Candidat of Philosophy, Docent, Saratov, 1987
Candidat of Philosophy, Docent, Saratov, 1987
In 1983, I graduated from Saratov State University,š
department of Psychology.š At that time, due to the well known
reasons of ideolodical nature,š the research of psychlogical
time in this country were not exactly popular.š Thatš wasš
whyš my first dissertation (1987) was in phylosphy under the
headline of " Time of Life. Methodology aspects".
In my first thesis I have grounded the possibility of existence
of social and psychological time phenomen, the structure of human
being`s time,š madeš comprehensive through the system of age
status within the framework of his life course.š There after I
delivered lectures in phylosphyš and psychology in Saratov
Technical University and was engaged in research of students,
starting possibilities. Among other things, I foundš variousš
correlations between family status and economic status of
students,š plans for the future and structure of theirš
intellects.
Some timeš later,š Iš triedš to reconsile my ambitions in
both fields, i.e.š in phylosphy and psychology,š and Iš
enteredš St.Petersburg University Departmentš ofš Sociology
(1991),š as a doctoral candidate, where I started working on the
doctorate under the headlineš "Temporal structureš of
biographical mobility".š By that time I became convinced in
absolute necessity of sweeping generalizationš ofš broadš
empirical investigations of "life course" and in
crosscultural context,in particular.š I believe,š that they are
alone could be the basis and experimental support for a
wellgrounded sociological theory of temporality.
In thisš decisionš makingš I was partly influenced by a
tremendous impact of the latest social changes that are happening
in Russia nowadays onš lifeš course.š Myš work on probation
in Kingstone University, England within the framework of TEMPUSš
programš strengthenedš myš new ideas, therefore,š my
investigations since then were conducted in this new direction.
For the time bieng,š I am keenly interested inš problemsš ofš
life-time transformation into various "forms of
capital", their influen-
ce on life cource trajectory;š the influence ofš theš
uncoscious;š the influence of social changes on age norms and
life course variations of different generations.š The problem of
special interest,š however,š is howš the new institutions in
Russia correlate with life course matrix.
I am also interested in practical application ofš lifeš
courseš theory into social work and social policy practice.
From the point of view of theory or theoretical aspect of the
subject matterš Iš am eager to learn more about "what is
the event of life?", "hoy do the social, economic,
psycological and biological evetscome about?"š / whatš
areš their content and phenomenology?/,š what are their
differences from biographical events?,š as well as "what
isš theš relationship of process and event in life
course?".
Still more interesting for me are the empirical investigationsš
of life courseš inš mostš divergent aspects and development of
technology and instruments of life course research. This
particular field has not been practically researched into
Russia.š My No.1 objective is to explicit the age norms and
discover those hard to observe regularities of life course,š
soš that to make them in some way or other available for
people`s understanding.š I think that theš comparativeš
cross-cultural investigations would be of great help.
At present,š I am engaged in the analysisš ofš lifeš
scenariosš or schedules ofš juniorš schoolchildren in context
with all those changes that are happening in Russia as the result
of drastic social transformations.
š
