Skip to main content

Jeffrey Hass

Followers

79

Following

25

Public Views

I am a sociologist by training, but intellectually I journey through history, economics, and politics, as well as sociology. My interests involve power, culture, change, and survival. My home is in the United States, but I feel equally at home in Russia, where I have studied and worked since 1991.

less

University College Cork

University of Cologne

Armando Marques-Guedes

UNL - New University of Lisbon

Ucla

Stephen Whittle

Manchester Metropolitan University

University of Genova

Daniel Hershenzon

University of Connecticut

Cosmin Sebastian Cercel

Ghent University

LUISS Guido Carli

Juraj Marušiak

Slovak Academy of Sciences

Interests

Uploads

Papers by Jeffrey Hass

Conclusion: Rethinking the Post-Soviet Experience Twenty Years On

No one denies that moral language was and is used in the post-Soviet world. What is more contenti... more No one denies that moral language was and is used in the post-Soviet world. What is more contentious, however, is whether and to what extent those norms really matter? Are they merely window-dressing for material needs and instrumentally governed tactics? Or do they truly influence dynamics of change? There is plenty to suggest the former, especially in narratives about the sordid world of privatization and property empires. Yet one could also argue that Russian post-socialism is Polanyi’s story in two acts: society biting back against Soviet authoritarianism, and then society biting back against market reforms (hence the rise of Putin). Alas, Polanyi was more rigorous in analyzing the rise of market society and market capitalism than addressing backlash against these state-led projects. Both stories include a plethora of factors and forces–elite machinations, policy errors, social movement dynamics (e.g. Kotkin 2001; Beissinger 2002)–but these interacted with discourses, frames, and narratives of legitimate, normal practice and structure. I have argued that norms and moral economies matter, but they are not overpowering in and of themselves. They interact with interests, shaping them and being shaped by them.

Sustainable What? An Overview and Assessment of "Sustainable Development

A"mftpu K. Xac:c qTO ycroil"CIJIBo? 063op H o~eHKa «YCTOWumoro pa3BHTHJI»

Republic of Belarus

Republic of Latvia

Unseen Roots of an Unexpected Revolution: Party Elites, Economic Reforms, and Expectations versus Outcomes in Late 1980s Leningrad

Modern History of Russia

The article examines the perestroika processes from the Leningrad point of view. Surprisingly, bu... more The article examines the perestroika processes from the Leningrad point of view. Surprisingly, but events in Moscow and, eventually, in the media were initially more conservative and sluggish than the discussions behind closed doors in Leningrad — but before long, roles were reversed, and public discourse became increasingly more creative and even radical than those private discussions requested by Smolny. The other point is that local enterprise directors (and other organizational actors and elites, e. g. in the Komsomol) started to act on their own interests and opportunities. The growing acceptance of some form of Western market economies (even if adapted to some “Soviet” form) meant that directors could steal a step on Smolny and even Moscow. Gorbachev reforms offered the possibility of taking reforms beyond local Party and state headquarters — Smolny and the Councils — to economic actors themselves. This threatened to make the Councils redundant, if such reforms were serious. A...

Republic of Poland

Located in east-central Europe, Poland comprises an area of nearly 313,000 square kilometers (abo... more Located in east-central Europe, Poland comprises an area of nearly 313,000 square kilometers (about the size of New Mexico). Borders with Germany on the west and Belarus and Russia on the east give Poland notable geopolitical significance. In addition, its flat topography, with no defensible geographical features, has made Poland a prime area for conflict, as the country not only lies between historically powerful nations but also has served as an unwilling conduit for forces between Russia and Germany

Russian Federation

The Russian political system remains subject to sudden radical change--this has been the basic lo... more The Russian political system remains subject to sudden radical change--this has been the basic logic of its political history since 1985. Only by understanding the processes and logics of that recent history of change can one understand the present and the (possibly radically different) future. In December 1991 Boris Yeltsin, president of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic (the USSR\u27s largest republic, known as RSFSR), joined Stanislav Shushkevich of Belarus and Leonid Kravchuk of Ukraine in dissolving the Soviet Union and replacing it with the ill-defined Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The RSFSR was transformed into the Russian Federation, and the process of political transformation and state building was under way, and it continues apace

