Informal Practices Research Articles

Інституційний простір сфери оплати праці.

The problem of adequate performance of economic and social functions of labor remuneration and its compliance with the criteria of decent work is extremely relevant for Ukraine. The problem cannot be solved only by adjusting the existing and adopting new normative legal acts of labor law, since the corresponding legislative amendments must be accepted by the key parties to social and labor relations. The purpose of the article is to investigate the institutional environment in the field of labor remuneration in Ukraine in its various manifestations, to identify the most common institutional constructions, structures and practices that need correction and should become a priority object of state policy. The research was conducted using the methods of desk study. In the absence of official statistical data on the labor market and wages, indirect assessment methods were used based on available administrative data, materials of international organizations, results of sociological surveys, etc. The authors abandoned the traditional identification of institutions exclusively with formal organizations, which are mainly created by the government. The novelty is provided by the study of widespread informal institutional structures and practices, their main manifestations and socio-economic consequences. he study revealed that due to the low efficiency of controlling and punitive instruments of state regulation, several informal and implicit institutional structures have taken root in the institutional environment of the sphere of labor remuneration in addition to or instead of formal norms and rules, in particular, the shadowing of labor remuneration, labor remuneration based on individual agreements, unpaid overtime work, fictitious individual entrepreneurs, etc. Manifestations, main causes and consequences of the spread of informal practices are analysed. The impact of the full-scale military aggression against Ukraine on the labor market and labor force patterns in terms of working conditions and wages is assessed, and the risk of deepening shortage of workers for the needs of the post-war reconstruction is emphasized. The role of the government as the largest employer and the main transformations of the wage institution in the public sector are revealed. Conclusions have been made regarding the priority functions of the state in the sphere of wages, based on the need to ensure the resilience of the national economy.

Формування відповідальної поведінки молоді в процесі соціалізації.

The paper analyzes the problem of the influence of surrounding environment on the formation of responsible behavior of young people. The modern challenges of the digital society and the problems of the “aging” of human resources increase scientific attention to the question of the readiness of young people to take responsibility for the future social development. Therefore, it is important to determine the external conditions which form responsible behavior of young people. General scientific methods of research were used to fulfill the task: systematic approach, statistical and graphic methods, method of analysis and synthesis, method of empirical research. A meaningful connection between the categories “responsibility”, “responsible behavior”, “readiness for responsible behavior” was established; on this basis, the importance of early formation of responsible behavior of young people at the stage of socialization was substantiated. The key spheres of youth socialization were found out: those are family, education, public activities. The author established that under the influence of these institutions, the integrated accumulation of a knowledge base, practical experience of responsible actions is carried out by young people, which develops the ability for critical thinking and collectively forms in young people the readiness for responsible behavior as a norm and an integrated value. Proactive methods of informal education and social practices promising for the formation of responsible behavior of young people were identified, the author’s model of the Summer School was presented as an example, which integrates the acquisition of basic management skills with the practical development of social projects, which contributes to the acquisition of experience. As a result, the agents of socialization were suggested to direct the key influences on young people in the following directions: educational environment — introduction of proactive methods of informal education, social practices; family environment — development of family education strategy; public environment — implementation of motivational mechanisms to involve young people in the participation in non-governmental organizations, wide use of educational collective methods.

Formal and informal hospital emergency management practices: managing for safety and performance amid crisis.

Although formal preparedness for unexpected crises has long been a concern of health care policy and delivery, many hospitals struggled to manage staff and equipment shortages, precarious finances, and supply chain disruptions among other difficulties during the Coronavirus disease pandemic. Our purpose was to analyze how hospitals used formal and informal emergency management practices to maintain safe and high-quality care while responding to crisis. We conducted a qualitative study based on 26 interviews with hospital leaders and emergency managers from 12 US hospitals, purposively sampled to vary along geographic location, urban/rural delineation, size, resource availability, system membership, teaching status, and performance levels among other characteristics. In order to manage staff, space, supplies, and system- related challenges, hospitals engaged formal and informal practices around planning, teaming, and exchanging resources and information. Relying solely only on formal or informal practices proved inadequate, especially when prespecified plans, the incident command structure, and existing contracts and communication platforms failed to support resilient response. We identified emergent capabilities-imaginative planning, recombinant teaming, and transformational exchange-through which hospitals achieved harmonious interplay between the formal and informal practices of emergency management that supported safe care and resilience amid crisis. Managing emergent challenges for and amid crisis calls for health care delivery organizations to engage creative planning processes, enable motivated workers with diverse skill sets to team up, and establish rich inter- and intra-organizational partnerships that support vital exchange.

