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The sociological study of youth volunteerism is determined by the need for theoretical understanding of volunteerism as a social institution, analysis of domestic youth volunteerism institutionalization practice, creation of the basis for volunteer policy improvement and overcoming barriers that hinder involvement of new representatives of the younger generation in volunteer activities. The objective of this paper is to identify the features of youth volunteerism institutionalization in modern Russian society. Sociological survey serves the main research method of this study, which allowed the authors to identify the features of youth volunteerism institutionalization in Russian society (in combination with secondary analysis of research materials conducted by the leading Russian sociological centers). The paper highlights the socio-economic and socio-psychological factors that hinder the effective development of youth volunteer movement in modern Russian society. It also identifies the current activity areas in the field of volunteerism, the nature of its development depending on the institutional mechanisms that produce and relay volunteerism as a social norm. The obtained sociological data on certain aspects of youth volunteerism is of interest to the authorities of various levels which manage volunteer projects, as well as to the heads of youth volunteer organizations and other subjects of volunteer activity. The theoretical and practical data presented in this paper can be applied in training courses on Sociology, Youth Sociology, Social Technologies of Working with Young People, Youth Movements, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When most people hear the word "sanctions," they think of formal economic and political punishments leveled at rogue regimes, like the US trade embargo against Iran, or the threatened expulsion of Hungary from the European Union. Both kinds of sanctions have been leveled against Russia since its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. But the past eight months have also brought a different sanctions strategy to the fore: one aimed at stigmatizing the individuals close to Putin's regime, in hopes of shattering elite support and encouraging revolt. These sanctions, which have led to the freezing and seizure of Russian oligarchs' assets in the West, have prompted the first murmurs of public dissent by Russian oligarchs in nearly two decades. The sanctions have consequently been effective in destabilizing Putin's authority, cracking the façade of control that has previously deterred attempts to topple him. This article explains the sociological dynamics of this strategy, and how stigma can be effective even where legal and economic punishments fail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1990, Simon Clarke inaugurated two decades of research of the former Soviet Union through an international collaboration with Russian sociologists that examined a society in the throes of transformation. Along with his colleague Peter Fairbrother, Simon developed a network of Russian researchers in the Institute of Comparative Labour Relations Research. Together they produced a corpus of work that meticulously analysed the impact of economic reform on workplaces and households and the response of workers and their organisations. This piece is an extended version of a published interview with Simon conducted by two of his former students, Sarah Ashwin and Valery Yakubovich. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, a number of high-profile initiatives across the globe are concrete implementations of the 'digital sovereignty' principle: i.e., the idea that states should 'reaffirm' their authority over the Internet and the broader digital ecosystem, to protect their citizens, institutions, and businesses from the multiple challenges to their nation's self-determination in the digital sphere. According to this principle, sovereignty depends on more than supra-national alliances or international legal instruments, military might or trade: it depends on locally owned, controlled and operated innovation ecosystems, able to increase states' technical and economic independence and autonomy. Presently, digital sovereignty is understood primarily as a legal concept and a set of political discourses. As a consequence, it is predominantly analyzed by political science, international relations and international law. However, the study of digital sovereignty as a set of infrastructures and socio-material practices has been comparatively neglected. This article explores how the concept of digital sovereignty can be studied via the infrastructure-embedded 'situated practices' of various political and economic projects which aim to establish autonomous digital infrastructures in a hyperconnected world. Although the article focuses primarily on outlining the agenda for a wider and comparative research program, I will place a specific focus on Russia, subject of an ongoing research project, as a pilot case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]