Simon Clarke | University of Warwick (original) (raw)

Papers by Simon Clarke

Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews, 2004

This book reviews the available data to analyse the forms, scale and incidence of these phenomena... more This book reviews the available data to analyse the forms, scale and incidence of these phenomena. The author finds that so-called ‘survival strategies’ merely represent a continuation of traditional soviet practices. He demonstrates that they disproportionately benefit the better off and that they do not provide a means by which those who have suffered misfortune can compensate for a fall in their earnings. Instead, he illustrates that most Russian households have adapted simply by cutting expenditure rather than by finding new sources of income. The author concludes by arguing that the notion of a ‘household survival strategy’ is inappropriate for the study of post-soviet society

Work, Employment and Society, 2000

This paper explores, the `myth of the urban peasant', the widespread belief that urban Russia... more This paper explores, the `myth of the urban peasant', the widespread belief that urban Russian households are surviving the collapse of employment and money incomes by turning to subsistence agriculture. On the basis of the analysis of official and survey data the paper shows that although many urban households grow food in their garden plots, those with low money incomes are the least likely to do so, while subsistence production is a complement rather than an alternative to paid employment. Moreover, those who do grow their own food work long hours for very little return, spending no less of their money income on buying food than do those who grow nothing. The implication is that dacha use is a leisure activity of the better-off rather than a survival strategy of the poor. Regional data suggests that urban agricultural production persists in those regions in which commercial agriculture and monetised relations are least developed which, it is surmised, retain memories of past ...

Capital & Class, 1977

Political developments in the last ten years have led to a very considerable renewal of interest ... more Political developments in the last ten years have led to a very considerable renewal of interest in Marxist economic and political analysis, and to a concerted attempt to reinvigorate Marxist theory as a revolutionary force. The focus of this movement is the attempt to develop a Marxist critique of Stalinist dogmatism and of post-Stalinist revisionism. Its material conditions are the end of the long wave of postwar capitalist expansion and the reappearance of capitalist crisis, on the one hand, and the development of working class resistance to the domination of capital independently of the orthodox Communist Parties, on the other. This Marxist renaissance is taking place in conditions which make it extremely vulnerable to absorption into the frame of reference of bourgeois ideology. Since 1930 Marxist theory has been positively or negatively dominated by the official Marxism of the orthodox Communist Parties (which I shall refer to as 'dogmatism'). Those Marxists who were not prepared to subordinate themselves to dogmatism were not able to challenge it either. The period of cold war and the absence of independent working class resistance to capital meant that there was no basis on which such a challenge could be mounted. The independence of such Marxism was maintained by its diversion of attention from political and economic concerns. It was dominated by the attempt to explain the apparent solidity of bourgeois domination by reference to specific superstructural features which varied from one country to another, thus constituting various national schools of 'Western Marxism', which borrowed heavily from the dominant bourgeois cultural theories in the various countries. The 'Marxist' alternatives to dogmatism systematically evaded the fundamental theoretical issues which would have been raised by any direct challenge to dogmatism (Anderson, 1976). The development of capitalist crisis and the corresponding development of political alternatives to revisionism has created new conditions for Marxist theory. These dictate a return to the foundations of Marxism, to the generality of the capital relation, and a confrontation with the dogmatist orthodoxy. However the novelty of these conditions also indicates a weakness of contemporary Marxism. In the absence of a Marxist critique of dogmatism, various forms of bourgeois ideology, and above all bourgeois sociology, have monopolised such

British Journal of Industrial Relations, 2004

Education Research and Perspectives, 2000

This paper outlines methodological considerations informing a study on the process of enterprise ... more This paper outlines methodological considerations informing a study on the process of enterprise bargaining. The study adopted a facilitative research approach in particular, it was based on an interpretivist paradigm. Details of the approach taken in data gathering and data analysis are outlined.

Экономическая Социология, 2001

Marx, Marginalism and Modern Sociology, 1991

Fifty years ago Talcott Parsons isolated what he called a ‘voluntaristic theory of action’ in the... more Fifty years ago Talcott Parsons isolated what he called a ‘voluntaristic theory of action’ in the work of writers as diverse as Marshall, Pareto, Durkheim and Weber. In The Structure of Social Action Parsons argued that the voluntaristic theory of action was the basis of a fundamental reorientation of the social sciences, marking a decisive advance in the development of sociology as a response to the ‘problem of order’.

