Doctoral Dissertation Research: "Living on a Volcano:" Strategies of Mental and Behavioral Adaptation to Changing Societal Environment in Russia

本博士论文研究项目侧重于普通俄罗斯公民在应对急剧变化的社会环境时制定的适应策略。与早期的研究不同，它认为适应不是一种固定的现象，而是一个持续的过程。因此，它需要在所涉及的社会转型的不同阶段进行纵向调查。这种动态的视角集中在社会行为者和他们的环境之间的相互关系，并汇集了在俄罗斯社会政治背景下的价值观，经济适应和社会变革的各种研究成果。本研究的数据将通过参与者观察、媒体分析和二手来源（与主题相关的调查、社会研究等）以及纵向深度访谈的组合获得。第一波面谈是在1998年夏季，即8月经济危机之前，由学生调查员在莫斯科进行的一项试验性研究中进行的。虽然试点研究的目标不是在统计上代表任何特定的社会阶层，但从访谈中获得的数据似乎是建立关于行动者态度动态的丰富信息库的宝贵基础。价值观、信仰和行为模式在1998年夏天以来俄罗斯宏观社会变化的各个阶段展开。

This doctoral dissertation research project focuses on the adaptive strategies developed by ordinary Russian citizens in response to a drastically changing societal environment. Unlike earlier studies, it views adaptation not as a fixed phenomenon but as an ongoing process. As such it requires longitudinal investigation throughout the different stages of the societal transformation involved. Such a dynamic perspective concentrates on the reciprocal relationship between the social actors and their environment and brings together diverse research findings on values, economic adaptations and social change in the Russian socio-political context. Data for this study will be obtained from a combination of participant observation, analysis of media and secondary sources (surveys, social studies, etc. relevant to the subject) and a longitudinal set of in-depth interviews. The first wave of interviews has been conducted in a pilot study conducted in Moscow by the student-investigator during the summer of 1998, prior to the August economic crisis. While the pilot study did not have a goal of statistically representing any particular social strata, the data obtained from the interviews appear to be a valuable basis for building a bank of rich information about the dynamic of the actors attitudes. values, beliefs, and behavior patterns in various stages of the macrosocietal change that has unfolded in Russia since the summer of 1998.