Prospects for inclusive innovations in Russia

Precondition of formation, development of inclusive innovation. Defining inclusive innovation and related concepts. Social exclusion, excluded group. Demonstration of excluded groups in statistical data and public opinion research. Inclusive innovations.

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Master thesis

PROSPECTS FOR INCLUSIVE INNOVATIONS IN RUSSIA

Student ID number: Ì141ÌÓÈÍÍ016

Novikova Elena

Supervisor: Vitaliy Roud

Submission date: 16.05.2016

  • Contents
  • List of Tables and Figures
  • Summary
  • Introduction
  • Chapter 1. Literature review
    • 1.1 Precondition of formation and development of inclusive innovation
    • 1.2 Defining inclusive innovation and related concepts
    • 1.2.1 Social exclusion and excluded group
    • 1.2.2 Demonstration of excluded groups in statistical data and public opinion research
    • 1.2.3 Inclusive innovations
    • 1.3 Inclusive innovation in Russia
    • 1.4 Bibliometric analysis of academic publications on the topics of “inclusive innovation”, “pro-poor innovation”, “below-the-radar innovation”, “grassroots innovation”, “base of the pyramid innovation”
    • 1.5 Conclusion to literature review
  • Chapter 2. Practical analysis
    • 2.1 Methodological basis of research. Selection and justification of research methods
    • 2.2 Findings
    • 2.2.1 Several cases of inclusive innovations
    • 2.2.2 Conclusion based on cases of inclusive innovations
    • 2.2.3 Study of public opinion about prospects for inclusive innovations in Russia
  • Discussion and Conclusion
  • References
  • Annexes
  • Declaration in lieu of oath

List of Tables and Figures

Figure 1. Graph of documents' numbers on terms about social exclusion by years (created by Scopus).

Figure 2: Dimensions of Social Inclusion/Exclusion.

Figure 3. Percentage of male and female in educational trajectory.

Table 1: First step of bibliometric analysis of papers on terms: “inclusive innovation”, “pro-poor innovation”, “below-the-radar innovation”, “grassroots innovation”, “base of the pyramid innovation” (2 periods: for all years and for last 5 years (2010-2015, without 2016)).

Figure 4: Graph of documents' numbers on terms about inclusive innovations by years (created by Scopus)

Table 2: Second step of bibliometric analysis of scientific papers on terms: “inclusive innovation”, “pro-poor innovation”, “below-the-radar innovation”, “grassroots innovation”, “base of the pyramid innovation” (by country, all years).

Table 3: Third step of bibliometric analysis of scientific papers on terms: “inclusive innovation”, “pro-poor innovation”, “below-the-radar innovation”, “grassroots innovation”, “base of the pyramid innovation” (by subject area).

Figure 5: Percentage of answers to the question “Do you know, have heard, or hear for the first time the phrase “inclusive innovation”?”

Figure 6: Percentage of answers to the question “Have you ever received any information about inclusive innovations? If yes, please indicate the source”.

Figure 7: Percentage of answers to the question “How do you personally feel about the idea of promoting inclusive innovation in Russia?”

Figure 8: Percentage of answers to the question “Would you like to participate or provide any possible assistance in the development of inclusive innovation in Russia (financial, social, informational support, etc.)?”

Figure 9: Percentage of the agreement with the statement “There are many people in Russia who are in need of inclusive innovations”.

Figure 10: Percentage of the agreement with the statement “Inclusive innovations could qualitatively change the lives of the needy categories of people”.

Figure 11: Percentage of the agreement with the statement “High-quality products and services cannot be cheap”.

Figure 12: Distribution of answers to the question “In your opinion, which categories/ groups of people must be supported by inclusive innovations?”

Figure 13: Distribution of answers to the question “In your opinion, which categories/ groups of people do not need to be supported by inclusive innovations?”

Table 4: The name of the groups in social network “Vkontakte”

Table 5: Contacts of interviews' respondents

Table 6: Results of data analysis in SPSS

Summary

The present work studies theoretical approaches to the concept “inclusive innovations” together with the concepts of “social exclusion” and “excluded groups” in both theoretical and practical ways (theoretical data are supplied with statistical information).

The aim of the present work was to study the current status of inclusive innovations in Russia. The author attempted to answer the following questions: What are inclusive innovations? What are their main attributes? To which groups of people are inclusive innovations directed? What is their current status in Russia?

The practical part of the present research provides 4 case-studies of Russian inclusive innovations, which are based on the open information and interviews with the companies' directors. Besides, the findings from the case-studies are supplemented by the data from opinion poll of the target audience - Russian innovators - about their awareness and attitude to the idea of inclusive innovations.