Republic of Bulgaria

One of the more orthodox Communist countries in the Warsaw Pact, Bulgaria has slowly but surely m... more One of the more orthodox Communist countries in the Warsaw Pact, Bulgaria has slowly but surely made its way out of Socialist authoritarianism and is developing democracy and a market economy. Despite a sizable non-Bulgarian ethnic minority (especial Turks), the country has avoided the ethnic tensions that led to war in Russia (Chechnya) or the former Yugoslavia. The possibility of joining NATO and the European Union promises to bring Bulgaria closer to the West than ever in its history. Bulgaria\u27s party politics were among the more stable in Eastern Europe until the arrival of a new mass movement, but Bulgaria is not on the verge of civil chaos

$Research paper thumbnail of Vlast\u27, Kul\u27tura i Stanovlenie Rynka$

Vlast\u27, Kul\u27tura i Stanovlenie Rynka

Russian Language Summary:В течение последего десятилетия отмечены изменения в направлении исследо... more Russian Language Summary:В течение последего десятилетия отмечены изменения в направлении исследований хозяйственных сдвигов в переходный период. Если вначале предметом внимания ученых были исключительно рецепты перехода к рынку и «шоковой терапии» с акцентом на стимулах и препятствиях на пути свободной торговли, то зарем сложности переходного периода вынудили экономистов, политологов и социологов расширить предмет своего анализа и обратиться к проблемам институциональной экономики. При этом академический мир принял идею о том, что институты играют центральную роль в формировании экономической жизни и ее эволюции, и исследование теперь сосредоточивается на появлении институтов, недостаточности институциональных условий для развития, институциональной замкнутости (path dependency) и на изучении институциональных различий в конкретных случаях. это, несомненно, прогрессивный шаг вперед, хотя многое еще предстоит сделать. Во-первых, необходимо «разомкнуть» институциональную замкнутость ...

$Research paper thumbnail of Anchors, \u3ci\u3eHabitus\u3c/i\u3e, and Practices Besieged by War: Women and Gender in the Blockade of Leningrad$

Anchors, \u3ci\u3eHabitus\u3c/i\u3e, and Practices Besieged by War: Women and Gender in the Blockade of Leningrad

As war challenges survival and social relations, how do actors alter and adapt dispositions and p... more As war challenges survival and social relations, how do actors alter and adapt dispositions and practices? To explore this question, I investigate women\u27s perceptions of normal relations, practices, status, and gendered self in an intense situation of wartime survival, the Blockade of Leningrad (1941–1944), an 872-day ordeal that demographically feminized the city. Using Blockade diaries for data on everyday life, perceptions, and practices, I show how women\u27s gendered skills and habits of breadseeking and caregiving (finding scarce resources and providing aid) were key to survival and helped elevate their sense of status. Yet this did not entice rethinking “gender.” To explore status elevation and gender entrenchment, I build on Bourdieu\u27s theory of habitus and fields to develop anchors: field entities with valence around which actors orient identities and practices. Anchors provide support for preexisting habitus and practices, and filter perceptions from new positions vi...

Republic of Latvia

Republic of Belarus

Sustainable What? An Overview and Assessment of "Sustainable Development

A"mftpu K. Xac:c qTO ycroil"CIJIBo? 063op H o~eHKa «YCTOWumoro pa3BHTHJI»

Techniques, Technologies and Politics of Crisis and Post-Crisis Economics: Anglo-American Macroeconomics and Alternatives

This paper attempts a critical appraisal of one core debate and theories in economics about the 2... more This paper attempts a critical appraisal of one core debate and theories in economics about the 2008 crisis and post-2008 economic growth and stagnation. In addition to examining formal publications, this essay also examines serious blogs by high-profile economists who are core participants in public discourse over economic policy. Drawing on the general logic of economic sociology and political economy in particular, an appreciation for more complex microfoundations of economic practice (e.g. power and culture) and institutions-this paper addresses three issues about theoretical frameworks and claims about post-crisis growth or lack thereof: 1) Techniques : economists’ discourses focus primarily on techniques (policies and the like) available to the state and other actors for shaping economic performance, but at the cost of lack of critical distance. 2) Technologies : economists’ discourses generally pay little attention to available institutional tools and techniques for affecting...

