This course focuses on current labour market trends in the post-Soviet geographical space, concentrating mainly on Russian, Baltic and Central Asian labour markets. The course starts from the Soviet organisation of work, labour processes, management and industrial relations system. Then, the transitional period of the 1990s is considered, particularly how the Soviet labour market legacies affected the post-Soviet work models. The main emphasis of the course will be on contemporary macro tendencies of cross-country migration - which takes place especially between the Central Asian countries and Russia - segmentation of labour, gender roles, weakening role of the trade unions, and VET (vocational education and training) in the post-socialist countries.

The modes of study in this course are participation to the lectures and writing a 10-page essay based on the lectures, given sources and additional material.

Essay: written on a particular topic or theme. The objective of an essay is  to survey the literature or other material in a particular field. When preparing an essay, the student is expected to clearly define and limit the topic or theme of the essay, to examine and analyse the relevant material and prepare a presentation on the basis of this analysis.

The student should, moreover, familiarise herself with the relevant debates in her field and, insofar as it is possible, consider her own findings in the light of the arguments presented and questions raised in these debates. This procedure also allows the student to show that she is aware of the canonical publications and the current themes discussed in her field.

A presentation that relies entirely on either reporting the contents of the material under inspection or on the student’s personal opinions does not fulfil the requirements for an essay.

The deadline for writing the essay is the end of period III, 6th March 2016.

Students will write an essay (10 pages) based on the lectures (10 h) and the following material:

1) ONE book from the list below:

Ashwin, Sarah, ed (2006) Adapting to Russia's new labour market: gender and employment behaviour. Routledge. 240 p OR

T. Brück & H. Lehmann ed (2012) In the Grip of Transition: Economic and Social Consequences of Restructuring in Russia and Ukraine. Palgrave Macmillan. 256 p.

AND

2) ONE article from the list below (15-20 pages each):

a) Ashwin, Sarah and Yakubovich, Valery (2005) 'Cherchez la femme: women as supporting actors in the Russian labour market', European Sociological Review, 21 (2). 149-164. 

b) Gänzle S., Meister S. & King C. (2009) 'The Bologna Process and Its Impact on Higher Education at Russia's Margins: The case of Kaliningrad', Higher Education, 57(4), 533–547

c) Kapelyushnikov, Rostislav, Kuznetsov, Andrei & Kuznetsova, Olga (2011) 'Diversity within capitalism: the Russian labour market model', Employee Relations, 33(4): 395-412.

d) Olimpieva, I. (2012) 'Labor unions in contemporary Russia: An assessment of contrasting forms of organization and representation', USA Today: The Journal of Labor and Society 15: 267-283.

e) Schwartz, Gregory (2003) 'Employment restructuring in Russian industrial enterprises: confronting a 'paradox', Work, Employment and Society 17)1): 49-72.

f) Sippola, Markku (2014) 'Labour migration in the case of Estonia and Kyrgyzstan: Disillusionment with lack of opportunity in the homeland', Journal of Social Policy Studies 12(4): 613-624.

g) Woolfson, Charles, Calite, Dace & Kallaste, Epp (2008) 'Employee "voice" and working environment in post-communist New Member States: an empirical analysis of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania', Industrial Relations Journal 39(4): 314-334.

In addition to the compulsory source books, additional sources may be used as well.  

The course is part of the Master's degree programme in Russian and European Studies (RES). RES students have priority to the course, but other students are welcome to join.

The course is organized in cooperation with Aleksanteri Institute's Russian and East European Master's School.