Based on the information acquired the present work ends with a conclusion about the current status of inclusive innovations in Russia, problems which are present in this sphere, and prospects of further development of such innovations.

Introduction

One of the main tendencies in modern societies is the awareness of the need to create enabling environment for all people, especially for the most vulnerable groups. Nowadays people become more focused on inclusiveness and sustainable development of society, which means that every individual has human rights, which must be protected, obligations, and responsibilities to others. Thus, everyone in society has an active role to play.

The issue of inclusiveness of different groups of people is tackled by many agents: by the State, by non-government organizations, and volunteer movements. Nevertheless, it becomes clear nowadays that due to the statistical growth in numbers of various excluded groups (the increase of people with disabilities, gradual aging of population, migration flow, etc.) the support in its classical form (welfare, fringe benefits) is no longer enough. New solutions are required for these groups of people, which would make their inclusion into mainstream possible.

In order to achieve this goal, governments, business companies and different organizations promote policies and activities, which include stimulation of inclusive innovations and inclusive growth. “Inclusive innovation is the means by which new goods and services are developed for and/or by those who have been excluded from the development mainstream; particularly the billions living on lowest incomes” [Foster & Heeks, 2013]. This includes new technologies and new services for the so-called base of the pyramid.

Such questions lead us to the issue of prioritization of excluded groups or support by means of inclusive innovations. Do some excluded groups really need to be included somewhere, for example, women in science or pensioners in IT? This question is closely bonded to the status of excluded groups in different countries' societies. For some countries poverty is the greatest problem, they could also have problems of gender inequality in science, but as far as prioritization is concerned it would be the third or the tenth issue. Thus, first of all, it is necessary to compile and synthesize information on concepts of “exclusion” and “excluded groups”.

The purpose of the present work is to identify and substantiate the nature of inclusive groups, inclusive innovations and excluded groups with a special stress on Russian realities. The purpose of the course work determined the following objectives to the study:

· to analyze the existing volume of scientific-theoretical framework, reflecting the problem of research and develop the theoretical concept of this research problem by means of literature review with strong emphasis on bibliometric analysis

· to develop a system of basic theoretical concepts for the interpretation of the semantic content of the research problem by giving thorough definitions of the main concepts of this study, being inclusive innovations, inclusion, social exclusion and find their main attributes;

· to figure out the connection between inclusive innovation and excluded groups;

· to justify the necessity of using the following methodological principles: bibliometric analysis, literature review, interviews, case-studies, public opinion research

· to analyze the current status of inclusive innovations in Russia and prospects for their development.

The present course work consists of two chapters. In Chapter 1 literature review will be provided, together with definitions of the main concepts in this study. Besides, a peculiar research analysis concerning combination of main concepts via bibliometrics will be given. In Chapter 2 the selected methodology will be justified and an independent research work will be carried out, which will include case-studies consisting of interviews with representatives of inclusive innovations field, who would talk about their projects and express their opinion on the current situation and prospects of inclusive innovations in Russia. Another section of Chapter 2 will be devoted to showing results of public opinion research on the topic “Prospects for inclusive innovation in Russia”.

The study has a great theoretical and practical significance. Firstly, a unique literature review concerning the main concepts of the present study is collected; secondly, an uncanny bibliometric analysis has been carried out which revealed current situation on the status of publication activities in various countries; thirdly, an independent practical part which dealt with interaction with people working in the field of inclusive innovations was carried out and academically interesting conclusions have been drawn. All three points above circle around the concept of inclusive innovations in Russia and open new research perspectives for future.

Chapter 1. Literature review.

1.1 Precondition of formation and development of inclusive innovation

The term “social state” is present in Constitution and other supreme laws of many countries. The policy of “social state” is aimed at redistribution of wealth in accordance to the principle of social justice for the sake of a decent standard of living for every citizen, the facilitation of social differences and help for the needed. The theory of a “welfare state” requires that social guarantees have to be provided by the state and be regulated by economic (especially big business) and tax policies. The concept of “social state” was first used in 1850 by Lorenz von Stein. He positioned the following concept as one of the main functions of the state “to maintain the absolute equality of rights for all the different social classes, to separate private self-defined identity through its power” [Stein, 1964]. The state, according to Stein, is obliged to promote economic and social progress for all its citizens. The main functions of a “welfare state” / “social state” are the following: provision of support to vulnerable social groups (the unemployed, pensioners, the disabled); occupational safety and health; support for the family, motherhood, fatherhood, childhood; eliminating social inequality through redistribution of income; encouraging of charitable activities; financial support for educational and cultural programs; struggle with unemployment. Nevertheless, the current and widespread practice of the “social state” is often prone to a vice-versa effect - social dependency - especially when the needed part of population aspires to remain to be depended on benefits for lifetime instead of working.

