VOCATIONAL EDUCATION
AND LABOUR MARKET
ISSN 2307-4264 (Print) ISSN 2712-9268 (Online)

“Informal portrait” of students of the USSR State Labour Reserves system asa potential factor in its renewal


Introduction. Creation of  the State labour reserves in  the 1940s was accompanied by the formation of an “official portrait” of its student. The deviations from it (the “informal portrait”) did not just turn into private deviations, but became a socio-political phenomenon that threatened the most important technologies of social management. 

The aim of the research is to characterise the mechanisms of implementation and limitations of  the potential for renewal of  the State labour reserves system in  the 1940- 1950s, based on the manifestations of the “informal portrait” of students. 

Methods. The theory of modernisation and the actor-based approach associated with the activities of  the educational bureaucracy in  the formation of  new social practices and relations were used as a methodology. In characterising the interaction of the educational bureaucracy with students of  the labour reserves, O. Leibovich’s concept of social conventions that ensure the coexistence in a group of people oriented toward different values was used. 

Results. The main types of  deviations and manifestations of  the “informal” behavior of students that are considered are: runaways, criminal behavior, students’ appeals inside and outside the State labour reserves system. The following conclusions are substantiated: that the renewal took place mainly at the lower and regional levels of the state labour reserve system and was forced and «reactive» in nature and, ultimately, contributed to the humanisation of the system, its slow transformation from a mobilisation and order system into a training and production one. 

Scientific novelty. For the first time, the influence of the “informal portrait” of students on  the potential for updating the system of  State labour reserves was posed as  a research problem. 

Theoretical significance. The results of  the study can be  applied in  the study of  the evolution of the system of vocational education.


For citation:

Zakharovsky, L. V., Larionova, M. , Zaglodina, T. A., & Razinkov, S. L. (2024). “Informal portrait” of students of the USSR State Labour Reserves system asa potential factor in its renewal. Vocational Education and Labour Market, null(4), 114–129. https://doi.org/10.52944/PORT.2024.59.4.008