International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy: Volume 31 Issue 11/12

Surviving post‐socialism: the role of informal economic practices

Abel Polese, Peter Rodgers

This paper represents an editorial for this special issue on “Surviving post‐socialism”, with a particular geographical focus on countries located in the former Soviet Union (FSU…

Socially embedded workers at the nexus of diverse work in Russia: An ethnography of blue‐collar informalization

Jeremy Morris

The purpose of this paper is to explore an important nexus of formal/informal economic activity in Russia: “normative” workers (in waged formal employment) by virtue of a strongly…

Performing the cross‐border economies of post‐socialism

Kathryn Cassidy

The purpose of this paper is to explore the challenge of interpreting the growth in arbitrage opportunities at the Ukrainian‐Romanian border within a rural Ukrainian border…

Tracing informal and illicit flows after socialism: A micro‐commodity supply chain analysis in the Slovak Republic

David Karjanen

The purpose of this paper is to explore the linkages between formal/informal and licit/illicit flows of goods in the post‐socialist economy in order to better understand and…

Smuggling and small‐scale trade as part of informal economic practices: Empirical findings from the Eastern external EU border

Bettina Bruns, Judith Miggelbrink, Kristine Müller

Using small‐scale cross‐border trade and smuggling as an example of an informal practice carried out in many post‐socialist countries, the purpose of this paper is to explore…

Informal economy, informal state: the case of Uzbekistan

Johan Rasanayagam

In the Soviet Union, the official command structure for economic production and distribution gave rise to, and depended upon, what has been described as a “shadow” economy. In the…

Methodological issues in studying hidden populations operating in informal economy

Natalia Vershinina, Yulia Rodionova

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the issues in studying hidden populations, with particular focus on methodology used to investigate ethnic minority entrepreneurs who…