The chapter is based on 24 in-depth interviews with residents of three Russian cities who once mo... more The chapter is based on 24 in-depth interviews with residents of three Russian cities who once moved in together with their elderly/sick relatives to take care of them daily. The arrangement of elderly care in Russian society has its specific due to several reasons, such as lack and underdevelopment of public social care, high costs of residential paid care, etc. Besides, elderly care in Russia remains a family issue, for this area is highly ethically charged. Home performs a site of kin-related elderly care where family members of several generations of a live together, and younger relatives take care of elderly ones. Moving in changes housing, dwelling, domesticity and affective home space dramatically. Meanings and space of home have been multiplied and fragmented in practical and symbolic terms. In this chapter I will analyze these changes and challenges that construct kin-related elderly care in Russian families.
The chapter is based on 24 in-depth interviews with residents of three Russian cities who once mo... more The chapter is based on 24 in-depth interviews with residents of three Russian cities who once moved in together with their elderly/sick relatives to take care of them daily. The arrangement of elderly care in Russian society has its specific due to several reasons, such as lack and underdevelopment of public social care, high costs of residential paid care, etc. Besides, elderly care in Russia remains a family issue, for this area is highly ethically charged. Home performs a site of kin-related elderly care where family members of several generations of a live together, and younger relatives take care of elderly ones. Moving in changes housing, dwelling, domesticity and affective home space dramatically. Meanings and space of home have been multiplied and fragmented in practical and symbolic terms. In this chapter I will analyze these changes and challenges that construct kin-related elderly care in Russian families.
This article analyses how and why the residents of Northwest Russia-holders and users of the unif... more This article analyses how and why the residents of Northwest Russia-holders and users of the unified Schengen multiple-entry 'C' visas issued by the state of Finland-care for their visas by balancing trips to Finland against trips to the wider Schengen Area, according to the rules that require such balancing. Applying the concept of productive work and reproductive labour, and drawing on in-depth interviews with the Schengen visa-dependants in Russia, I show how Schengen visa policies operate on the local level of the EU's external border. The article explores how such visas facilitate short-term mobility, yet require from their holders constant efforts to maintain this resource, and therefore operate as a nexus of freedom of movement and commitment. I argue that the role of the short-term Schengen visa issued to non-EU visitors goes far beyond simple permission for crossing the border and materialises as a facilitator of Europe-wide mobility and, therefore, an object of constant care.
В статье, основанной на исследовательских интервью и материалах СМИ, анализируется создание класс... more В статье, основанной на исследовательских интервью и материалах СМИ, анализируется создание классового неравенства в процессе взаимодействия наемных домашних работников и их работодателей в российских домохозяйствах. Концепция диалектики контроля позволяет проанализировать, каким образом в частной сфере находят выражение два устойчивых паттерна культуры неравенства. Первая модель «демонстративного неравенства» (вос)производится в процессе взаимодействия современных «хозяев» и «прислуги». Позиция домашнего работника в данном случае конструируется как подчиненная по отношению к работодателю. На формирование такого статуса работают механизмы дистанцирования, контроля, вербальной сигнификации и эксплуатации. Вторая модель «эгалитарного неравенства» поддер-живается новым средним классом профессионалов и управленцев и их помощника-ми по хозяйству. Она предполагает диалог и обратную связь в отношениях между нанимателем и домашним работником, а также сокращение социальной дистанции и сглаживание иерархии между акторами. Обе стороны контракта демонстрируют взаимопонимание, основанное на персонализированном доверии. В исследовании учитываются гендерные структурные характеристики домашнего труда и семейного разделения труда, а также особенности российского рынка домашних работников, связанные с внутри-и межстрановыми миграционными потоками в постсоветском пространстве.