Coalitional Configurations: A Structural Analysis of Democratization in the Former Soviet Union

Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization, 2018

Abstract: This paper adopts Charles Tilly’s political process model of democratization. We focus ... more Abstract: This paper adopts Charles Tilly’s political process model of democratization. We focus on one aspect of that model: coalitions. We draw on publicly available archival data from turnout figures, contentious politics and party politics in the former Soviet Union (FSU) to map out coalitions that move those polities toward and away from democracy. This cartographic approach to charting trajectories reveals greater variation than the democracy-dictatorship dichotomy and its variations (“hybrid regimes”). One conclusion we draw from mapping changes in coalitions is that the contraction of the polity in some FSU countries is a response to the growth of factionalized parties and personalized tyrannies.

Contradictions of Post-Socialist Value: Moral Economy of Money

We take for granted that the embodiment of value is defined, fixed, and usually stable. Yet this ... more We take for granted that the embodiment of value is defined, fixed, and usually stable. Yet this fixity has a longer history. Expansion and consolidation of state power in the United States, France, or Great Britain are distant enough, and economies sufficiently stable (parts of the 1970s aside), that we assume dollars, pounds, and some European currency (once francs and deutschmarks, the euro at the moment) are natural, operative means for storing value and facilitating exchange. While the relative value of currencies can change due to international currency markets, central bank policies, and inflationary forces, currency itself is seldom questioned. This is true not only for the average American or Briton; it is also true for academics, especially economists and political scientists. The discourse of post-socialist reform was dominated essentially by two issues: privatization and stabilizing currencies. Reining in inflation was key to IMF-sponsored reforms in Latin America and th...

Making Peace with War: Adaptation and the Soviet Political Economy in the Blockade of Leningrad

Modern History of Russia, 2020

Historical Overview

The goal of this chapter is to discuss key values and archetypes of Russian culture that have dev... more The goal of this chapter is to discuss key values and archetypes of Russian culture that have developed over several centuries of Russian history. This fundamental introduction is important because these values and archetypes have successfully manifested themselves through various institutions of the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union and post-Soviet Russia. What are they and what are their roots? Answers to these questions can help us better understand Russian economic and business culture that shapes the behaviour of entrepreneurs, investors and employees in the current economy, and also political and legal traditions that play enormous roles in establishing and running a new enterprise in contemporary Russia. In particular, the state will play an important role in our narrative; indeed, in Russia, one cannot talk about business without talking about the state. Evolution of property rights and economic freedoms, risks and advantages of state interventions in the market economy and r...

Economies and inequality

Economic Sociology, 2020

Dr. Jeffrey Hass – Faculty Author Interview

Conclusion: Rethinking the Post-Soviet Experience Twenty Years On

No one denies that moral language was and is used in the post-Soviet world. What is more contenti... more No one denies that moral language was and is used in the post-Soviet world. What is more contentious, however, is whether and to what extent those norms really matter? Are they merely window-dressing for material needs and instrumentally governed tactics? Or do they truly influence dynamics of change? There is plenty to suggest the former, especially in narratives about the sordid world of privatization and property empires. Yet one could also argue that Russian post-socialism is Polanyi’s story in two acts: society biting back against Soviet authoritarianism, and then society biting back against market reforms (hence the rise of Putin). Alas, Polanyi was more rigorous in analyzing the rise of market society and market capitalism than addressing backlash against these state-led projects. Both stories include a plethora of factors and forces–elite machinations, policy errors, social movement dynamics (e.g. Kotkin 2001; Beissinger 2002)–but these interacted with discourses, frames, and narratives of legitimate, normal practice and structure. I have argued that norms and moral economies matter, but they are not overpowering in and of themselves. They interact with interests, shaping them and being shaped by them.

Sustainable What? An Overview and Assessment of "Sustainable Development

A"mftpu K. Xac:c qTO ycroil"CIJIBo? 063op H o~eHKa «YCTOWumoro pa3BHTHJI»

Republic of Belarus

Republic of Latvia

Unseen Roots of an Unexpected Revolution: Party Elites, Economic Reforms, and Expectations versus Outcomes in Late 1980s Leningrad

Modern History of Russia

The article examines the perestroika processes from the Leningrad point of view. Surprisingly, bu... more The article examines the perestroika processes from the Leningrad point of view. Surprisingly, but events in Moscow and, eventually, in the media were initially more conservative and sluggish than the discussions behind closed doors in Leningrad — but before long, roles were reversed, and public discourse became increasingly more creative and even radical than those private discussions requested by Smolny. The other point is that local enterprise directors (and other organizational actors and elites, e. g. in the Komsomol) started to act on their own interests and opportunities. The growing acceptance of some form of Western market economies (even if adapted to some “Soviet” form) meant that directors could steal a step on Smolny and even Moscow. Gorbachev reforms offered the possibility of taking reforms beyond local Party and state headquarters — Smolny and the Councils — to economic actors themselves. This threatened to make the Councils redundant, if such reforms were serious. A...