The paradox of the teacher‐driven professional learning community in a hierarchical organization: A Chinese school case

AbstractProfessional learning community (PLC) has drawn global attention in the field of adult learning. This study applies paradox theory to examine how a group of Chinese school teachers transform their teaching practices in a self‐organized PLC without school policy support. The researchers applied the biographic‐narrative‐interpretive method (BNIM) to conduct 19 one‐on‐one interviews with eight teachers who were members of the PLC. The results showed that teachers who perceived their experiences through a paradoxical lens had a longer commitment to the PLC. The findings also revealed that the headteacher and school principal's informal leadership practices empowered teachers to navigate barriers caused by oppositional forces. The study offers insights into how a teacher‐driven PLC can be sustained in a hierarchical organization and suggests a three‐step iteration emphasizing the criticalness of learning‐by‐implementation.

Shaping shores: An exploration of the interplay between law, spatial ontologies and the power to plan at Milnerton, Cape Town

The landscape of coastal planning is being transformed by the emergence of new scales of informal planning both alongside and between established statutory planning frameworks. As informal planning arrangements seldom operate within an institutional vacuum, they are frequently confronted by the path-dependent influence of pre-existing statutory planning institutions. However, there remains a marked dearth of knowledge surrounding the interplay between formal legal planning frameworks and informal planning arrangements at the coast. In response to this lacuna, the current paper endeavours to expand the existing comprehension of the influence of formal legal planning frameworks on informal planning processes at the coast by amalgamating legal geographical insights with the expanding discourse surrounding the function of actors' ontological understandings of space in structuring power relations and discursive interaction within planning processes. These insights are applied to a focussed case study of the operation of an informal planning process, the Milnerton Erosion Forum, at Milnerton, a coastal suburb of Cape Town, South Africa. The empirical findings presented in this article demonstrate the involvement of legal planning frameworks in constituting space and structuring power dynamics among actors at Milnerton, as well as the ways in which spatialised legal power is mobilised to influence socio-spatial decision-making within informal planning processes through actors’ ontological understandings and representations of places-to-be-planned. Through visibilisng the dialectical relationship between law, space and the power to plan at Milnerton, this article offers nuanced insights into the complex interplay between legal planning frameworks and informal planning practices at the coast.

The Intertwining of Children’s Interests and Micro-Practices at a Science Museum: Case Study of Three Children

Children’s multiple interests intersect with their participation in informal learning practices in dynamic ways. Using a theoretical framework illustrating interest as a multifaceted construct that has different forms and a range of scope and durability, this study investigates how children’s situational interests and individual interests are developed and reinforced and how they support micro-practices (i.e., any small practices, actions, activities, interactions that occur moment-by-moment) and vice versa. From a larger data set collected from one-time family science learning sessions at a museum, three children (aged 6–10) were strategically sampled to foreground an enhanced understanding of how interest and participation in practice mutually constitute each other. Using video-based interaction analysis, our case study of three children illustrates different patterns where micro-practices intersect with different types of interests at the museum. Even in the same environment with the same exhibits, each child from this case study constructed a unique pathway of forming the collection of micro-practices that was constantly interacting with situational interests and individual interests in specific disciplines, topics, exhibits, or any other various targets. For example, when having a strongly existing individual interest in a specific science discipline, one child’s micro-practices were mainly driven by making choices of exhibits that are related to his science interest, while another child did not actively choose exhibits but found her own creative ways to connect her science interest and other new interests. Our study contributes to a more robust conception of interest that highlights the intertwining of multiple, malleable, and moment-by-moment interests and micro-practices in the museum.