Ключевые слова: классообразование; культуры неравенства; оплачиваемый домашний труд; отношения между нанимателем и домашним работником; Россия
This Special Issue comprises six articles to explore how au pairs position themselves in their re... more This Special Issue comprises six articles to explore how au pairs position themselves in their receiving societies in the context of migration and domesticities. In diversified societies, au pairs negotiate between their own aspirations and the existing immigration and employment opportunities. At the micro-level of intercultural encounters with their host families and outer communities, au pairs perform and maintain their identity. While becoming an au pair, young migrants self-position themselves toward their host families and later they reflect upon their social, ethnical and cultural belonging to the hosting society. Traditionally, the au pair scheme is a European mobility form that has been predominantly used by young women as a developmental phase in their early adulthood. The French term 'au pair' means 'at par', 'at equal shares' or 'on mutual terms'. This corresponds with the ideal that in the au pair relationship, both parties – families and au pairs – should benefit. The so-called 'Welschlandjahr' is considered as one of the early examples of former forms of au pairing. Around the middle of the 19 th century, young German speaking women in Switzerland went to live with French speaking Swiss families in order to prepare for the role of a housewife, while also learning French (Orthofer 2009: 113). Approximately at the same time, the term 'au pair' established itself in France denoting the stay of young English women from the wealthy middle classes in French families to learn French and teach the children of the family English language (Caudera-Preil 2001). In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century Britain, au pairs existed in the form of domestic labour. The European (mostly Swedish, German, Austrian and Danish) girls came to Britain to work as domestic helps based on informal exchanges and individual agreements. This practice continued in the interwar and postwar periods (Liarou 2015: 21). The 1969 'European Agreement on Au Pair Placement' drafted by the Council of Europe formalised what had already been an informal practice for several decades. This document defined the regulatory frameworks of a Europe-wide (lately, worldwide) form of international mobility for young people in their (early) twenties, both male and female. In theory, the au pair placement provides an opportunity for young people to learn language and culture abroad, while temporarily (1-2 years) living as a 'member' of a host family and providing light domestic work and childcare for this family. In turn, the host families provide au pairs with pocket money (not salary) and cover their language training. The au pair stay is officially defined as a cultural exchange program, thus au pairs are legally not granted the status of migrants, workers or students. Unlike many migration statuses, such as educational, labour or marriage migration, au pair placement is a blurry category. The official definition of the au pair stay incorporates national au pair regulations and migratory policies. On top of that, the situation of au pairs is impacted by care and gender regimes, public attitudes towards newcomers from certain countries, a set of social opportunities provided for newcomers at a local level, as well as the au pair's relationship with the host family. The lack of monitoring and supervision of au pair stays, as well as the poor definition of au pairs' rights, usually leads to numerous cases of abuse of the scheme, exploitation and various forms of harassment of au pairs. In their current analyses, social scientists and practitioners evaluate the legitimacy of the scheme, in terms of the extent to which it fits the political and public norms of the receiving society. They warn that the initial idea of au pair placement as cultural exchange program has been distorted and either the careful restoration of the original program is necessary, or an official transition to the employment contract of a domestic worker should be implemented (e. A previous research about the au pair stay has shed light on different aspects of this phenomenon. Firstly, au pairing has been studied as a migration process, secondly, it has been investigated as a form of domestic and care work, and thirdly, au pairing has been examined as a biographical phase of young adulthood.
This article analyses how female au pairs from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) perce... more This article analyses how female au pairs from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) perceive some aspects of Norwegian society – public arrangements and rules; localities and social environment; and privacy and culture of parenting – to express their belonging to it. Applying the concept of boundary work, and drawing on in-depth biographical interviews with current and former au pairs, I show how they find their own place in a new context. I argue that boundary work through comparisons with the hosting Other and active reflection on differences and similarities of Norwegian and post-Soviet realities enables au pairs to appropriate new cultural and social sources and become more enthusiastic about subsequent integration in the host country.
