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This book offers a rich ethnographic account of blue-collar workers' everyday life in a central Russian industrial town coping with simultaneous decline and the arrival of transnational corporations. 'Everyday Post-Socialism' demonstrates how people manage to remain satisfied, despite the crisis and relative poverty they faced after the fall of socialist projects and the social trends associated with neoliberal transformation. Morris shows the 'other life' in today's Russia which is not present in mainstream academic discourse or even in the media in Russia itself. This book offers co-presence and a direct understanding of how the local community lives a life which is not only bearable, but also preferable and attractive when framed in the categories of 'habitability', commitment and engagement, and seen in the light of alternative ideas of worth and specific values. Topics covered include working-class identity, informal economy, gender relations and transnational corporations

This book offers a rich ethnographic account of blue-collar workers' everyday life in a central Russian industrial town coping with simultaneous decline and the arrival of transnational corporations. Everyday Post-Socialismdemonstrates how people manage to remain satisfied, despite the crisis and relative poverty they faced after the fall of socialist projects and the social trends associated with neoliberal transformation. Morris shows the 'other life' in today's Russia which is not present in mainstream academic discourse or even in the media in Russia itself. This book offers co-presence and a direct understanding of how the local community lives a life which is not only bearable, but also preferable and attractive when framed in the categories of 'habitability', commitment and engagement, and seen in the light of alternative ideas of worth and specific values. Topics covered include working-class identity, informal economy, gender relations and transnational corporations.

Apart from some protests, most ordinary Russians have not overtly opposed their country's invasion of Ukraine, but nor do they appear to support it enthusiastically. Long-term ethnographic research in the country suggests that Russians have entered a phase of "defensive consolidation," a psychological means of coping with a state that does little for their welfare and has now left the country largely isolated with its military aggression against its closest neighbor. In the search for lost collective purpose since the collapse of the Soviet Union, patriotism is imbued with nostalgia and desperation.

This exploratory and review essay views Russia as a particular state-capital accommodation-assemblage characterized by neoliberal subjectivization of the population in a particularly stark manner. This argument is a departure from perspectives on Russia as a semi-periphery, instead proposing its thorough incorporation into the current moment of global capitalism. While 'state capitalism' has analytical purchase, 'authoritarian neoliberalism' is proposed as a more sharply focussed lens in examining Russia in the global context. This is important too in reorienting political economy to accommodate more grounded methodologies, including ethnography and other empirically subjective accounts. While beyond the scope of the essay, existing ethnographic accounts and empirical materials — particularly relating to Special Economic Zones in Russia are incorporated in the argument. In making its argument, the essay reviews the contribution of Foucauldian approaches to neoliberalism and neomarxian political economy. Then it reviews the varieties of capitalism approaches and their critics as well as the debates on state capitalism pertaining to Russia by Ilya Matveev, and as pertaining to state capitalism in general. Further the essay reviews recent work on Eastern Europe as providing examples of vanguard authoritarian neoliberal governance. Finally, this approach allows the essay to argue that Russia is not only a 'normal country', but that it anticipates contemporary developments towards more post-democratic capitalist futures, along with their counter-currents.

This exploratory and review essay views Russia as a particular state-capital accommodation-assemblage characterized by neoliberal subjectivization of the population in a particularly stark manner. This argument is a departure from perspectives on Russia as a semi-periphery, instead proposing its thorough incorporation into the current moment of global capitalism. While 'state capitalism' has analytical purchase, 'authoritarian neoliberalism' is proposed as a more sharply focussed lens in examining Russia in the global context. This is important too in reorienting political economy to accommodate more grounded methodologies, including ethnography and other empirically subjective accounts. While beyond the scope of the essay, existing ethnographic accounts and empirical materials - particularly relating to Special Economic Zones in Russia are incorporated in the argument. In making its argument, the essay reviews the contribution of Foucauldian approaches to neoliberalism and neomarxian political economy. Then it reviews the varieties of capitalism approaches and their critics as well as the debates on state capitalism pertaining to Russia by Ilya Matveev, and as pertaining to state capitalism in general. Further the essay reviews recent work on Eastern Europe as providing examples of vanguard authoritarian neoliberal governance. Finally, this approach allows the essay to argue that Russia is not only a 'normal country', but that it anticipates contemporary developments towards more post-democratic capitalist futures, along with their counter-currents.

Zusammenfassung Das russische Arbeitsgesetzbuch von 2001 hat zwar die Wirkung von Arbeitsprotesten und ähnlichen Aktionen in Russland eingeschränkt, doch stellen Aktivitäten dieser Art weiterhin ein wichtiges Barometer für wirtschaftliche Unzufriedenheit dar. Insbesondere im Automobilsektor haben kämpferische Gewerkschaften nach 2007 einige Erfolge feiern können. Arbeitsproteste haben sich auch auf den Dienstleistungssektor und den öffentlichen Bereich ausgeweitet, am markantesten im Gesundheitswesen und in der Transportbranche. Das ist nicht nur auf einen sozialen und wirtschaftlichen Wandel zurückzuführen – etwa die Schwäche der russischen Wirtschaft seit 2009 –, sondern auch auf die nivellierenden Folgen von Reformen, die die Professionalität der Arbeit im öffentlichen Sektor reduziert und Proteste dieser Art wahrscheinlicher gemacht haben. Allerdings spielen auch die informelle Wirtschaft und die Klassenpolitik im Allgemeinen eine Rolle und haben auf die Wahrscheinlichkeit von Protesten weitgehend eine dämpfende Wirkung.

Das russische Arbeitsgesetzbuch von 2001 hat zwar die Wirkung von Arbeitsprotesten und ähnlichen Aktionen in Russland eingeschränkt, doch stellen Aktivitäten dieser Art weiterhin ein wichtiges Barometer für wirtschaftliche Unzufriedenheit dar. Insbesondere im Automobilsektor haben kämpferische Gewerkschaften nach 2007 einige Erfolge feiern können. Arbeitsproteste haben sich auch auf den Dienstleistungssektor und den öffentlichen Bereich ausgeweitet, am markantesten im Gesundheitswesen und in der Transportbranche. Das ist nicht nur auf einen sozialen und wirtschaftlichen Wandel zurückzuführen - etwa die Schwäche der russischen Wirtschaft seit 2009 -, sondern auch auf die nivellierenden Folgen von Reformen, die die Professionalität der Arbeit im öffentlichen Sektor reduziert und Proteste dieser Art wahrscheinlicher gemacht haben. Allerdings spielen auch die informelle Wirtschaft und die Klassenpolitik im Allgemeinen eine Rolle und haben auf die Wahrscheinlichkeit von Protesten weitgehend eine dämpfende Wirkung.

[T]he bureaucracy seeks ways to enrich itself in the manner of one big state corporation, and everyone else finds themselves in positions of vulnerability or dependency.

Abstract: This article argues for moving beyond existing conceptualizations of the "informal economy" that construe informality as a distinct phenomenon with more or less clearly defined borders. Instead, it proposes an "imbricated" perspective where informality and informal economic practices closely relate to other forms of informal organization within networks and political and civic structures. Specifically, the article addresses the issue of how to conceptualize and justify such broader understanding of informality. To do so, it develops three interrelated meanings of "imbrication"—relating to labor and economic activities; the "deregulation" or fuzziness of state practices and bureaucratic rulemaking; and the complexity of economic and social reasonings by agents themselves—to explain action. In each case, I offer brief empirical examples from my field research in provincial Russia.

Despite the image of omnipotent Kremlin rule, government at all levels is corrupt, exploitative, and incompetent, leaving Russians to survive on their own. Second in a series on ways of governing.