IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hig/wpaper/73-soc-2017.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Precariousness in Russia: Attitudes, Work and Life Experience of Young Adults with Higher Education

Author

Listed:
  • Elena N. Gasiukova

    (National Research University Higher School of Economics)

  • Sergey A. Korotaev

    (National Research University Higher School of Economics)

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to show how Russian workers with higher professional education who are in precarious employment and live in larger cities perceive the lack of stability in their employment, life, and their prospects, and what influences their decision-making with respect to career. Our analysis is based on evidence from 10 semi-structured in-depth interviews. The method of consensual qualitative research (CQR) is employed. The analysis reveals that standard employment does not seem to offer significant benefits to respondents, because it does not guarantee an adequate level of labor market, income and social security, while it imposes unnecessary obligations with respect to organisation and concomitant constraints. On the contrary, flexible employment allows them to choose the jobs and working conditions that correspond to their lifestyles. The respondents demonstrate high levels of responsibility for the life, as well as high level of risk tolerance. They resort to contingent professional tactics, and have a short-term vision of the future. At the same time, their position is unstable, financially vulnerable, and highly dependent on the amount of resources (mainly economic and social capitals) at their disposal

Suggested Citation

  • Elena N. Gasiukova & Sergey A. Korotaev, 2017. "Precariousness in Russia: Attitudes, Work and Life Experience of Young Adults with Higher Education," HSE Working papers WP BRP 73/SOC/2017, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hig:wpaper:73/soc/2017
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://wp.hse.ru/data/2017/03/24/1169887259/73SOC2017.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Amrita Chhachhi & Guy Standing, 2014. "Understanding the Precariat through Labour and Work," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 45(5), pages 963-980, September.
    2. Peter Cappelli, 1995. "Rethinking Employment," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 33(4), pages 563-602, December.
    3. Axel Haunschild, 2011. "Lifestyles as Social Contracts between Workers and Organizations," Schmalenbach Business Review (sbr), LMU Munich School of Management, vol. 63(4), pages 361-375, October.
    4. Francesca Modena & Fabio Sabatini, 2012. "I would if I could: precarious employment and childbearing intentions in Italy," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 77-97, March.
    5. Fiori, Francesca & Rinesi, Francesca & Spizzichino, Daniele & Di Giorgio, Ginevra, 2016. "Employment insecurity and mental health during the economic recession: An analysis of the young adult labour force in Italy," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 90-98.
    6. Eggers, Andrew & Gaddy, Clifford & Graham, Carol, 2006. "Well-being and unemployment in Russia in the 1990s: Can society's suffering be individuals' solace?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 209-242, April.
    7. Shannon Davis & Andrey Shevchuk & Denis Strebkov, 2014. "Pathways to Satisfaction with Work-Life Balance: The Case of Russian-Language Internet Freelancers," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 35(4), pages 542-556, December.
    8. Ovsey Shkaratan & Jacques Fontanel, 1998. "Conversion and personnel in the Russian military-industrial-complex," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(4), pages 367-379.
    9. Iacovou, Maria, 2001. "Leaving home in the European Union," ISER Working Paper Series 2001-18, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    10. Holt, Douglas B, 1998. "Does Cultural Capital Structure American Consumption?," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 25(1), pages 1-25, June.
    11. Ellen Ek & Anitta Sirviö & Markku Koiranen & Anja Taanila, 2014. "Psychological Well-Being, Job Strain and Education Among Young Finnish Precarious Employees," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 115(3), pages 1057-1069, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tatiana Karabchuk, 2020. "Job Instability and Fertility Intentions of Young Adults in Europe: Does Labor Market Legislation Matter?," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 688(1), pages 225-245, March.
    2. Jacques Fontanel, 2019. "Sécurité économique, insécurité mondiale," Post-Print hal-02522556, HAL.
    3. Carmela Milano, 2015. "Democratization or else vulgarization of cultural capital? The role of social networks in theater’s audience behavior," Working Papers CEB 15-004, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    4. Xiaowei Jiang & Brandon Mastromartino & Qian Yang & Jianwei Zhang & James J. Zhang, 2022. "Influence of Consumer Interaction and Community Relationships on Value Co-Creation Willingness: A Mediation Model of Chinese Sports Brands," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-19, December.
    5. Long Niu & Chuntian Lu & Lijuan Fan, 2023. "Social Class and Private-Sphere Green Behavior in China: The Mediating Effects of Perceived Status and Environmental Concern," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-15, February.
    6. Aysit Tansel & H. Mehmet Taşçı, 2010. "Hazard Analysis of Unemployment Duration by Gender in a Developing Country: The Case of Turkey," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 24(4), pages 501-530, December.
    7. Anna Anastasopoulou & Eftichia Vraimaki & Panagiotis Trivellas, 2023. "Recovery for Resilience: The Mediating Role of Work–Life Balance on the Quality of Life of Women Employees," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-18, August.
    8. Hafid Ballafkih & Joop Zinsmeister & Martha Meerman, 2017. "A Job and a Sufficient Income Is Not Enough: The Needs of the Dutch Precariat," SAGE Open, , vol. 7(4), pages 21582440177, December.
    9. Tunca, Burak & Anselmsson, Johan, 2019. "‘You are where you shop’: Examining stereotypes about town center shoppers," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 242-252.
    10. Jacques Fontanel, 2020. "Une croissance économique sans progrès humain," Post-Print hal-03709037, HAL.
    11. Roux, Elyette & Tafani, Eric & Vigneron, Franck, 2017. "Values associated with luxury brand consumption and the role of gender," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 102-113.
    12. Abdou, Rawayda & Cassells, Damien & Berrill, Jenny & Hanly, Jim, 2020. "An empirical investigation of the relationship between business performance and suicide in the US," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 264(C).
    13. Andrew E. Clark, 2006. "A Note on Unhappiness and Unemployment Duration," Applied Economics Quarterly (formerly: Konjunkturpolitik), Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 52(4), pages 291-308.
    14. António Caleiro, 2011. "Desemprego e Felicidade em Portugal," Economics Working Papers 5_2011, University of Évora, Department of Economics (Portugal).
    15. Jacques Fontanel, 2000. "Les désagréments économiques de l’absence d’Etat. L’exemple de la Russie," Post-Print hal-02877208, HAL.
    16. Jacques Fontanel, 2004. "La conversion économique du secteur militaire dans le monde," Post-Print hal-02932342, HAL.
    17. Nattavudh Powdthavee, 2012. "Jobless, Friendless and Broke: What Happens to Different Areas of Life Before and After Unemployment?," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 79(315), pages 557-575, July.
    18. Irina Denisova & Markus Eller & Ekaterina Zhuravskaya, 2010. "What do Russians think about transition?1," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 18(2), pages 249-280, April.
    19. Nguyen, Ha & Duncan, Alan, 2015. "Macroeconomic fluctuations in home countries and immigrants’ well-being: New evidence from Down Under," MPRA Paper 69593, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Feb 2016.
    20. Milena Nikolova & Sinem H. Ayhan, 2019. "Your spouse is fired! How much do you care?," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 32(3), pages 799-844, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    unstable employment; employment trajectories; precariousness; non-standard employment; qualitative analysis; CQR method.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification
    • Z1 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hig:wpaper:73/soc/2017. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Shamil Abdulaev or Shamil Abdulaev (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/hsecoru.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.