The Russian authorities are becoming increasingly aware of the need to improve the integration of... more The Russian authorities are becoming increasingly aware of the need to improve the integration of Russia's many immigrants into Russian society. This article examines power relations between state and civil society in formal governance networks, the representativeness of " diaspora organizations, " why the state structures want to include these diasporas in the formal governance networks, and why the diasporas are interested in participating. As is common in Russian network governance, state-based actors firmly control the networks through a variety of mechanisms. The diaspora leaders are generally not recent labor immigrants themselves, and do not rely on the latter group's approval to represent them. This disconnect , and the hierarchal and securitized nature of Russian immigration politics, severely limits the target population's possibility for input into policy-making or implementation. Non-state network members evaluate participation as leaving no visible imprint on policy, and rarely on implementation , but still giving a heightened potential for influence. Diaspora leaders underscored that membership did facilitate network building that could be of benefit to them and their communities. The state charges dias-pora organizations with a special responsibility for keeping law and order among their co-ethnics-assisting, informing, and controlling them. Some were critical of the idea that ethnicity equals responsibility, or of NGOs getting such wide-ranging responsibilities, but most accept the role given to the diasporas by the Russian state.
Статья основана на материалах глубинных интервью с людьми, которые проживают совместно с пожилым... more Статья основана на материалах глубинных интервью с людьми, которые проживают совместно с пожилыми больными родственниками и ежедневно ухаживают за ними. Рассматриваются предпосылки и условия начала совместного проживания; практическое, эмоциональное и материальное изменение дома после переезда, а также внешние границы и внутренние конфликты, которые характеризуют жизнь " заботливого дома ", главной функцией которого становится уход всех домочадцев за пожилым родственником.
Ключевые слова: дом • трансформация домашнего пространства • родствен-ный уход за пожилыми • расширенная семья • межпоколенческие отношения • совместное проживание родственников
книге представлены концептуальные и методические разработ
ки, выполненные в рамках образовательн... more книге представлены концептуальные и методические разработ ки, выполненные в рамках образовательной программы «Гендерные исследования» факультета политических наук и социологии ЕУСПб. Авторы знакомят читателей с такими категориями, как гендерный по рядок, патриархат, гендерное неравенство, гендерная власть, гендер ный контракт, предлагают концептуальную рамку социологическо го анализа гендерных практик. Анализируется советский гендерный порядок и тенденции его трансформации в постсоветском российском обществе. Авторы предлагают различные методики качественного исследования гендерных отношений.
This special section of Demokratizatsiya (Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratiz... more This special section of Demokratizatsiya (Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization. 24 (2) Spring 2016) was inspired by the research project “Network Governance: A Tool for Understanding Russian Policy-Making?” funded by the Research Council of Norway (NORRUSS program, 2013-2016). The project sought to examine how Russian state and non-state actors collaborate to make decisions or, at least, implement current policies with regard to three social issues - migration, drugs/HIV and child protection. Empirically, the project was designed as multi-sited and was carried out at the federal, regional and local levels (particularly, in the cities of St. Petersburg and Samara). The articles presented here cover some, but not all, of the research cases and include some contributors who were not project participants.
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Ключевые слова: классообразование; культуры неравенства; оплачиваемый домашний труд; отношения между нанимателем и домашним работником; Россия
Ключевые слова: дом • трансформация домашнего пространства • родствен-ный уход за пожилыми • расширенная семья • межпоколенческие отношения • совместное проживание родственников
ки, выполненные в рамках образовательной программы «Гендерные
исследования» факультета политических наук и социологии ЕУСПб.
Авторы знакомят читателей с такими категориями, как гендерный по
рядок, патриархат, гендерное неравенство, гендерная власть, гендер
ный контракт, предлагают концептуальную рамку социологическо
го анализа гендерных практик. Анализируется советский гендерный
порядок и тенденции его трансформации в постсоветском российском
обществе. Авторы предлагают различные методики качественного
исследования гендерных отношений.
Policy-Making?” funded by the Research Council of Norway (NORRUSS
program, 2013-2016). The project sought to examine how Russian state
and non-state actors collaborate to make decisions or, at least, implement
current policies with regard to three social issues - migration, drugs/HIV
and child protection. Empirically, the project was designed as multi-sited
and was carried out at the federal, regional and local levels (particularly, in
the cities of St. Petersburg and Samara). The articles presented here cover
some, but not all, of the research cases and include some contributors who
were not project participants.