Acculturation in a poly-social-media context: tertiary-level Chinese-as-an-additional-language (CAL) international students’ perspectives and practices in mainland China

ABSTRACT In the ever-evolving landscape of globalisation and technological convergence, social media emerges as a polymedia environment rich in communication opportunities. Against the backdrop of China as an increasingly prominent global player, the above phenomenon is particularly evident among China’s vast and varied international student population. Employing a qualitative approach underpinned by interpretivism, we conducted semi-structured in-depth interviews with 20 tertiary-level Chinese-as-an-additional-language (CAL) international students in emerging adulthood (18-to-29-year-old) to explore their perceptions and practices of acculturation in mainland China. Informed by thematic analysis, we categorised how participants positioned themselves into four groups: experience-oriented students, achievement-tasked students, integration-motivated students, and self-identified ambassador students. Our findings indicate that participants perceive and use home- and Chinese social media within relational nexuses, strategically navigating this integrated mediated environment to facilitate acculturation beyond mere technical considerations. Moreover, our study deepens the debate on acculturation by challenging negative inclinations common to leisure-related products and informal practices in individuals’ acculturation journeys, and this conceptual expansion holds pedagogical promise for strengthening the connection between formal schooling and personalised, adaptive learning in the digital wilds. We conclude by highlighting the role of training and support systems provided by international students’ home countries and host societies in facilitating acculturation.

Financing practices of labeled startups

The research investigates the formal and informal financing practices utilized by labeled startups in Algeria, emphasizing their essential role in economic development. Despite the recent dynamism observed in the Algerian startup ecosystem, these enterprises face substantial growth challenges due to limited access to financing, a critical factor for their success. To address this issue, a study was conducted involving 129 owners of labeled startups as of June 2023, employing a questionnaire for data collection. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regression. The findings confirm the prevalence of personal financing/love money as the dominant source of funding, with venture capital also identified as a significant financing method. Additionally, 28% of startups resorted to informal financing practices due to inadequate bank financing and difficulties in accessing other funding sources. The study also reveals that support structures have no significant impact on startup financing. This research provides valuable insights into the financing challenges faced by labeled startups and offers directions for future, more comprehensive research.

Legal, illegal, either way informal: examining continuities of small-scale entrepreneurship between late socialism and postsocialism in Czechia

ABSTRACT The aim of this study is to capture the continuities and transformations of everyday small-scale business practice in the period of “long change” between late socialism and postsocialism in Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic. Both of these periods are characterized by the employment of informal and purely illegal practices, although they took on different meanings in both periods. To capture continuities and differences, we employ the concepts of field, capital and habitus developed by Pierre Bourdieu. Based on interviews with small-scale entrepreneurs active in both periods under review, we argue that informality and illicit practices in the late socialist period primarily enabled entrepreneurs to fulfil consumption needs in a dysfunctional planned economy. In this regard, small entrepreneurs were willing to use a large amount of different informal practices to achieve material goals. The article demonstrates that in the post-1989 era of neoliberal reform, small-scale entrepreneurs continued to employ informal and illegal practices as a means of “playing the system”, integrating them into their formal business efforts in order, among other things, to sustain their businesses in the face of new conditions of liberalization, increasing competition and criminality. The article thus analyses economic transformation through the tension between institutional change and continuity of social practices.

