Beekeepers: a group of non-typical rural mo bility

Beekeepers:
a group of non-typical rural mo bility


Velikiy P.P.

Leading Researcher, Institute of Agrarian Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Saratov, Russia iagpran@mail.ru

Morekhanova M.Y

Head of the Laboratory of Social Development of the Agro-industrial Complex and Rural Areas, Institute of Agrarian Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Saratov, Russia mayurm118@gmail.com

ID of the Article: 7060


For citation:

Velikiy P.P., Morekhanova M.Y Beekeepers: a group of non-typical rural mo bility . Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2018. No 2. P. 82-91




Abstract

The paper is based on the results of sociological survey in 2015–2016 in three regions of the Russian Federation (the Saratov oblast, the Republic of Bashkortostan, the Republic of Tatarstan) and addresses the activity of beekeepers in the socio-humanitarian context as a group specializing in the professional approach to insect farming. It reveals the peculiarities of such an activity in the Russian conditions, where beekeepers, using the potential of melliferous resources of huge territories, actively move within regions. This determines many sides of their way of life. It has been found that among beekeepers there exists a great differentiation in terms of the amounts of production, which brings to the forefront the issue of their socio-cultural interpretation. It is emphasized in the paper that the rational use of even a small own production base by the beekeeper sharply changes his mobility in the territorial, informational and communication spaces, social networks, and allows him make independent decisions with regard to production, sale and expansion of the range of contractors in the rural-urban continuum. Comparing the studied group with peasants employed in traditional spheres (field-crop cultivation and animal farming) shows that beekeepers represent a group demonstrating a new, non-typical for other categories of rural people, mobility, and more effectively using their human capital in the market conditions. The preconditions for this phenomenon reflect a vivid correlation of executive and organizational functions, high level of self-organization in achieving the goals, the impact of the education and professional culture on the results, and the significance of socio-role statuses in the local community.


Keywords
beekeepers; socio-role structure; mobility; technology; exchange; reproduction; social environment; behavior

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Content No 2, 2018