Legal Consciousness in Post-Soviet Russia: A Preliminary Study PDF Print E-mail

Kathryn Hendley, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Abstract

How do Russians solve problems in their daily lives and what does their behavior reveal about their legal consciousness? I pursue these questions by examining how Russians interact with those who are physically closest to them, namely those who live in the same building and who share the same entryway (pod''ezd). Reasoning that the essence of relationships emerges through conflict, I focus on the problem-solving strategies employed when one neighbor leaks water into another neighbor's apartment. By listening to Russians in focus groups and follow-up interviews, three basic strategies emerged: avoidance, self-help, and third-party intervention.
 

Contact Information

National Council for Eurasian and East European Research

Seattle Office
  • Box 353650
  • Box 224
  • Seattle, WA 98195
  • Tel: 206-616-1541
  • Fax: 866-937-9872
  • E-mail: info@nceeer.org
DC Office
  • 910 17th Street NW
  • Washington, DC 20006
  • Tel: 202-296-1677

usrf_logo2ac_logo_smallcarnegielogo_smallsd_logo_smallNEH

NCEEER

miffsuzzallopomak_children

National Council for Eurasian and East European Research (NCEEER) is a non-profit organization created in 1978 to develop and sustain long-term, high-quality programs for post-doctoral research on the social, political, economic, environmental, and historical development of Eurasia and Central and Eastern Europe.   More

Latest NCEEER Working Papers

2011_824-15_Yurchak

Aesthetic Politics in St. Petersburg: Skyline at the Heart of Political Opposition

Alexei Yurchak, University of California, Berkeley

This working paper focuses on the plans to construct a skyscraper in St Petersburg, Russia, known originally as Gazprom-City and recently renamed into Okhta Center, and on the controversy that developed around these plans. The paper uses the skyscraper debates as a lens to discuss a particular "aesthetic politics" of St Petersburg, the meaning of "world cities" and "global architecture" in Russian and international contexts, post-Soviet forms of political and corporate governance, the mobilization of civic opposition to such projects and the ability of such urban protests to translate into a more unified and politically oriented opposition than has been possible in other contexts in Russia.