Institute of Education

This pocket data book contains the most recent statistical data representing the level and dynamics of the digital economy development in the Russian Federation. International comparisons are provided for a number of indicators.

The data book includes information of the Russian Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat), Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation, Federal Customs Service of Russia, Russian Central Bank (Bank of Russia), European Statistical Office (Eurostat), Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), International Telecommunication Union (ITU), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), Scopus database, and results of own methodological and analytical studies of the HSE Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge.

This paper employs the concepts of cultural narrative to examine career choice among post-Soviet Russian teenagers going into higher education. Drawing on insights from cultural sociology more broadly and the cultural autonomy thesis more specifically, we demonstrate how the cultural narrative of a university degree as a ‘must-have at all costs’ subjugates various career decision-making logics identified, while downplaying individual agency and reflexivity. We argue that, by misdirecting career choice from opportunities to constraints, the dominant narrative serves to limit, rather than diversify, young people’s career choice and social mobility potential. We go on to theorise the interplay between culture and social institutions. Drawing on the cultural interpretation of Unified State Exam – a neoliberal educational governance tool – we show how cultural narrative hijacks institutional interpretations and usages, re-grounding neoliberal sensibilities in Soviet-era ones.

Many terms used both in sociology and lay discourse have nonscientific origins. Therefore, it is important to clarify the meanings of these concepts to understand the heuristic capacities that they have for scientific research. The notion of satanism emerged in evangelical manuscripts, and it has since appeared repeatedly in political and juridical discussions. Moreover, there are conflicting opinions about the suitability of this notion for sociological study. In this paper, I use critical concept analysis and a critical perspective on religion to examine sociological discourse on satanism. I argue that to enhance sociology—and religious studies in general—among contemporary views of satanism, the naturalist model is the most promising, but it is not the only one that should be used to explain this notion.