Paradoxical Manifestations of Institutional Social Trust in Russian Regions: Corruption and Shadow Employment as Types of Social Trust

Abstract

Introduction. The paradoxicality of which lies in the fact that with a lack of official institutional trust of the population in the authorities, it flows into informal, criminal and semi-criminal social spheres, into corrupt social ties and groups, and into the informal economy, shadow employment. The purpose of the article is to conduct a sociological theoretical and methodological analysis of the paradoxical forms of institutional social trust in Russian society in the form of corrupt and shadow economic ties. Materials and Methods. Empirical data on the shadow labor market in the Russian Federation were obtained in the course of mass and expert surveys conducted in 2021 in 10 regions of the Russian Federation and 2 megacities. In the course of preparing this publication, general scientific, logical methods were used, structural-functional, sociocultural, anthroposociocultural, projective approaches in modern sociology, the method of sociological imagination, the methodology of analysis and the formation of “we-groups”. Results. In the course of the authors’ research, it was found that such negative social phenomena as domestic and business corruption, shadow (informal) employment are a paradoxical form of expression of institutional trust in society. The paradox of the sociological correlation of corruption and shadow employment with institutional trust only at first glance seems illogical and contrary to sound scientific understanding. As a result of the analysis, the authors have revealed that with a lack of basic institutional trust of the Russian population in state and municipal authorities, social trust flows into informal, semi-criminal and criminal spheres. It has been proved that corruption and informal employment as forms of social practice become forms of expression of specific political trust based on strong social ties (blood related, kindred, friendly) in Russian regions. The authors’ team determined that corruption and informal employment are becoming a type of informal social self-organization of society, which close the gap between the political communications of the elite and the expectations of civil society. Discussion and Conclusion. Corruption and the informal economy are becoming a paradoxical form of manifestation of situational, horizontal, institutional trust based on strong (blood related, kindred, friendly) ties, on the social ties of “we-groups”, on the atomism of the Russian regional society. This research can be practically used by sociologists, lawyers, criminologists, social psychologists, law enforcement officers of the Russian Federation.