In this Book
- Protest and the Politics of Blame: The Russian Response to Unpaid Wages
- Book
- 2009
- Published by: University of Michigan Press
- Series: Interests, Identities, and Institutions
summary
The wage arrears crisis has been one of the biggest problems facing contemporary Russia. At its peak, it has involved some $10 billion worth of unpaid wages and has affected approximately 70 percent of the workforce. Yet public protest in the country has been rather limited. The relative passivity of most Russians in the face of such desperate circumstances is a puzzle for students of both collective action and Russian politics. In Protest and the Politics of Blame, Debra Javeline shows that to understand the Russian public's reaction to wage delays, one must examine the ease or difficulty of attributing blame for the crisis.
Previous studies have tried to explain the Russian response to economic hardship by focusing on the economic, organizational, psychological, cultural, and other obstacles that prevent Russians from acting collectively. Challenging the conventional wisdom by testing these alternative explanations with data from an original nationwide survey, Javeline finds that many of the alternative explanations come up short. Instead, she focuses on the need to specify blame among the dizzying number of culprits and potential problem solvers in the crisis, including Russia's central authorities, local authorities, and enterprise managers. Javeline shows that understanding causal relationships drives human behavior and that specificity in blame attribution for a problem influences whether people address that problem through protest.
Debra Javeline is Assistant Professor of Political Science, Rice University.
Previous studies have tried to explain the Russian response to economic hardship by focusing on the economic, organizational, psychological, cultural, and other obstacles that prevent Russians from acting collectively. Challenging the conventional wisdom by testing these alternative explanations with data from an original nationwide survey, Javeline finds that many of the alternative explanations come up short. Instead, she focuses on the need to specify blame among the dizzying number of culprits and potential problem solvers in the crisis, including Russia's central authorities, local authorities, and enterprise managers. Javeline shows that understanding causal relationships drives human behavior and that specificity in blame attribution for a problem influences whether people address that problem through protest.
Debra Javeline is Assistant Professor of Political Science, Rice University.
Table of Contents
Download Full Book
- List of Figures
- pp. ix-x
- List of Tables
- p. xi
- Acknowledgments
- pp. xiii-xv
- Introduction
- pp. 1-11
- Chapter 4. The Politics of Blame
- pp. 129-159
- Chapter 6. Implications
- pp. 223-242
- Appendix A. How the Survey Was Conducted
- pp. 243-245
- Appendix B. Survey Questions
- pp. 247-265
- References
- pp. 267-283
Additional Information
ISBN
9780472024773
Related ISBN(s)
9780472113064
MARC Record
OCLC
654755350
Pages
308
Launched on MUSE
2012-01-01
Language
English
Open Access
No