The Ambivalence of Power in the Twenty-First Century Economy: Cases from Russia and beyond

L. : UCL Press, 2022.

Editor-in-chief: Radaev V., Kotelnikova Z.

The Ambivalence of Power in the Twenty-First Century Economy contributes to the understanding of the ambivalent nature of power, oscillating between conflict and cooperation, public and private, global and local, formal and informal, and does so from an empirical perspective. It offers a collection of country-based cases, as well as critically assesses the existing conceptions of power from a cross-disciplinary perspective.

The diverse analyses of power at the macro, meso or micro levels allow the volume to highlight the complexity of political economy in the twenty-first century. Each chapter addresses key elements of that political economy (from the ambivalence of the cases of former communist countries that do not conform with the grand narratives about democracy and markets, to the dual utility of new technologies such as face-recognition), thus providing mounting evidence for the centrality of an understanding of ambivalence in the analysis of power, especially in the modern state power-driven capitalism.

Anchored in economic sociology and political economy, this volume aims to make ‘visible’ the dimensions of power embedded in economic practices. The chapters are predominantly based on post-communist practices, but this divergent experience is relevant to comparative studies of how power and economy are interrelated.

Chapters

How brand holders have deprived counterfeiting of legitimacy in Russia since the early 2000s

Kotelnikova Z., , in: The Ambivalence of Power in the Twenty-First Century Economy: Cases from Russia and beyond.: L.: UCL Press, 2022. Ch. 11 P. 217–236.

This chapter focuses upon the ambivalence of global brand holders’ behaviour with regard to counterfeiting. The author reconstructs a historical perspective showing how global brand holders, as highly powerful economic actors, enforced their intellectual property rights and contributed to the reduction of fake goods in the Russian markets between the early 2000s and 2010s. The ...

Added: July 9, 2022

Abusive supervision in organizations: Power, dependency and employee voice in labour relations

Evgeniya Balabanova, , in: The Ambivalence of Power in the Twenty-First Century Economy: Cases from Russia and beyond.: L.: UCL Press, 2022. Ch. 7 P. 122–145.

Added: July 11, 2022

Contradictions of centralization: Four models of interaction between Russian rural communities and government and agribusiness

Nikulin A., Alexander Kurakin, , in: The Ambivalence of Power in the Twenty-First Century Economy: Cases from Russia and beyond.: L.: UCL Press, 2022. Ch. 4 P. 58–79.

The chapter addresses the controversies of power centralization observed in the interaction of Russian rural communities with the government and large agribusinesses. The expansion of large agribusiness companies is able to increase the effectiveness of rural production. Moreover, local communities and Introduction 7 households are often unable to make use of power opportunities and are ready ...

Added: July 21, 2022

The Power of Non-Compliance: Inter-Firm Opportunism in Russian Consumer markets.

Radaev V., , in: The Ambivalence of Power in the Twenty-First Century Economy: Cases from Russia and beyond.: L.: UCL Press, 2022. P. 102–121.

The Ambivalence of Power in the Twenty-First Century Economy contributes to the understanding of the ambivalent nature of power, oscillating between conflict and cooperation, public and private, global and local, formal and informal, and does so from an empirical perspective. It offers a collection of country-based cases, as well as critically assesses the existing conceptions of ...

Added: August 4, 2022

Legitimation of innovation: The case of AI technology for facial recognition

Kosals L., , in: The Ambivalence of Power in the Twenty-First Century Economy: Cases from Russia and beyond.: L.: UCL Press, 2022. Ch. 5 P. 80–99.

Added: August 12, 2022

Academic excellence through homogenization? Gaining legitimacy from the strategic positioning of top-ranked universities

Pavlyutkin I., Makareva A., , in: The Ambivalence of Power in the Twenty-First Century Economy: Cases from Russia and beyond.: L.: UCL Press, 2022. Ch. 12 P. 237–260.

Added: August 30, 2022

Empowerment of the disempowered: assessing the impact of young Muscovites through ecological practices

Lebedeva D., , in: The Ambivalence of Power in the Twenty-First Century Economy: Cases from Russia and beyond.: L.: UCL Press, 2022. Ch. 17 P. 342–364.

Taking account of the ambiguous lines of responsibility for ecological activity in present-day Russia, this study investigates why young people still engage in everyday ecological practices, despite environmentalism being a peripheral issue in relation to the dominant political agenda. The research is guided by the following research questions: how do proactive and ecologically responsible young ...

Added: August 30, 2022

Beyond the state and digital platforms: (In)formalization of freelance contracting in Russia

Shevchuk A., Strebkov D., , in: The Ambivalence of Power in the Twenty-First Century Economy: Cases from Russia and beyond.: L.: UCL Press, 2022. Ch. 8 P. 146–170.

Added: September 2, 2022

Interrelation between economic freedom and democracy: the case of post-communist countries

Dabrowski M., , in: The Ambivalence of Power in the Twenty-First Century Economy: Cases from Russia and beyond.: L.: UCL Press, 2022. Ch. 2 P. 14–35.

Added: September 3, 2022

One man’s pill is another man’s poison. Ambivalence of definitional power: the case of breast cancer drugs in Russia

Berdysheva E., , in: The Ambivalence of Power in the Twenty-First Century Economy: Cases from Russia and beyond.: L.: UCL Press, 2022. Ch. 13 P. 261–279.

Russian cancer policy is being shaped in line with the militaristic metaphor of pharmacological war against cancer with  the drug-bullets that are produced in Russia. This study examines the role of meaning making (definitional) power in the arrangement of political choice with regard to this policy. It is aimed at demonstrating that in contrast to ...

Added: October 31, 2022

Introduction

Kotelnikova Z., Radaev V., , in: The Ambivalence of Power in the Twenty-First Century Economy: Cases from Russia and beyond.: L.: UCL Press, 2022. P. 1–11.

Added: November 18, 2022

‘Russian Parmesan, even better than the original’: Exploratory research into organic farmers’ valuation strategies

Kusimova T., , in: The Ambivalence of Power in the Twenty-First Century Economy: Cases from Russia and beyond.: L.: UCL Press, 2022. P. 280–299.

Added: December 1, 2022

The Pitfalls of Rent-Seeking: Alternative Mechanisms of Resource Rent Collection in Russia and Venezuela

Pobedonostsev Alexei, , in: The Ambivalence of Power in the Twenty-First Century Economy: Cases from Russia and beyond.: L.: UCL Press, 2022. P. 36–57.

Added: September 18, 2023

Keywords: economic sociology, ambivalence, power