At the same time, despite the fact that in some countries the model of a welfare state has not paid off and led to an unstable economy, Russia, according to Russian President Vladimir Putin, should develop the concept of social state, taking into account the risks and challenges that Western countries have faced. In an interview to RIA Novosti on June 14th, 2013, President Vladimir Putin said: “... Social security is one of the most important functions of the state. It's possible failure would endanger the very existence of the State Institute itself... It's inefficiency in some European countries is clearly demonstrated. The key word here is inefficiency. Not social policy or life beyond its means, but the loss of control over general state of economy, structural distortions - that's what leads to the consequences that Europe faces today. In addition, European countries spurred dependency, which builds barriers to trigger the instinct of working. It threatens not only the economy, but also moral foundations of society... For Russia, this (European) approach is unacceptable”.

In fact, Russia officially proclaimed itself as a social state way before Mr. Vladimir Putin did - in 1993 according to the Russian Federation Constitution, Chapter 1, Article 7: “Russian Federation is a social state, which politics is directed to create conditions, which provide a decent standard of living and full development of a citizen.” [Constitution of Russian Federation, 2016]

In general, the task of the welfare state is to provide the following conditions to its citizens:

- Every citizen should have a decent human living wage;

- Every able-bodied man should be able to make for him/herself and for the maintenance of the family;

- Disabled or citizens without having at any reason the opportunity to work (children with disabilities, pensioners, the unemployed, refugees and migrants) should have the ability to maintain a normal standard of living at the expense of redistribution of state assets.

Thus, de jure Russia, represented by the government, technically focuses on social needs. But are these aforementioned principles enough to provide worthy life for everybody? As Viktoria Antonova in her article “The Concepts of Social Inclusion and Exclusion in Global Society: a Journey within Social Institutions, Actors and Practices” rightly pointed out, during the last two decades welfare states all over the world continue to be under severe oppression by a number of profound social changes, which primarily include globalization, technological change, migration and demographic trends, including aging population, transformation of existing ideologies. In addition, the global problem of diversity brings more anxiety to the life of modern societies. [Antonova, 2013, pp. 151-170]

With the rise of new groups of people who are in need of social protection by the state and the new challenges being faced by society, classical measures of social support (cash payments, various forms of compensation, social assistance such as food, fuel, medicine, shoes, clothes etc.), which are usually provided by the state become insufficient. Despite social assistance, a group of people who receive this help still remain excluded from society and normal well-being. Thus, the need for new forms of social support becomes apparent. The idea of these new types of support is inextricably linked to the concept of inclusion and inclusive society.

According to William Avis, the term “inclusive societies” has not been widely used in academic circles and has only recently assumed prominence in the international policy-making lexicon, heavily influenced by the World Summit for Social Development, held in March 1995. [Avis, 2015] He continues: “Discussions regarding the broader social, economic and political benefits of inclusion and inclusiveness have become increasingly common since 2009 (DFID, 2015 unpublished; OECD, 2012, UNDESA, 2009; World Bank, 2013). This report acknowledges DFID's Inclusive Societies Department's vision statement that “makes the commitment to a world where no-one is left behind, and where all women and men, girls and boys have equal opportunity to realize their rights, achieve their potential and live in dignity, free from extreme poverty, stigma, discrimination and violence” (DFID, 2015 unpublished). The Inclusive Societies Scoping Paper recognizes the commitment to promote inclusive societies, supported by a vibrant and effective civil society, where all people are valued and have the opportunity to participate fully in economic, social and political life. This is highlighted as essential for poverty reduction, equitable economic growth and sustainable development outcomes.” [Avis, 2015]

In other words, keeping in mind the aforementioned paragraph, we may conclude that the awareness of the need to create enabling environment for all people, especially for the most vulnerable groups has become one of the main tendencies in modern societies. Already back in 1995, the World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen defined inclusive society An inclusive society is a society that over-rides differences of race, gender, class, generation, and geography, and ensures inclusion, equality of opportunity as well as capability of all members of the society to determine an agreed set of social institutions that govern social interaction. (Expert Group Meeting on Promoting Social Integration, Helsinki, July 2008) as a “society for all in which every individual, each with rights and responsibilities, has an active role to play. Such inclusive society must be based on respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms, cultural and religious diversity, social justice and the special needs of vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, democratic participation and the rule of law. It is promoted by social policies that seek to reduce inequality and create flexible and tolerant societies that embrace all people” [DESA, 2009].

In Antonova's work the principle of Russian national policy was briefly analyzed. It may be summed up that “inclusion becomes the new code-sign to indicate the desire to overcome inequality, gaining freedom and a new quality of life”, inclusion is necessary as “the principle of the social state and civil society, and in the context of post-industrial society as the development of the sector of services and information, new types of resources, modification of the social structure” [Antonova, 2013].