The Role of the Dentist in Home Care for the Older People: A Narrative Review of the Literature

Objective; This study aimed to discuss the role of dentists in providing home care to older people. Methodology; Studies on the role of the dentist in the oral health of older people living at home were reviewed. The search terms used included: home care, domiciliary care, older people, and oral health. Inclusion criteria comprised articles published in Scielo and Google Scholar databases. The article was categorized to provide a clear exposition of the information. Results; Home Care (HC) in Brazil evolved from an informal practice initiated by sanitary agents in the early 20th century to a structured service with the creation of the Unified Health System (UHS) in 1988. The UHS established programs such as the Family Health Program, which integrated home visits by doctors and nurses, and later incorporated HC in three levels (HC1, HC2, HC3) to address different care complexities. The role of dentists in HC includes promoting oral health, treating urgenties, guiding caregivers, and performing clinical procedures, which are essential for the quality of life of the older people. This approach requires specific handling techniques and professional adaptation, focusing on prevention and less invasive treatments, considering the biopsychosocial health of patients. Conclusion: Home Care Services are crucial, with dentists providing care that includes the prevention and promotion of oral health. HC promotes humanized and comprehensive care, positively impacting the well-being of the older people. Long-term effectiveness depends on prevention, caregiver education, and professional adaptations.

Coerced return: formal policies, informal practices and migrants’ navigation

ABSTRACT This article raises two questions: (1) how do formal policies and informal practices intersect in coercing returns of migrants without legal immigration status, refused asylum seekers and those unlikely to get asylum? (2) how do migrants at risk of return navigate the coercion they are exposed to? Focusing on the entanglement of formal and informal practices, we develop a typology of involuntary returns, distinguishing among pushing, imposing, and incentivising policies and practices. This typology invites us to see nuances in the forced and voluntary return dichotomy because coercive practices of implementation are embedded in all these types, but the level of coercion varies in different situations. The paper also investigates how migrants exercise agency by contesting/resisting or complying with the return procedures. The article contributes to the scholarship on returns by unpacking formal and informal policy and practice dynamics and migrant agency. Empirically, the paper is based on observations and documentation of practices derived from field research and 97 interviews conducted with returnees from EU countries and Turkey to Albania, Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan between 2018 and 2023.

Playing dirty: the shady governance and reproduction of migrant illegality

ABSTRACT State authorities in Europe invest immense resources in what the EU insists on calling the ‘fight against illegal migration’. Based on ethnographic research in two German cities, this paper shows that a tough approach towards illegalised migration can only be implemented through state practices that operate at the margins of, or even cross, the boundaries of what is legally permissible. This argument is developed through an analysis of informal practices that frontline staff in registry offices and migration administrations deploy to prevent, or at least disturb, illegalised migrants’ attempts to regularise their status by becoming the parent of child that is entitled to German citizenship. Drawing on the autonomy of migration approach, I use migrants’ struggles within and against Germany’s migration and citizenship regime as an epistemic device to expose three kinds of informally institutionalised counter-tactics of street-level bureaucrats that qualify as unlawfare. The analysis shows that officials, in their attempts to forestall migrants’ practices of self-legalisation, frequently resort to practices that are legally questionable or outright unlawful themselves. Ultimately, not only a tough stance on illegalised migration, but the very production of migrant illegality emerges as contagious as it implicates an illegalisation of state practices.

Maturation by practice: shaping the EU’s international identity in the absence of formal institutional change

ABSTRACT This article examines the interplay of the maturation of the EU’s identity as an international foreign and security actor with the institutionalisation of its foreign and security architecture. While the formal policy- and decision-making modes within the CFSP/CSDP have changed little during the past 25 years, the EU’s international identity did still change over time, potentially indicating a “coming of age”. How can we explain this maturation of the EU’s foreign and security identity despite the critique of the EU’s inefficiency and lack of adequateness in security policy? By means of re-interpreting existing scholarship, we argue that the relative maturation of the EU’s foreign and security identity since the Lisbon Treaty is not so much linked to formal institutional change (“maturation by design”), but rather to changing informal institutional practice and the selection and use of respective instruments (“maturation by practice”). This dynamic, we argue, is due to an interplay of internal and external factors, accompanied by ongoing socialisation of member states in how they perceive the nature of the CFSP/CSDP and the EU as an international foreign and security actor.

