Postgraduate seminar of Tamara Mkhitaryan and Egor Novgorodov

Tamara Mkhitaryan, topic: “Practices for Overcoming Gender Stigmatization in IT Education at Universities in Different Gender Regimes.” — 6:00 PM (18:00)

Abstract of Tamara’s presentation:

This article discusses how the organizational gender regime creates opportunities for the manifestation of gender identities and practices for coping with gender stigma in the educational environment.
The methodological part of the study is a systematic review of articles devoted to the concept of "gender regime in organizations" and identifies the key categories that construct this concept. The next section explores how coping practices with sexism and stereotypes that shape the gender regime of the institutional space are manifested within the existing gender regime of the educational organization. The research examines female students' practices for overcoming gender stigma in IT programs, and proposes a qualitative typology of these practices. Based on quantitative stress coping methods and semi-structured interviews with female students, a quantitative tool for measuring practices for coping with gender stigma in higher education was developed. The identified practices were validated using confirmatory factor analysis and ordered along the continuum of resistance to gender stigma.

Scientific supervisor:
Olga B. Savinskaya — Associate Professor, School of Sociology and Leading Research Fellow at the International Laboratory for Social Integration Research (ILSIR), HSE University.

Egor Novgorodov, topic: “Role-playing video games as a source of social capital” — 7:00 PM (19:00)

Abstract of  Egor’s presentation:

The growing capitalization of the video game industry against the background of increased government interest in this industry over the past three years makes it relevant to study the possible positive and negative social implications of interest in video games. The seminar will present the design of empirical research and conceptualization of the prospects for acquiring social capital according to R. Putnam in video games (using the example of two popular games from The Elder Scrolls series), with an emphasis on the influence of social norms. Considering the potential value of computer technology for overcoming the trend of reducing "third places", the field of studying the dynamics of social activity is also becoming a field of study of the digital sphere – and, in particular, the world of video games. Game studies experts have repeatedly applied this theory in the study of popular online games (Steinkuehler C. A., Williams D., 2004; Schulzke M., 2011; Perry R. et al., 2018), however, this study assumes the study of social capital in both online games and single-player projects (where it is mediated by involvement in participatory community practices such as streaming and modding). The theoretical framework was supplemented by the concept of a social contract and its representation in a digital context, as the fundamental basis for generating social capital.

Scientific supervisor:

Elena R. Iarskaia-Smirnova — Doctor of Sociological Sciences, PhD, Professor, Head of the International Laboratory for Social Integration Research at the HSE University

Discussants:

Dmitry A. Terekhov - Candidate of Cultural Sciences, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Creative Industries

Konstantin N. Obukhov - Candidate of Philosophy, Senior Research Fellow of International Laboratory o for Social Integration Research's , Associate Professor, Department of Methods of Collection and Analysis of Sociological Data

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