Republic of Poland

Located in east-central Europe, Poland comprises an area of nearly 313,000 square kilometers (abo... more Located in east-central Europe, Poland comprises an area of nearly 313,000 square kilometers (about the size of New Mexico). Borders with Germany on the west and Belarus and Russia on the east give Poland notable geopolitical significance. In addition, its flat topography, with no defensible geographical features, has made Poland a prime area for conflict, as the country not only lies between historically powerful nations but also has served as an unwilling conduit for forces between Russia and Germany

Russian Federation

The Russian political system remains subject to sudden radical change--this has been the basic lo... more The Russian political system remains subject to sudden radical change--this has been the basic logic of its political history since 1985. Only by understanding the processes and logics of that recent history of change can one understand the present and the (possibly radically different) future. In December 1991 Boris Yeltsin, president of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic (the USSR\u27s largest republic, known as RSFSR), joined Stanislav Shushkevich of Belarus and Leonid Kravchuk of Ukraine in dissolving the Soviet Union and replacing it with the ill-defined Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The RSFSR was transformed into the Russian Federation, and the process of political transformation and state building was under way, and it continues apace

Republic of Bulgaria

One of the more orthodox Communist countries in the Warsaw Pact, Bulgaria has slowly but surely m... more One of the more orthodox Communist countries in the Warsaw Pact, Bulgaria has slowly but surely made its way out of Socialist authoritarianism and is developing democracy and a market economy. Despite a sizable non-Bulgarian ethnic minority (especial Turks), the country has avoided the ethnic tensions that led to war in Russia (Chechnya) or the former Yugoslavia. The possibility of joining NATO and the European Union promises to bring Bulgaria closer to the West than ever in its history. Bulgaria\u27s party politics were among the more stable in Eastern Europe until the arrival of a new mass movement, but Bulgaria is not on the verge of civil chaos

$Research paper thumbnail of Vlast\u27, Kul\u27tura i Stanovlenie Rynka$

Vlast\u27, Kul\u27tura i Stanovlenie Rynka

Russian Language Summary:В течение последего десятилетия отмечены изменения в направлении исследо... more Russian Language Summary:В течение последего десятилетия отмечены изменения в направлении исследований хозяйственных сдвигов в переходный период. Если вначале предметом внимания ученых были исключительно рецепты перехода к рынку и «шоковой терапии» с акцентом на стимулах и препятствиях на пути свободной торговли, то зарем сложности переходного периода вынудили экономистов, политологов и социологов расширить предмет своего анализа и обратиться к проблемам институциональной экономики. При этом академический мир принял идею о том, что институты играют центральную роль в формировании экономической жизни и ее эволюции, и исследование теперь сосредоточивается на появлении институтов, недостаточности институциональных условий для развития, институциональной замкнутости (path dependency) и на изучении институциональных различий в конкретных случаях. это, несомненно, прогрессивный шаг вперед, хотя многое еще предстоит сделать. Во-первых, необходимо «разомкнуть» институциональную замкнутость ...

$Research paper thumbnail of Anchors, \u3ci\u3eHabitus\u3c/i\u3e, and Practices Besieged by War: Women and Gender in the Blockade of Leningrad$

Anchors, \u3ci\u3eHabitus\u3c/i\u3e, and Practices Besieged by War: Women and Gender in the Blockade of Leningrad

As war challenges survival and social relations, how do actors alter and adapt dispositions and p... more As war challenges survival and social relations, how do actors alter and adapt dispositions and practices? To explore this question, I investigate women\u27s perceptions of normal relations, practices, status, and gendered self in an intense situation of wartime survival, the Blockade of Leningrad (1941–1944), an 872-day ordeal that demographically feminized the city. Using Blockade diaries for data on everyday life, perceptions, and practices, I show how women\u27s gendered skills and habits of breadseeking and caregiving (finding scarce resources and providing aid) were key to survival and helped elevate their sense of status. Yet this did not entice rethinking “gender.” To explore status elevation and gender entrenchment, I build on Bourdieu\u27s theory of habitus and fields to develop anchors: field entities with valence around which actors orient identities and practices. Anchors provide support for preexisting habitus and practices, and filter perceptions from new positions vi...

