Sociology, labour and transition in post-Soviet Russia: A view from within

For almost 20 years, since the early 1990s, Professor Simon Clarke led multiple international research projects in Russia, China and Vietnam studying labour relations, enterprise restructuring and household economics under post-socialist transition. Breaking out of post-socialist scholarship’s narrow confines, both social and ideological, he led an exploration of the void opened by former Soviet Union disintegration reconnecting with those who brought the brunt of it. Equally unique among western scholars was his promotion of a vast network of former Soviet Union researchers and activists, later formalised in the Institute for Comparative Research in Labour Relations. Here, for the first time, some of its leading scholars reflect on his legacy, methods and ever-lasting contribution to the advancement of sociology and social activism in Russia. Their accounts convey the radically alternative character of the overall project, returning both achievements and limitations. In substantive terms, the emerging picture confirms the indeterminacy and complexity of Clarke’s original findings: no linear development from ‘the subsumption of labour under capital’ to ‘familiar patterns of class conflict’ has occurred. Instead, growing labour protests follow labour degradation and restructuring, a strong state becoming the arbiter in the stand-off between neoliberalism and workers’ resistance.