The article discusses the importance of introducing training programs for preschool children that allow them to master basic knowledge in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM subjects) as an academic basis for the technological transition that is currently taking place in the modern world. It is shown that when preschool students study STEM subjects, it gives them a great advantage later in elementary, middle, and high school. As a result of our investigation of STEM subjects for preschoolers and the gender considerations that should be incorporated into successful teaching strategies, we have concluded that together with the preparation and institutionalization of such training programs it is necessary to teach the designers of educational programs as well as educators about the specific features that characterize how boys and girls learn. A curriculum that takes gender differences into account is one that does not allow the development of a gender dichotomy in education. Rather, it should ensure that both boys and girls have equal motivation and a positive attitude about STEM subjects.

In this study I explore parents’ perceptions of kindergarten as a social institution for the provision of early childhood education and care (ECEC). Global reforms of this important part of the welfare state are a starting point for the research. Redefining welfare ideology and minimizing the social burden on the state leads to the public and scientific debate about the value of early childhood education and its role in investing in human development. In-depth interviews with 30 mothers were analyzed by coding and category clustering. The results show that parents understand the service provided by a kindergarten as complex, aimed primarily at daytime children’s education and development in a specifically organized educational space performed by professional educators. The greatest parental value is children’s opportunity to be socialized or "learn how to communicate," to resolve conflicts and to find compromises, and to relate their behavior with group-mates and peers followed by the development of life skills, surviving with routines, as well as the associated skill initiative. At the same time, the main professional competence of the educator is seen in her/his ability to create a positive emotional climate, an atmosphere of openness for the realization of a child’s individuality and to create a space for comfortable communication with parents.

This paper presents an analytical description of working-class identity in three key periods of the socioeconomic transformations which changed the structure of a plant’s industry and working-class life: the Soviet era (1930s-1980s), the time of economical change (1990s), and the post-Soviet years (2000s-2010s). The analytical framework of the study is based on the concept of ‘cultural class analysis’ (Savage 2015). It includes the concepts of habitus and cultural capital, and culture as embedded in economic and social relations (Bourdieu 1980). In the course of the research we conducted an ethnographic case-study in 2017 and lived in the neighborhood of Uralmash, which was designed for workers of a heavy machinery plant dating back to the 1920s in the city of Yekaterinburg. Based on 15 in-depth interviews with Uralmash workers living in the neighborhood and 8 experts, and our field observations, we discovered 3 restructuring shapes of the Uralmash worker identity. These working class identities shapes referred to 3 determined periods. The Soviet period showed a ‘consistent’ working-class identity of the Uralmash workers, whereby the plant and working spirits were the centers of their lives. The 1990s was marked by severe deterioration of workers’ social conditions and the loss of their familiar bearings in life. As a consequence, the Uralmash workers perceived themselves as ‘victims of circumstances’ with ‘collapsing’ worker identity in 1990s. Currently, ‘Soviet’ and ‘post-Soviet’ practices and values are combined in today’s ‘mixing’ and an inconsistent worker identity. The notions of ‘simple’ and ‘working-class’ as sense-making images are encapsulated in nostalgic memories and retain their role as criteria for the delineation between inequalities and social discrimination along the ‘them’ and ‘us’: ‘we are those who live belonging to the past’. The Soviet past still continues to be an important sense-making resource; in fact, it is the only ‘universal’ prop for them that support their subjective perception of themselves.