Republic of Latvia

Republic of Belarus

Sustainable What? An Overview and Assessment of "Sustainable Development

A"mftpu K. Xac:c qTO ycroil"CIJIBo? 063op H o~eHKa «YCTOWumoro pa3BHTHJI»

Techniques, Technologies and Politics of Crisis and Post-Crisis Economics: Anglo-American Macroeconomics and Alternatives

This paper attempts a critical appraisal of one core debate and theories in economics about the 2... more This paper attempts a critical appraisal of one core debate and theories in economics about the 2008 crisis and post-2008 economic growth and stagnation. In addition to examining formal publications, this essay also examines serious blogs by high-profile economists who are core participants in public discourse over economic policy. Drawing on the general logic of economic sociology and political economy in particular, an appreciation for more complex microfoundations of economic practice (e.g. power and culture) and institutions-this paper addresses three issues about theoretical frameworks and claims about post-crisis growth or lack thereof: 1) Techniques : economists’ discourses focus primarily on techniques (policies and the like) available to the state and other actors for shaping economic performance, but at the cost of lack of critical distance. 2) Technologies : economists’ discourses generally pay little attention to available institutional tools and techniques for affecting...

Coalitional Configurations: A Structural Analysis of Democratization in the Former Soviet Union

Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization, 2018

Abstract: This paper adopts Charles Tilly’s political process model of democratization. We focus ... more Abstract: This paper adopts Charles Tilly’s political process model of democratization. We focus on one aspect of that model: coalitions. We draw on publicly available archival data from turnout figures, contentious politics and party politics in the former Soviet Union (FSU) to map out coalitions that move those polities toward and away from democracy. This cartographic approach to charting trajectories reveals greater variation than the democracy-dictatorship dichotomy and its variations (“hybrid regimes”). One conclusion we draw from mapping changes in coalitions is that the contraction of the polity in some FSU countries is a response to the growth of factionalized parties and personalized tyrannies.

Contradictions of Post-Socialist Value: Moral Economy of Money

We take for granted that the embodiment of value is defined, fixed, and usually stable. Yet this ... more We take for granted that the embodiment of value is defined, fixed, and usually stable. Yet this fixity has a longer history. Expansion and consolidation of state power in the United States, France, or Great Britain are distant enough, and economies sufficiently stable (parts of the 1970s aside), that we assume dollars, pounds, and some European currency (once francs and deutschmarks, the euro at the moment) are natural, operative means for storing value and facilitating exchange. While the relative value of currencies can change due to international currency markets, central bank policies, and inflationary forces, currency itself is seldom questioned. This is true not only for the average American or Briton; it is also true for academics, especially economists and political scientists. The discourse of post-socialist reform was dominated essentially by two issues: privatization and stabilizing currencies. Reining in inflation was key to IMF-sponsored reforms in Latin America and th...

Making Peace with War: Adaptation and the Soviet Political Economy in the Blockade of Leningrad

Modern History of Russia, 2020

Historical Overview

The goal of this chapter is to discuss key values and archetypes of Russian culture that have dev... more The goal of this chapter is to discuss key values and archetypes of Russian culture that have developed over several centuries of Russian history. This fundamental introduction is important because these values and archetypes have successfully manifested themselves through various institutions of the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union and post-Soviet Russia. What are they and what are their roots? Answers to these questions can help us better understand Russian economic and business culture that shapes the behaviour of entrepreneurs, investors and employees in the current economy, and also political and legal traditions that play enormous roles in establishing and running a new enterprise in contemporary Russia. In particular, the state will play an important role in our narrative; indeed, in Russia, one cannot talk about business without talking about the state. Evolution of property rights and economic freedoms, risks and advantages of state interventions in the market economy and r...

Economies and inequality

Economic Sociology, 2020

Dr. Jeffrey Hass – Faculty Author Interview