Klimova S.G., Klimov I.A. Ideas of Efficiency and Solidarity in Soviet-Era Patronage Patterns and in Contemporary Practices of Corporate Volunteering

Текст статьи.

Abstract

The article deals with the theme of the semantic and functional continuity of the current solidarity practices and the Soviet-era experience (corporate volunteering and Soviet patronage as a particular case). The work aims to identify sociological parameters for comparing these practices. The article provides an analysis of the functions, attributed meanings and motivation of participants in these two types of social activity. The empirical basis for studying patronage includes published memoirs, ideological and historical texts, and interviews with former participants in patronage activities. The aspects of corporate volunteering that were necessary for comparison with patronage were studied on the materials of an investigation carried out under the guidance of Ivan Klimov. The results of the analysis suggest that some characteristics of patronage and corporate volunteering are very similar (in point of voluntary and free labour), whereas some other characteristics are substantially diff erent. Our attempt to compare patronage and corporate volunteering makes it possible to draw two groups of conclusions. The fi rst group concerns practical problems of the functioning of public institutions in contemporary Russia. In our opinion, the hot topic here is the problematization of socio-cultural and socio-institutional mechanisms of social interactions “in the vertical direction”: between more or less resource-based social groups and individuals. The second groups comprises methodological conclusions regarding the themes and aspects of the analysis of the contemporary forms of solidarity that are outside the scope of interest of contemporary researchers studying not only volunteering, but also other forms of social life which have replaced those that existed in the past. Prospects for advancing the theme are seen in the development of topics related to the analysis of the mechanisms of patronage and volunteer activities and the peculiarities of interaction between social subjects in the framework of the former and existing practices. In the context of comparative analysis we deem it promising to search for answers to questions about the peculiarities of individual and collective participation in volunteer activities; about event and participation volunteering; about justification of volunteer activities; about the ethical basis of volunteering. This work implies the need for expanding the research base and raising new methodological and methodical issues.