Seminars by Maxim Gurin and Ekaterina Dolgova

On December 5, 2025, seminars were held by postgraduate students of the International Laboratory for Social Integration Research, Maxim Gurin and Ekaterina Dolgova.

A discussion of Maxim Gurin's research on "Inclusive Living Spaces for People with Intellectual Disabilities" continued a series of laboratory seminars devoted to the discussion of dissertation research by ISI PhD students. The goal of the study is to propose a model that, on the one hand, demonstrates at a practical level the actions and practices that enable the production and reproduction of an inclusive living space, and, on the other, to demonstrate the sociological concepts, approaches, and theories that underlie these processes. An inclusive living space is defined as a space that, in terms of its physical and social characteristics, is a residential space that allows people with intellectual disabilities to realize their desires and needs and be included in society. The seminar proposed two approaches to applying sociological concepts to supported living projects for people with intellectual disabilities. The first quasi-model proposes considering the apartment space of such a project as a combination of the physical and social environment, which are imbued with inclusiveness through a focus on the values embodied in the project. Values themselves are realized in everyday life through practices and rules. This approach to the subject field drew on the works of Enik, Volkov, Kharkhordin, and Wittgenstein. The second quasi-model drew on Boltanski and Thévenot's theory of cities. The seminar proposed examining the various processes and phenomena that underlie the implementation of supported learning residence projects as manifestations of the various worlds/cities proposed in the book "Critique and Justification of Justice: Essays on the Sociology of Cities."

A key part of the seminar was devoted to critical comments on Maxim's work from the discussants. The discussants were Olga Borisovna Savinskaya , Academic Director of the Graduate School of Sociological Sciences, PhD in Sociology, Associate Professor in the Department of Methods of Collecting and Analyzing Sociological Information, and Leading Research Fellow at the International Laboratory for Research at the Higher School of Economics, and Natalia Sergeevna Baisha , Research Intern at the Center for Comparative Studies of Social Well-Being and Junior Research Fellow at the Research and Educational Laboratory for the Psychology of Social Inequality at the Higher School of Economics. The discussants' comments were primarily based on the text of the dissertation draft. Olga Borisovna, among other things, suggested more clearly defining the boundaries of the research topic, adjusting the formulation of the research objectives, and focusing on areas such as the sociology of the home and the sociology of housing. Natalya Sergeevna noted the need for further attention to structure and style of presentation in subsequent stages of the text's development, strengthening the rationale for the selection of specific sociological concepts, more critically describing the data obtained in the field, and considering the works of Berger and Luckmann in the context of the research topic. Roman Nikolaevich Abramov , Doctor of Sociological Sciences, Professor, Leading Researcher at the ILSIR, Maxim's supervisor, emphasized the importance of focusing on the consistency of theories and the connection of the chosen theories with the field data. Elena Rostislavovna Yarskaya-Smirnova , Doctor of Sociological Sciences, Professor, and Head of the ILSIR, moderated the seminar and, in her closing remarks, emphasized the need to continue the work based on the comments made during the discussion.

On December 5, a substantive discussion of the preliminary draft of Ekaterina Dolgova's dissertation, "Institutionalization of Inclusive Processes in a Contemporary Museum: The Case of People with Disabilities," took place. Research fellows from the ILSIR and invited reviewers Tatyana Anatolyevna Vlasova and Evgeniya Nikolaevna Kuziner actively participated in the discussion, allowing the research to be examined from the perspectives of different academic schools. The feedback received became a key outcome of the second year of study. The discussion provided valuable advice and detailed comments regarding the structure of the work and the depth of analysis, as well as the accuracy of terminology and style of presentation. Thanks to this, further work on the dissertation during the third year of study will be more systematic and focused.