Networks in the Russian Market Economy

If Russia has become a market economy, how does it function on a grassroots level? In addition to market mechanisms, what kinds of social and moral principles are at work in the new Russian economy? Is the 'Soviet legacy' still present in post-Soviet business practices? This book searches for answers to these questions, by investigating the networking practices of the Russian software industry. It examines what kinds of resources are transmitted through the personal networks of Russian IT directors and managers, and which mechanisms govern this transmission. The volume opens a rarely available grassroots-level view into the business practices of the new Russian knowledge-based economy. This book is essential reading for all interested in Russian society, culture and economy

El colectivo obrero ruso y la migración

El artículo analiza el colectivo de trabajadores rusos desde la perspectiva de la migración interna, un aspecto hasta ahora ignorado pero sin embargo importante puesto que la Unión Soviética y la Rusia contemporánea pueden ser consideradas como "sociedades de emigrantes". A partir de cuestionarios sobre redes y entrevistas temáticas con 38 trabajadores masculinos en la famosa factoría Kirov, en San Petersburgo, examinamos el grado en el que éstos recurren a sus compañeros de trabajo para socializarse, buscar ayuda y apoyo en la vida cotidiana. A pesar de los radicales cambios institucionales ocurridos, el colectivo de trabajadores tiene un impacto importante en la vida de los trabajadores y de los trabajadores migrantes en particular. Esto es explicado mediante un análisis del proceso de emigración en la era soviética. Careciendo de otros canales para adaptarse a la nueva vida en la metrópolis, las nuevas relaciones que los migrantes formaron en la ciudad estaban básicamente relacionadas con el lugar de trabajo. La importancia del lugar de trabajo parece ser un hallazgo trivial e inevitable pero argumentamos que esto no es así por dos cuestiones. Primero, las redes de los migrantes, incluso después de décadas de residencia en la ciudad están todavía marcadas por su pasado migratorio, no siendo obvio por qué esto tiene que ser así. Segundo, la migración por sí misma no lleva inevitablemente a que los compañeros de trabajo sean importantes, como queda ilustrado en el hecho que las redes de los migrantes finlandeses no se construyen alrededor del trabajo. Lo que es relevante no es por tanto la migración como abstracción sino las circunstancias del tipo de migración.The article analyses the Russian work collective from the perspective of internal migration, a hitherto neglected yet important aspect of studies of the work collective, given that the Soviet Union and contemporary Russia may be considered as 'societies of migrants'. Drawing on structured network questionnaires and thematic interviews with 38 male workers in the famous Kirov factory, St. Petersburg, we examine the extent to which the respondent turn to their coworkers for socialising, help and support in daily life. Despite the sweeping institutional changes brought by the transformation, the work collective continues to have an important impact in the daily life of workers, and migrant workers in particular. This is explained by an analysis of the Soviet-era migration process. Lacking other channels for adapting to the new life in the metropolis, the new ties that the migrants formed in the city were mostly related to their workplace. The importance of workplace-related ties may seem to be a trivial and inevitable finding, but we argue this is not so at least in two respects. First, the migrants' networks, even after decades of residence in the city, are still marked by the migratory background, but there is nothing obvious in that they should remain so. Second, migration per se does not inevitably lead to co-workers being important, as is illustrated by the fact that the networks of Finnish migrant workers are not built around work. What matters then is not migration as an abstraction but the circumstances of the type of migration

Social Networks in Post-Soviet Russia : Continuity and Change in the Everyday Life of St. Petersburg Teachers