This article examines housing mobility among individuals, viewing it as a dynamic process of moving to another home. The idea of studying housing experiences, housing conditions and trends is introduced as a new research direction in this paper. These data allow us to understand: (a) what kind of dynamic processes take place within the studied groups and regions; (b) how social and physical structures have changed; (c) what new meanings are emerging from this process. Housing mobility offers an optical lens that can shed light on social problems by revealing what social groups are ‘doing well’ within the existing order, and which are stagnating or in decline. The article examines the criteria for singling out housing groups, including their multicomponent structure, such as housing serving as a source of income, property relations, and the characteristics of a primary housing unit. Based on the analysis of housing groups, we raise the question of drawing the boundaries for their identification. The article also touches upon some of the constraints in studying housing mobility. Firstly, it is shown inter alia that there is some ambiguity in determining housing status, and the boundaries between housing groups, and the bearer of the housing status can be blurry (family or individual). Secondly, the problem of sampling (general population) was also revealed. Where should the priority be in achieving a representative sample? Should the focus be on the types of dwellings, who lives there (families, individuals) or the lifestyles of those living there? Thirdly, this article shows that it is methodologically challenging to survey the most ‘mobile’ and resourceful groups within housing. Not only do they live in hard-to-reach houses and buildings 'guarded' by concierges, these 'mobile' people are rarely at home. Therefore, these groups are hard to include in household surveys, and various methods of data collection and tracing techniques have to be used to reach them. Fourthly, the types of housing scales used are fragmented and empirically rootless. An adequate methodological solution may be found by working with local communities, be they small towns, districts, or villages. The article also focuses on the importance of integrating qualitative methods, which help discover the changes in the meanings, and quantitative methods, which show the scale and dynamics of housing mobility.

The independent evaluation of quality (IEQ) of social institutions is relatively new tool in the public administration, which has acquired institutional, legislatively regulated practices in recent years (2013–2015). The review of evaluation definitions is presented, and it this context, the scope and limitations of IEQ are fixed. First, the IEQ consider just the evaluation of conditions and resources of social programs, but not the products, effects or impact. Second, indicators and criteria for evaluation are determined in advanced and legally regulated. And third, IEQ is focused on summative rating of organizations, or on the using of linear model of measurement. To overcome these constraints, the inclusion of additional data collection methods could be implemented to gain more holistically evaluation of the conditions and resources of the organization. The article explores the methodical audit of IEQ — the relevance of chosen techniques of data gathering and the construction of rating scales. The empirical basis is the experience gained in the application of the IEQ methodology for rating of 28 Centers of social assistance to families and children located in Moscow. The strategy of mixed methods research (MMR) and in particular the design of additional covering (Morgan 2014) allowed gathering diverse data, comparing and integrating them that was described in detail method by methods. The examples how to combine standardized and participative observation, visual data and field notes, formalized survey and “interviews with interviewers” are presented. The indicators and scales for rating constrictions and their interpretation are discussed in the second part of article. The necessity for normalization and weighting of chosen indicators is debating. In conclusion summarizes the main findings about the public role of IEQ, and its importance for changes management in social institutions, public administration in a whole, and for service beneficiaries.

This paper is based on 3 sequential stages of empirical research (qual->quant->qual), devoted to the analysis of intraurban moving of Moscow residents. At the first stage (qual), the analysis of housing trajectories of the XX century in Moscow was carried out on the materials of biographical interviews. As a result, a typology of intraurban movings of the Moscow residents was developed. It was shown that during Soviet times moving were predominantly mediated by external circumstances and decisions «from the top» (squeezing of flats, «gave an apartment»). The typology of moving is the basis for the second stage of data collection — a questionnaire for the online survey with 153 respondents (quant). Based on the cluster analysis, we shown that modern movings are connected to the desire to improve housing conditions, to find a living place corresponding to his family type and a way of life. At the third stage, 16 informants of 18–30 years were selected out of 153 online respondents. Semi-formalized biographical interviews (qual) were conducted with them, detailing the topic of moving and the meanings of current housing. The data has shown that for young people, the dwelling retains the function of the traditional «home» (for such practices as sleep, storage of things, etc.), while simultaneously acquiring the significance of the «work area» (computer work, creativity) as well as «public site», where young people practice collective actions.

This paper is based on 3sequential stages of empirical research (qual-> quant->qual), devoted to the analysis of intraurban moving of Moscow residents. At the first stage (qual), the analysis of housing trajectories of XXth century in Moscow was carried out on the materials of biographical interviews. As a result, a typology of intraurban movings of the Moscow residents was developed. It was shown that during Soviet times moving were predominantly mediated by external circumstances and decisions "from the top" (squeezing of flats, "gave an apartment").