GREEN INFORMALITIES AS SOCIALLY JUST ECOLOGICAL INFRASTRUCTURE: Enduring with Dignity at the Edges of Resilient Development in Dhaka

AbstractEcological infrastructure and urban agriculture are enacting a green resurgence in cities. In the global South, however, ecological infrastructure is often premised on erasing already existing informal agricultural practices (green informalities) and leads to the displacement of marginalized urban dwellers. How, then, can ecological infrastructure be calibrated with the specific realities of the global South's green informalities? What other socially just modalities of infrastructure can be learned from the vantage point of informal settlements? Past urban scholarship has documented the crucial role of urban agriculture in addressing food insecurity and poverty in the global South, yet the symbolic, collective and political dimensions of agricultural practices are absent from these accounts. Drawing from critical urban scholarship and feminist political ecology, and based on engaged research with a collective of urban farmers facing eviction, I argue that green informalities bring together dwellers and plants in an intimate entanglement in the everyday gendered politics of endurability and collective power‐building at the settlement level. The article illustrates that the informal economic and political practices that constitute these green informalities are crucial for understanding grassroots practices vis‐à‐vis urban environments. Recognizing the political and affective dimensions of green informalities can move urban studies and governance towards a situated appreciation of informal urban agriculture as socially just ecological infrastructure that centers justice and dweller agency.

Семейное наставничество

The concept of “family mentoring” has two meanings: as a set of formal and informal social practices of family support and as part of the family culture for the transfer of experience, knowledge, behavior patterns and values. The article is based on, firstly, field research aimed at understanding mentoring by urban residents of different ages, education and professions, and secondly, on information materials about the activities of state and public organizations to provide support to families in need not only of social protection, but and in cultural development. The ambiguity of the concept of “family mentoring” is overcome due to the common meaning rooted in the culture of native speakers. The author comes to the conclusion that it is more correct to consider mentoring not as a set of practices, but as the quality of the relationship between the “mentoring” and “mentee” parties during the transfer of experience, norms, values, knowledge. The parties are able to change places, although the family, in relation to social institutions, acts more as the one who is guided and supported. Informants, regardless of their age, education and specialty, as a rule, place parents in first place among mentors in their lives. Mentoring in the family exists insofar as the family is based on trust and mutual assistance.

E-learning Method and University Life of Married Female Students in Patriarchal Social Structure in Sociological Perspective

Education is a process and means of human empowerment and social transformation. There are both formal and informal practices in educational processes. University is a unit of the formal education system that provides specific knowledge and skills in a universal context. Face-to-face teaching is traditionally practiced as the teaching pedagogy in university education in Nepal. This paper analyzes the challenges and opportunities of e-learning for married female students within the university context under the patriarchal social structure. Married female students’ in-depth interviews based on the challenges and opportunities they faced in the e-learning system in university education have prepared the cases through their narratives as the primary date of the research. The cases have been collected by purposive sampling through the university level of students. The content analysis method has analyzed both primary and secondary data types. Married female students have been found to suffer from problems with individual devices, financial problems, computer literacy, regularity of electricity, and poor internet quality. Similarly, they have to face house-loaded problems during class time. They have the opportunity to manage household activities and adapt to new technology in learning, saving travel time and cost under the e-learning system of university life. The theoretical explanation of patriarchy only gets partially analog except for the partial application of its assumptions in the e-learning system, mainly for the married female students of the university.

Perspectives on religious denominations and social crises in Romania

The relationship between social crises and religious cults in Romania is a topic neglected by the specialized literature. In this paper, we propose a series of analyses regarding how social crises have influenced religious life in Romania and the mechanisms by which religious cults have played a role in solving or amplifying them. We will refer to the Romanian Orthodox Church, the majority religious denomination, and some of its positions on events/stages of these social phenomena between 1990 and 2023. This text does not propose a thorough examination of these relationships but attempts to sketch perspectives of analysis in response to the following research questions: What do Romanians think about the Church's involvement in the life of society and implicitly in social crises? Why is it important to understand the position of religious actors on the evolution of social crises? How have religious denominations influenced the improvement/aggravation of some dimensions of social crises? Official stances of Religious Cults during different social crises were examined, alongside instances of informal religious practices aimed at enhancing societal conditions. In Romania, religious cults have been essential partners of the State in reducing social crises, providing support through their rich infrastructure and human resources or their symbolic position in society. However, there have also been cases in which religious cults have generated conflictual social states and tension, producing or aggravating social crises.