Problems of Economic Transition, 1999

Assessments of the impact of reform on the Russian population have been almost as divergent as ev... more Assessments of the impact of reform on the Russian population have been almost as divergent as evaluations of the Soviet experience. While the critics of reform are able to point to the officially published statistical data to support their argument that the government's reform policies have had a devastating impact on the Russian economy and population, the most ardent advocates of reform continue to insist that behind the statistics lies a vibrant and dynamic new economy so that Russia, if not booming now, is on the verge of a boom. This debate cannot be settled by impressionistic and anecdotal reports. The official data seem quite implausible to those who have seen the transformation of central Moscow in the past six years or to those who do business with Russians, much of which is transacted offshore and little of which is reported to the tax or statistical authorities. The optimism of the market Bolsheviks is equally implausible to those who see living conditions outside the centers of the main cities. Nevertheless, this does not mean that we have to retreat into the fog of post-modern scepticism. There is a substantial amount of data available and there is a sufficiently wide range of data sources for us to make some tentative assessment of the impact of reform. While the available statistical data are not sufficient to allow us to reach any definitive conclusions regarding the economic and social condition and prospects of Russia, it provides a firmer basis for making an evaluation than does the view from the limousine or the view from the bus queue.

Journal of Political Philosophy, 2006

... 114 SIMON CLARKE ... their goals themselves and intervention that forces a person into an act... more ... 114 SIMON CLARKE ... their goals themselves and intervention that forces a person into an activity that is not accompanied by the right intentions. ... In particular, policies that prohibit some options while leaving many others available could avoid undermining activity and intention. ...

Europe-Asia Studies, 2000

Capital & Class, 1994

Contents 1. The Origins of Modern Sociology 1 Talcott Parsons and the voluntaristic theory of act... more Contents 1. The Origins of Modern Sociology 1 Talcott Parsons and the voluntaristic theory of action 1 The problem of order and the theory of action 3 The problem of order and economic theory 5 2. Classical Political Economy 16 A theory of society 16 Smith‟s Theory of Moral ...

American Journal of Sociology, 2000

American Journal of Sociology, 1986

Post-Communist Economies, 2004

The transition to a market economy in Russia did not initially lead to significant changes in the... more The transition to a market economy in Russia did not initially lead to significant changes in the social organisation of production, leading some to doubt that Russia was in transition to capitalism at all. Since the 1998 devaluation, Russian capitalist holding companies have invested in industrial enterprises. This article reviews the impact of such investment on the management structure of Russian companies on the basis of a series of intensive case studies. The case studies show a very consistent pattern of strictly centralised hierarchical management, which reproduces many features of the traditional Soviet system of administrative control, using financial rather than physical indicators, with production subordinate to projected sales, but very limited change in the traditional forms of personnel and production management. In conclusion, the question is raised whether this represents a distinctively Russian form of capitalism or is merely a transitional stage of capitalist development. Contrary to the expectations of the neo-liberal theorists of 'shock therapy', the collapse of the Soviet system did not lead to the rapid and spontaneous development of the institutions and practices typical of a capitalist market economy. This led some critics to doubt whether Russia was in transition to capitalism at all. Burawoy, (1996, 2001), for example, has characterised the development trajectory of the Russian economy as one of 'involution', akin to Weber's 'booty capitalism', in which profits are extracted by banks and trading monopolies while nothing is reinvested in production, which continues to be conducted in traditional Soviet ways. Q1 Ericson (2000) has even characterised the emerging system as 'industrial feudalism'. However, since the 1998 crisis there has been a marked penetration of capital into Russian industry, as an increasing number of industrial enterprises have been taken over by large Russian holding companies which purport to be the standard-bearers of capitalist management structures and practices in Russia. In this article I will look at the structures and practices that these holding companies put in place in their subsidiaries, but first I will outline a theoretical framework for the analysis, which is based on Marx's analysis of the development of capitalism in Europe.

Journal of Labor Research

Stud High Educ, 1988

This paper starts with a critical examination of the claims made in a recent paper by Ernest Rudd... more This paper starts with a critical examination of the claims made in a recent paper by Ernest Rudd (1984) on the relative performance of men and women at degree level, and proceeds to evaluate Rudd's explanation of performance differentials before finally concluding that the most ...