The typology of moving is the basis for the second stage of data collection – a questionnaire for online survey with 153 respondents (quant). Based on the cluster analysis, we shown that modern moving are connected with the desire to improve housing conditions, to find a living space corresponding to his family type and way of life.

At the third stage, 16 informants of 18-30 years were selected from the 153 online respondents. Semi-formalized biographical interviews (qual) were conducted with them, detailing the topic of moving and the meanings of current housing. The data shown that for young people, the dwelling retains the function of the traditional "home" (for such practices as sleep, storage of things, etc.), while simultaneously acquiring the significance of the "work area" (computer work, creativity) as well as "public site", where young people practice collective actions.

The article considers the strategies of visual data collection and analysis in the feld research focused on the examination of an industrial neighbourhood. Sociologists frequently use visual data in their studies, however, they rarely realize methodic reflection regarding the procedures of visual data collection and analysis. This article flls this gap and contributes to the reflection on methods of collection and analysis of visual information. The authors make a special emphasis on the methods of participant observation, biographical stroll and mental mapping.

Building on the empirical data the article demonstrates the procedures of multifaceted qualitative analysis that allows moving from redundant description towards analytical comparison and classifcations (e.g. comparison between visual and textual data, generation of multidimensional maps, ranking of the examined objects). Authors suggest using complementary strategies in the analysis of observations, biographical strolls and mental maps manifested in frequencies calculation of the elements of the city image; building classifcations of photographs, maps and schemes; combination of visual and textual interpretations of maps constructed by the researcher, as well as by the informant, in situational contexts. The authors show the potential and restrictions of each of the abovementioned methods on the example of the feld research of an industrial neighbourhood. They conclude that the methodical triangulation allows enriching interpretations and enhancing the quality of the outcomes.

Problematization of women’s experience in a patriarchal and conservative society is topical despite change of epochs. More women stress their ability to belong to the privileged class of men and condemn those who are not ready to abandon femininity, as Simone de Beauvoir wrote. Those women who socialize supporting these increasingly popular practices are female misogynists. The authors’ review of theoretical approaches shows that the internalized misogyny is insufficiently studied. The empirical part of the study explores this phenomenon in the Russian society. The study emphasizes specifics of internalized misogyny among women brought up in the post-Soviet era, the Millennial generation. The authors use a mixed methods research strategy combining qualitative and quantitative approaches — focused interview with stimulus materials and online survey. A tool to measure the concept of internalized misogyny is developed and tested; this tool helps to establish a connection between the expression of misogyny and social and demographic characteristics and to explore its types (gender «contracts»).

In this paper we consider the problem of inconsistency between levels of education and work in Russia. The study is based on the data from international large-scale assessments of adult competences (PIAAC), which provides us with the results of competency tests on literacy and numeracy of adults in Russia and the OECD countries. These assessment results are representative for the able-bodied population in each country at the national level.   While test scores in the OECD countries show a linear correlation with the formal education levels, in Russia we observe distinctive tendencies. The analysis of the PIAAC data reveals three different inconsistencies. First, there is no linear correlation found between the assessment results and formal qualification in Russia. The increase of competence slows down or stops at the level of higher education, while at lower qualification levels there is no substantial difference between Russia and the OECD countries. The second important finding is that a significant proportion of people with low competences have high-skill jobs in Russia. At the same time, the distribution of people with certain formal qualifications on the labor market is quite similar in Russia and the OECD countries. This inconsistency was hidden for a long time due to low reliability of the most common indicator for both sociological and economic studies in Russia – the level of formal qualification. The third empirical finding demonstrates that both formal qualification and measured competences are significant in one’s employment prospects. However, the difference in incomes between people with low and high competences is noticeably smaller in Russia than the OECD countries. There may be different explanations for this finding. Either employers are not interested in highly competent workers or there is a certain difference between what appear to be the same job positions in Russia and other countries. The interpretation of quantitative results in this article is also supported by interviews from a qualitative project focusing on the life trajectories.