Gig Economy Insurgency

Militant groups delegate operations to contingent, short-term, and freelance agents. Informal and ad-hoc employment patterns have wide-reaching consequences, yet the literature lacks a systematic vocabulary and framework to analyze these practices. Using primary and secondary sources, I introduce a descriptive typology of informal employment patterns in militant groups. This contributes to scholarship and practice by establishing a basis for a systematic comparison of variation in militant employment models, particularly highlighting how these practices can have far-reaching implications for conflict and post-conflict settings. Case studies of informal militant hiring practices in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria support the typology.

The commercialisation of microfinance: deploying management control to address institutional complexity

PurposeThe study aimed to examine the transformation of a non-profit microfinance institution (MFI) into a hybrid social enterprise, and the role of formal and informal controls in reconciling the discordance between the two conflicting (social and commercial) objectives that emerged due to the transformation.Design/methodology/approachA case study of a non-governmental MFI located in Southeast Asian country was conducted. This case study drew on the institutional logics perspective as an analytical tool to understand the complexity of change and the mobilisation of management control practices to align two conflicting goals at the core of the MFI’s organisational strategies. This study adopted the interpretive approach and relied on multiple data sources, including semi-structured interviews and documentary evidence.FindingsThe application of commercial principles in the operations of the MFI occurred in several phases. First, the MFI changed from a non-profit business model to a hybrid social enterprise, which pursued a double bottom-line strategy. The informal control practices inherent in the organisation’s culture created a high level of social awareness embedded within a social logic. In contrast, the formal control practices were directly linked to the new commercial logic. The synergy between the two logics was optimised by reinforcing formal and informal control practices.Originality/valueThis study offers insights into the role of control systems in reconciling the discordance between competing social and financial objectives within a non-governmental MFI that enjoys substantial financial and nonfinancial support from the government.

Gender and Other Inequalities in Secondary Education in Post-Conflict Sierra Leone: Exploring the Experiences and Outcomes of Girls in Schools

This study extends limited research on understanding gender and education in post-conflict contexts. The study goes beyond the descriptive analysis of equality in terms of numbers but rather focuses on the gendered processes and conditions of learning (i.e., The content of what girls learn and how they learn). It gives an account of how schooling experiences produce and reproduce inequalities in secondary education. This critical analysis utilizes the intersectionality framework to illustrate how the intersection of multiple identities such as gender, social class, sexuality, culture, and location influences girls' learning experiences and outcomes in secondary school in post-conflict Sierra Leone. I particularly draw on girls’ explanations of these issues as they negotiate and are affected by them. Therefore, a detailed qualitative ethnographic study was conducted in a secondary school from the south region of Sierra Leone to explore gendered experiences and their intersecting inequalities in everyday schooling. This is to understand the gendered institutional life of the school and as far as possible do this through the voices and perspectives of those within the school, especially the girls. What this research does is to broaden the in-school research knowledge by focusing on investigating the gendered process of learning, everyday formal and informal in-school interactions, cultures and practices and the intersection of gender with other social identities like sexuality, Socioeconomic status (SES), Location and Traditions. I also tracked how these new directions of knowledge influence girls' performance, retention, and attainment. This study adopted a qualitative research method using an ethnographic approach to examine the pupils’ and teachers' detailed secondary schooling experiences. This was achieved by using in-depth interviews to explore students’ individual personal experiences of secondary schooling. The studied participants were purposively selected based on the established parameters for this study. The findings of this study revealed a highly gendered school environment, and that the intersection of multiple identities, such as gender, social class, sexuality, culture, and location, exacerbates inequalities in secondary education and influences girls' learning experiences. Additionally, the study highlighted the impact of societal factors, such as early marriage and teenage pregnancy, on girls' educational outcomes, especially in a post-conflict context like Sierra Leone.