2002. Vol. 3. No. 3

The paper is devoted to the determination of the subject of economic sociology. The author analyzes the problem of the boundaries of economic theory and economic sociology. The basic foundations of economic sociology are disclosed in the paper. The author suggests the ways of constructing the models of economic-sociological man. The term of action strategy is defined and discussed. 

The author analyzes the problem of continuity and changes in the underworld in Russia after the state socialism system broke down. There is an attempt of sociological reconstruction of basic characteristics of the thieves’ society, of understanding its system of norms and their functions in this part 4.  The contradictions and conflicts that appear due to the differences in the thieves’ and gangsters’ subcultures are in the focus. The author claims that the representatives of the traditional underworld played a key role in the post-soviet crime formation, however they had to adapt to the changing circumstances themselves. 

The paper deals with the problem of embeddedness of economic behavior in the social relations. This part of the text contains the theoretical definitions of embeddedness. The author analyzes over- and half-socialized concepts of human action in sociology and in economics. The issues of trust and fraud in economic life are in the focus. 

The author defines the main types of the strategies to tackle the life difficulties taking into account dependence and independence. This task is solved by applying the indicators of social-economic dependence that were worked out by the author in the quantitative empirical study with further tests on the correlation. These dependence indicators are divided into two groups: individual resources (material, social, professional, psychological, health) and purposes (values, orientation on independence and achievements). With the help of multilevel analysis we disclose several groups of people, carrying out different types of strategies.      

The paper considers the social conditions that contribute to the formation of aggressive management practices in the current Russian business. The analysis is based on the research of small and middle entrepreneurship that was conducted by the Russian sociologists in 1990s and on the two case studies of Russian firms that were done in the spring of 2001.    управленческие практики