In order to achieve this lofty goal - i.e. become an inclusive society - governments, businesses and different organizations (e.g. the World Bank, IDRC, GIZ, OECD and other development agencies) promote policies and activities, which include stimulation of inclusive innovations and inclusive growth.

1.2 Defining inclusive innovation and related concepts (social exclusion / excluded groups)

It seems important to start the present work with thorough definition of the main terms in this study. The topic of inclusive innovation hits a number of questions. Who must be included and where? Richard Heeks pointed that “inclusive innovation happens when someone is being included. But who? It must be some group that is typically marginalized or excluded from mainstream processes of development. Sometimes this may be women or youth or the disabled or the elderly. But dominant attention has been on “the poor”; those living on the lowest incomes which may typically be defined as some small number of US dollars - US$1, <…> US$2.50, etc. - per day. There is also the issue of who, within this group, is then to be included via the innovation: will it be the whole group or just some part: perhaps the less poor, or the men, or the adults? This raises further questions about representation and heterogeneity and inequalities within the excluded group.” [Heeks, 2013]. Just by one glimpse, for instance, at the collocation “excluded group”, one may find oneself lost in the multitude of meanings, even though technically and subconsciously we all realize what an excluded group is. Besides, the definitions will come in handy when we turn to practical part of this work in the next chapters.

1.2.1 Social exclusion and excluded group

As a result of a search query of “social exclusion” in the Scopus system, it can be concluded that this topic is quite popular, more than 15, 000 items are related to this subject. The peak of publication activity took place in the year 2013 (1436 publications), currently interest in the subject slightly fell, but it still remains high (Fig. 1).

Figure 1. Graph of documents' numbers on terms about social exclusion by years (created by Scopus).

Social exclusion is an extremely valuable concept, which appeared in the scientific and socio-political discourse in the last quarter of the 20th century. Social exclusion implies the lack or denial of resources and rights in a number of communities, resulting in their inability to participate in traditional social activities, which affects the quality of life for socially excluded people and has a negative impact on society as a whole. Social exclusion involves two vectors - deprivation of the excluded themselves, as well as discrimination against an excluded group of society.

Social exclusion is a relatively new research frame, which reveals problems of poverty, discrimination, intolerance, prejudice and stigmatization of human rights. The absence of a system of sociological knowledge about processes of institutionalization of social exclusion / inclusion in the structuration of modern society is contrary to society's need for solving theoretical and practical problems of inclusion of socially deprived and deviant groups. These circumstances determine the relevance of the topic of research and dictate the necessity of diagnosing social, economic and legal conditions of functioning of deprived or deviant groups, helps to identify the mechanisms that contribute to discrimination, as well as identify ways to resolve social contradictions.

The basics of analysis of social exclusion practices in modern society have been laid in the works of M. Weber, L. Wittgenstein, E. Durkheim, K. Marx, M. Heidegger, F. Engels. A significant contribution to the understanding of social exclusion and the construction of the theory has been made by the following scholars: P. Abrahamson, R. Atkinson, B. Wilson, M. Wolfe, Ch. Gore, B. Jordan, R. Lenoir, S. Maxwell, G. Rodgers, C. Paugam, A. de Haan and others. In Russian sociology a notable amount of works have been written by M. Astoyants, F. Borodkin, D. Mokhov, P. Romanov, N. Tikhonov, E. Iarskaia-Smirnova.

The phenomenon of social exclusion is worked out in both a scientific theory and in a socio-political discourse. Formation of the theory of social exclusion was an attempt to explain poverty and marginalization especially by European scholars. The theory of social exclusion was formed in France in the early 1970s. The authorship of the concept of “social exclusion” is attributed to René Lenoir, who was Secretary of State for public activities in French Government [Lenoir, 1989].

According to Lenoir, the percentage of socially excluded population was relatively small in France in the 1980s - about 10%. This number included people with disabilities, people who are prone to suicide, abused children, drug users, criminals. Hillary Silver notes that “people may be excluded from: a livelihood; secure, permanent employment; earnings; property, credit, or land; housing; minimal or prevailing consumption levels; education, skills, and cultural capital; the welfare state; citizenship and legal equality; democratic participation; public goods; the nation or the dominant race; family and sociability; humanity, respect, fulfillment and understanding” [Silver, 1995, p.60]. According to these indicators of exclusion one can make a deduction that even affluent enough individuals could have such disadvantages once in a while. It follows that social exclusion is a complex concept, where not only the formal criteria plays a great role, but also the identity of individuals, their psychological condition and lifestyle.

