by a narrow coalition of private corporations and authoritarian states. This ecosystem marginalizes academia, civil society, and democratic oversight. The findings highlight a shift of epistemic authority from public institutions to private interests, the deployment of AI systems for surveillance and behavioural control, and the erosion of civic agency in digital governance. By synthesizing empirical data with normative critique, the study offers a multidimensional theoretical contribution and calls for a paradigmatic shift toward society-centered AI governance. The proposed concept of algorithmic hegemony provides a new lens to understand the political economy of AI and its implications for democracy, justice, and public interest.
