printQuality in Interdisciplinary Perspective:
Research Traditions in Russian and International Literature
Sorokina I.A.
Research Fellow, Centre for Stratification Studies, HSE University, Moscow, Russia Sorokina.I.A@hse.ru
This article is an output of research project implemented as part of the Basic Research Program at the HSE University.
Sorokina I.A. Quality in Interdisciplinary Perspective: Research Traditions in Russian and International Literature. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2026. No 4. P. 31-42
This article examines conceptual and terminological inconsistencies in studies of job quality, quality of employment, and quality of working life within English- and Russian-language academic literature. Through a systematic review of publications, the study examines key concepts such as job quality, quality of employment, decent work, and quality of working life, identifying their conceptual distinctions, disciplinary specificities, and usage dynamics. The analysis focuses specifically on concepts oriented towards worker well-being and social position. The findings reveal a lack of consensus in defining and using these concepts across both literatures but provide recommendations for applying different approaches depending on context and disciplinary focus. The study highlights that quality of working life (QWL) dominates in psychological and medical research, emphasizing subjective worker satisfaction, while job quality is more common in sociological and economic studies, focusing on objective labor conditions. Decent work, as defined by the ILO, serves as a normative benchmark, particularly in macro-level analyses. In contrast, Russian scholarship often employs a broader interpretation of quality of working life, integrating both subjective and macroeconomic indicators. The article underscores the need for greater conceptual clarity and proposes methodological guidelines for future research on job quality, emphasizing interdisciplinary approaches to better understand labor market inequalities and worker well-being.
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