There is a division of society into “insiders” and “outsiders” at the heart of the theory of social exclusion. It takes into account not only the “vertical” structuring of society, but also `horizontal differences. This theory describes different categories of people: the disabled, the elderly, children, victims of violence, single mothers, deviant groups, etc., all, who are excluded from employment on the basis of the social security system. Later this theory is used to explain and analyze different types of social disadvantages associated with social problems, primarily caused by economic crisis, long-term unemployment, increasing instability of social relations, especially within the family. Social exclusion is seen as a result of breaking of social and symbolic relationships between individuals and society and the inability of the state to establish the “solidarity” that Durkheim have previously described in his writings [Durkheim, 1997]. The concept of solidarity, which was dominant in France, defined the exception as a disruption of social, cultural and moral bonds between individuals, groups and society. Integration into society is expected through assimilation into dominant culture.

The rational explanation of social exclusion by Marta Studenna is built around by the concept of poverty tolerance [Studenna, 2010] - in the early Middle Ages, the poor were perceived as creatures of God, and therefore assistance to them was participation in the work of salvation. However, over time, people began to disdain the poor, fear them as a source of dirt and infection. The structure of society which is based on the concept of separation was laid the way that eliminated them at first from cities, and then from society as a whole. Further on, during industrialization era the concept of welfare state/social state, implemented in Western Europe since the end of World War II, started to focus primarily on avoiding poverty. Thus, society constructed around itself the concept of poverty, which later on formed the mechanism of social exclusion. It is worth noting that not all kinds of deviations are socially excluded. Social exclusion is directly dependent on the culture of the society. Cultural phenomena are caused by social exclusion, mechanisms, ways and depth of social exclusion of communities from society and the construction of phenomena or processes to the level of social problems.

A constructionist approach to social problems explains why some phenomena are endowed with the status of social problems, while others are deprived of this status. This approach is not only explanatory, but is used as a technique of designing social policy issues, including social policies, and in the field of communication management. Constructionist approach considered different social problems: poverty, crime, AIDS, drug addiction, illness, disability, etc. Foreign and Russian scholars understand social problems as the rhetoric of the expression of discontent and the nomination of the allegations with respect to certain conditions. Social problems are treated as design, created by individuals or groups that attract public attention to this or that alleged conditions or situations and come out with requirements for the change.

According to Charles Gore, exclusion could be considered as the result of social construction, certain compulsory social order, which is aimed to exclude individuals and groups from the system of social solidarity and that often expressed as direct discrimination. [Gore, 1994] In addition, construction of social exclusion refers not only to discrimination concept (human rights abuse), but also to some aspects of deprivation (feeling of disadvantage in comparison to others). Social deprivation is due to the tendency of society to assess the quality and the ability of some individuals and groups is higher than of the other, expressing this estimate in the distribution of social rewards such as prestige, power, high status in society and the corresponding opportunities for participation in social life. The grounds for such an unequal assessment may vary. For example, in modern society, sometimes the young are valued more than the older (and vice-versa), male workers are ranked higher than their female colleagues.

If we follow the traditions of social constructionism, the theoretical framework of social exclusion implies an emphasis on the meaning and content of the legal and ordinary rhetoric, policies and practices in the formation of a society of social exclusion and inclusion of possible ways to deprived groups. The format of the theory of social exclusion allows to directly study the “carrier” of social problems, its economic, political and social situation in society.

One important factor of social exclusion is poverty. Exclusion from comfortable economic sphere entails the exclusion from other areas - cultural, political, social. Poverty leads to limitations of possibilities. As a result it could lead to social exclusion. The theory of social exclusion has contributed to the explanation of the causes of poverty and ways of its solution, and subsequently the concept began to apply to all deprivations (economic, social, cultural, and physical). Status of poverty affects the way of life and the interaction with the surrounding society. “People are relatively deprived if they cannot obtain, at all or sufficiently, the conditions of life - that is, the diets, amenities, standards and services - which allow them to play the roles, participate in the relationships and follow the customary behavior which is expected from them by virtue of their membership of society. If they lack or are denied resources to obtain access to these conditions of life and so fulfill membership in society they may be said to be in poverty” [Townsend, 1993, p. 37] - notes Peter Townsend.

The link between concepts of poverty and exclusion may be drawn from Townsend's definition. When explaining poverty he focuses not on the standard of living but on a way of life and the nature of deprivation. According to Townsend, the set of deprivations takes on the role of exclusion indicators, and allows to determine its levels.

