ADDRESSING SOCIOCULTURAL RISKS IN CONTEMPORARY RUSSIA: THE ROLE OF ENTERPRISES

Abstract

This paper analyses the academic literature on the role of enterprises in addressing sociocultural risks at the regional level in contemporary Russia. The studied literature was collected using two sources: the database of the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Science and the Russian Scientific Electronic Library “eLIBRARY.RU”. The search time¬scale covered the period between 2000 and 2019. Two questions informed the literature search and analysis: 1) What sociocultural risks are identified in the literature? 2) What is the role of enterprises in addressing these risks? The results show that the academic literature distinguishes between two categories of sociocultural risks. Firstly, the risks causing the dysfunction of socio-economic and political structures. Secondly, the risks related to the deterioration of moral values, cultural traditions and social identities at individual, community, and national levels. The role of enterprises in addressing these risks is revealed in two areas. Firstly, these are the corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices: provision of social benefits to employees, supporting vulnerable groups in local communities, investing in educational and sport activities and events. Secondly, some enterprises introduce innovative instruments, such as sociocultural projects. However, most studies of such projects refer to either small or non-industrial enterprises. Further analysis should focus on the implementation of sociocultural projects by the industrial enterprises at the regional level in Russia, since there is a lack of empirical studies in this area.