Only abstract. Paper copies of master’s theses are listed in the Helka database (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Electronic copies of master’s theses are either available as open access or only on thesis terminals in the Helsinki University Library.Vain tiivistelmä. Sidottujen gradujen saatavuuden voit tarkistaa Helka-tietokannasta (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Digitaaliset gradut voivat olla luettavissa avoimesti verkossa tai rajoitetusti kirjaston opinnäytekioskeilla.Endast sammandrag. Inbundna avhandlingar kan sökas i Helka-databasen (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Elektroniska kopior av avhandlingar finns antingen öppet på nätet eller endast tillgängliga i bibliotekets avhandlingsterminaler.The articles of this dissertation examine the everyday life in post-Soviet Russia through the analysis of personal networks. The focus is laid on the socialist legacies in post-Soviet Russia: the mixtures and tensions between the patterns of thought and behaviour inherited from the socialist era and the requirements posed by the emerging new social order. The comparative data on personal networks of secondary school teachers was gathered in spring 1993 in St. Petersburg and during the springs of 1993 and 1994 in Helsinki. Forty teachers in St. Petersburg and thirty-eight in Helsinki kept a diary of their important social relations for fifteen days. In addition, a theme interview was carried out and a who-knows-whom matrix of the personal network members was constructed for each respondent. In 1996 the same study was carried out in St. Petersburg with twenty teachers, six of whom had also participated in the 1993 study, and five psychologists. The substantial results of this study show first, the continuing and distinct importance of personal networks in general and of informal exchange networks of goods, services and information in particular in post-Soviet teachers' daily life. Compared to Finns, the study reveals differences in the nature and functioning of the Russian teachers' networks and show the relative weakness of the Russian teacher's professional identity. The observed combination of their work-related networks and weakly crystallized professional identity are in line with the 'community orientation' of their organized activities. Russian teachers' solidarity seems to be rather directed towards actual members of one's own school community - pupils included - than in an abstract manner towards all practitioners of the same profession as is the case in Finland. This community orientation implies potential for a different kind of collective action and suggests that the Russian civil society may differ from Western ideals. Methodologically, this study shows the potential and advantages of a comparative micro-approach. It argues for the use of an empirically defined notion of personal network in studies on post-socialism and suggests more emphasis to be placed on network formation

Venäjänkielisen internetin poliittisen sääntelyn kiristäminen

This article addresses the regulation of the Russian-language segment of the Internet, ’Runet’, for the purposes of constraining the activities of civil society and political opposition. We focus on the measures that started during the opposition protests in 2011–2013 when the Kremlin launched an intensive campaign to regulate the political use of Runet. We call this campaign ’the Occupation of the Runet’Tässä artikkelissa käsittelemme internetin venäjänkielisen segmentin, ”Runetin” sääntelyä kansalaisyhteiskunnan ja poliittisen opposition toiminnan rajoittamiseksi. Keskitymme toimenpiteisiin, jotka alkoivat oppositionprotestiaallon aikana 2011–2013, jolloin Kreml käynnisti päämäärätietoisen kampanjan Runetin poliittisen käytön kontrolloimiseksi. Tätä kampanjaa kutsumme ”Runetin valtaukseksi”

Oikeuttamisverkostot : miten analysoida julkisissa keskusteluissa esitettyjen oikeutusten keskinäisiä suhteita

Peer reviewe

Oikeuttamisverkostot: miten analysoida julkisissa keskusteluissa esitettyjen oikeutusten keskinäisiä suhteita

Luc Boltanskin ja Laurent Thévenot’n vuonna 1991 kehittämä teoria toiminnan moraalisesta oikeuttamisesta on yksi keskeisistä Pierre Bourdieun jälkeisen ”pragmatistisen” sosiologian saavutuksista. Tässä artikkelissa esitetään Boltanskin ja Thévenot’n oikeuttamisteoriaan sekä Eeva Luhtakallion ja Tuomas Ylä-Anttilan kehittämään julkisen oikeuttamisen analyysiin (JOA) perustuva metodi, joka havainnollistaa ja visualisoi moraalisen oikeuttamisen kategorioiden verkostoitumista. Artikkelissa metodia havainnollistetaan New York Timesin ilmastokeskustelua koskevan aineiston avulla, mutta sitä voidaan soveltaa kaikkiin julkisia kiistoja koskeviin tekstiaineistoihin. Se voidaan mieltää diskurssiverkostoanalyysin (Discourse Network Analysis) erityistapauksena, jossa aineiston koodaus on suoritettu julkisen oikeuttamisen analyysin metodilla ja jossa muodostetun verkostokuvion solmut kuvaavat julkisen oikeuttamisen kategorioita ja linkit kategorioiden välisiä suhteita