Studenna also emphasizes that poverty is not only lack of material prosperity, it is also a certain social and psychological condition, since quality of life is measured by the standards accepted in the society. Failure to support these standards is already cause of stress, suffering, humiliation. Poverty leads to exclusion of situation that is recognized as normal life. Application of the concept of social exclusion, in contrast to the poverty, can more accurately describe the condition of the person who is in a difficult situation of deprivation. The socio-political transformation also pushed to change the scientific and socio-political rhetoric and linguistic turn from “poverty” problem to the problem of “social exclusion” [Studenna, 2010]. According to sociologist Peter Abrahamson, “recognition of poverty meant criticism of the existing welfare state policy, proclaiming the disappearance of this phenomenon (in some countries, the existence of poverty was considered politically incorrect), social exclusion was a more convenient concept, and it increasingly moved the problem to the individual level” [Abrahamson, 2001]. It should be noted that scholars mostly agree that a major factor in deciding the issue of human exclusion remains in the fact that it denies the opportunity to, figuratively speaking, have the same problems that the rest of society has. The new concept brings together in a single group immigrants and the unemployed, single mothers and those with criminal records. In other words, social exclusion has become a “new” definition for the study of the "old" problems.

Undoubtedly there are certain objective reasons for the wide dissemination and use of the concept of social exclusion as a subject of study in the western and domestic social science. The concept of “poverty” became uncomfortable, an incorrect concept for welfare states - as Abrahamson mentioned - as circumstances and society have changed. Poverty has not disappeared, but has ceased to be a mass phenomenon in the developed countries, what was in the previous stage of development. In this connection, the problem of poverty in the post-industrial countries has shifted to the individual level.

Poverty is a classic phenomenon, which was inherited in the industrialization period, when absolutely or relatively poor has been a significant part of the population. Social exclusion is the equivalent of the post-industrial poverty, when a minority is marginalized and is dropped out from the middle class. It is assumed that social stratification process is going in a different way in the society, where the place of vertical differentiation becomes horizontal, where inequalities are related, first of all, to discrimination of individuals, families, groups.

Exclusion as a scholarly term refers to the “new” aspects of the “old” problems in terms of expanding their semantics, considering them in fundamentally different social conditions. The concept of social exclusion explains deeply enough the processes and mechanisms of disintegration in society. In addition, it quite fully reflects the economic and social aspects of disintegration, therefore, it is quite productive for the study of various social phenomena in the transformation of Russian society.

Scholars do not have a consensus on the root causes of social exclusion of certain groups from the mainstream. Social exclusion as a relative deprivation was considered by M. Wolf, as he distinguishes between the following kinds of exclusion: “exclusion from livelihood”, “exclusion from social services, welfare and security networks”, “exclusion from the consumer culture”, “exclusion from political choice”, “exclusion from bases for popular organization and solidarity” and “exclusion from understanding of what is happening” [Wolf, 1994]. Below we shall consider his classification in more detail:

Exclusion from livelihood. Experts believed that in the 1960s, during the transition to the industrial era, the demand for labor power would exceed its offer. However, there was a reverse situation. Such exclusion was particularly evident in Africa and Latin America in the 1980s when significant structural changes began in these regions. This process affected mostly people with higher education and those working in industries that received funding from state. Inflation reduced their income, so that they had to abandon the usual conditions of life. Exclusion contributed to the erosion of class identity for people from the middle class and workers.

Exclusion from social services, welfare and security networks. Up until the 1980s, there was a growing expectation of social rights and services guaranteed by the state in both poor and rich countries. These expectations included the right to education and health care for different social groups; social security against the need; the right to housing, safe water supply and waste disposal, as well as other safeguards. However, as a result of cuts in some social services in relation to certain groups of the population and the preservation of services for other groups, there appeared an increase in the number of individuals and groups who found themselves unprotected. These include single mothers with children and homeless people.

Exclusion from the consumer culture. Social exclusion means poverty and the inability to meet basic needs for food and shelter for a large part of the population. However, the exclusion from consumption culture is a more complex problem of access to information on a variety of current and evolving standards of consumption. In this case, the extent to which new areas of consumption have become a cultural necessity, exclusion may affect individuals and groups at all income levels.

Exclusion from the possibility of understanding what is happening. Formation and development of the information society is a specific form of exclusion related to “future shock” [Toffler, 1984]. On the one hand, information society provides the widest range of lifestyles, gender and age identification. On the other hand, it entails higher risks and as a consequence the complication of survival strategies. Most of the population is quite happy with messages about private life of celebrities, fashion, various services, sporting events in the practical absence of truly disturbing information.

Exclusion from political choice. It should be noted that in many countries, people can participate in relatively free and open election processes and have access to different information sources. However, due to the oligarchic and bureaucratic features exclusion of political parties may emerge, and the credibility of the authorities leaves much to be desired. In addition, the dominance of anti-state-oriented ideology of the market, severely limits the possibilities of even most powerful states. The commitments that political leaders take on themselves during election campaigns are often relegated to the background under the pressure of the balance of power in their own country and the world economic system. The result of this exclusion of political choice may be political apathy and violent reactions.

Exclusion from bases for popular organization and solidarity. Organizational structures, institutions and less formal forms of solidarity by means of which individuals and groups try to overcome exclusion are based on 1) the desire to control the sources of livelihood (trade unions, various associations, foundations); 2) strife to meet its customer needs for credit (co-operatives, credit unions, etc.); 3) with respect to public services and municipal services or voluntary organizations (associations of doctors, parents and pensioners, etc.); 4) belonging to the local territorial communities; 5) religious and ethnic identities. It should be noted that due to insecurity and instability of the mass organizations there is a limit to the feasibility of social innovations, which in turn contribute to the formation of exclusion for large groups.

“Exclusion is not about gradations of inequality, but about mechanisms that act to detach groups of people from the social mainstream” [Giddens, 1998] stresses Anthony Giddens, and points to the two main forms of social exclusion, manifested in modern society. The first form is located at the top of the social hierarchy and is associated with the elite “voluntary exclusion”. The second (an extreme form) is when victims of structuration are concentrated in the bottom of the hierarchy as the result of structural and cultural changes in society and threaten social space and solidarity.

Tania Burchardt et. al. identify the following causes of social exclusion which are relevant to modern Europe: consumption limits (lack of possibilities to purchase goods and services); limited participation in production (the removal of an individual from economic or socially important activities); limited political participation (exclusion from local or national decision-making); social constraints (the irregularity or lack of interaction between family, friends or community) [Burchardt, 2002].

It can be concluded that the current stage of society development portrays the following reasons for social exclusion:

· economic multidimensional: social exclusion implies not only a certain level of income, but also the assessment of a number of indicators for living standards;

· dynamic: social mobility (vertical and horizontal);

· social multidimensional: exclusion from the network of social facilities - lack of access to education, health services, inability to receive social assistance or poor quality of available social services; shortage of public resources;

· legal multidimensional: infringement of human rights and civil discrimination.

Social exclusion is a polysemic term that is used to describe a wide range of phenomena and processes. It is also a controversial concept, which has different interpretations within the paradigms of social sciences, political ideologies and national discourses. In contemporary Russian society the socially excluded may refer to the following: the unemployed, workers with non-permanent contracts, low-paid workers, the disabled, prisoners, former prison inmates, children who grew up in troubled families, immigrants, racial, religious, linguistic and ethnic minorities, the homeless, people with no fixed occupation and place of residence, “people whose consumption pastime and other activities (alcohol or drug use, the style of clothing, communication, demeanor) are condemned or deemed deviant”[Borodkin, 2000].

According to a number of contemporary foreign researchers, social exclusion corresponds to such features as dynamic, multidimensional, cumulative, violation of social ties. In western sociology processes and state of exception are considered at the level of individuals, groups and society as a whole and are linked to the weakening of one or more social systems. An important aspect of social exclusion of the concept is that it allows us to consider not only the economic component of exclusion, but also social, political and cultural factors.

As a result of significant changes in society, there is an increase of social exclusion. At the same time, we note the lack of resources and prospects for excluded groups. Different approaches to the definition of exclusion primarily associated with certain socio-political decisions are taken to overcome it. An important prerequisite for overcoming social exclusion is social inclusion based on active participation of individuals and groups in society. Social inclusion is understood as a process, the opposite of social exclusion.

The theory of social exclusion was formed in 1970 and was the result of the formation of the World's Institute for Human rights and Freedoms, which was the basis for the theory of social exclusion and has gone beyond the scholarly field and got a fairly wide public and political resonance. Social exclusion, according to A. de Haan is “a lens through which people look at reality and not reality itself” [de Haan, 1998].

Changing paradigms of scholars on the social problems have led to a change in the socio-political discourse. Beginning in the 1980s, not only members of the academia, but also politicians started to use the term “social exclusion”. European Union Council of Ministers in December 1984 submitted the following understanding of the issue: “the poor shall be taken to mean persons, families and groups of persons whose resources (material, cultural and social) are so limited as to exclude them from the minimum acceptable way of life in the Member State in which they live” [Gordon, et al.]. This definition of poverty illustrates two essential elements: lack of adequate resources and a way of life which is recognized as “normal”.

Excluded population is not a homogeneous and stable group, it consists of people experiencing transformation processes. The study of the interrelationship of macro, meso and micro levels allows us to understand the processes that shape the social isolation in modern societies at every level: the macro level (in the field of social policy, labor market and employment), the meso level (in the activities of individual institutions and organizations) and the micro level (in practice). Social exclusion involves the following major exclusion vectors: economic, socio-cultural, political-legal. For society, the issue of protecting the rights and freedoms of groups with behavioral problems is not a priority. Society is more open to groups of children who are in difficult life situations, single mothers, children with disabilities. Lack of tolerance is an important factor of social exclusion.

Thus, social exclusion is a multidimensional concept, relating to the exclusion (deprivation) in the economic, social and political sphere. As we have seen there are plenty of exclusion groups, the best representation of it maybe the figure below.

Figure 2: Dimensions of Social Inclusion/Exclusion.

Source: Retrieved from [OECD, 2015] on May 6.

Exclusion may have various shapes: cultural, economic, environmental, legal, physical, political, relational, social and spatial. But the peculiar thing is that an excluded group of people may be limited not from just one group, but from several. For example, the poor are excluded from economic, social, political, and even cultural groups. Besides, the dimensions of social inclusion/exclusion is such a complex notion that there may be such extreme examples that even the rich may be excluded from some groups: suppose, there is a well-to-do migrant living in a foreign society, who may be excluded from social life due to his race or nationality, despite his financial success. Nevertheless, we would like to suggest the following list of universal excluded groups typical for the world in general and Russia in particular in order to conclude this section. This list will also be used for conducting survey in the practical part of the present work: people with disabilities, migrants, orphans, single mothers, people in difficult situations, the poor, the unemployed, homeless, drug addicts, alcohol addicts, former prison inmates, HIV / AIDS infected, dissidents, sexual minorities, retired.

Some of these groups will be studied in the next section in order to understand the situation in Russia so that we may look at the examples and issues connected with them and find out the prospects for their inclusion in Russia in the nearest future.

1.2.2 Demonstration of excluded groups in statistical data and public opinion research

In this section we shall review the actual number of people in the excluded groups under analysis. Of course it is necessary to take into account that many people may belong to several groups at once. Therefore, we shall consider various excluded groups build on the social issue they represent.

Poverty.

According to the World Bank data “global poverty is estimated to have declined in 2012 to 902 million people, or 12, 8 percent of global population”. Experts of World Bank forecasted that poverty would “fall in 2015 to 702, 1 million, a poverty rate of 9, 6 percent, the first time the share people living in extreme poverty would be in the single digits” [World Bank. Policy…].

In January-September 2015 the amount of people living in poverty in Russia amounted to 20, 3 mln people (14, 1% of the total population). In 2014 the figure was 18 mln people (12, 6% of the population). Thus, the cumulative growth of the poor Russians within one year equaled to 2, 3 million people. [Ratio of cash income…] The living wage, which serves as a measure of the proportion of poor people in the third quarter of 2015 amounted to 9673 RUR or 146$. A year ago - in the third quarter of 2014 this amount was 8086 RUR or around 225$. This data shows that despite the rise of the living wage, the real purchasing power of citizens significantly reduced.

Due to economic crisis in the country and the fall of the ruble, the situation of the poor becomes more urgent. “The World Bank predicted economic downfall of 1, 9% in 2016, after which a slight resumption of economic growth by 1, 1% is expected in 2017. Meanwhile, according to the forecast, the ongoing recession has almost nullified the progress Russia, which aimed to reduce poverty and achieve universal prosperity by of the poorest segments of the population. As expected, weak income dynamics will continue to have a negative impact on poverty forecast. As a result of the projected growth in 2016 the poverty rate will return to the index of 2007, which would erase the gains made over the past decade” [Russian Economic Report…].

According to the October 2015 opinion poll of “WCIOM” [Two-thirds of Russians…], 66% of Russians noticed an increase in the number of poor in the country over the past five years (41% of respondents believe that the number of poor increased considerably, 25% of respondents think that the number stayed the same).

Thus, around 20, 3 mln of Russians are considered to be poor, meaning that around 20, 3 mln people may require inclusive innovations.

Disability

According to the United Nations, 650 mln people (it is about 10 percent of the world's population) are disabled. This is the most numerous minority group in the world. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), this figure is increasing due to population growth, advances in medical science, and the process of aging [Factologicheskiy byulleten'…].

Statistics confirm that on January 1st, 2015 there were about 13 mln disabled people in Russia, 605 thousand of them being children [Polozhenie invalidov…]. Romanov and Iarskaia-Smirnova define disabled person as “a person with undue certificate of disability issued by the Bureau of Medical and Social Expertise (BMSE), or in state hospitals and who receives an additional financial support from the state” [Romanov, Iarskaia-Smirnova, 2006]. However, all people with disabilities may not be registered in BMSE because their disease has not been officially identified, or they do not wish to obtain the status of a disabled person.

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