A Third-Sector Career in Russia: The Structure and Patterns of Social Mobility

Although Russia's third sector has grown into a prominent share of the labour market, little research has considered career mobility in non-profit organizations. This article looks at the life histories of employees in non-profit organizations in Russia with the goal of understanding the specifics of individual careers in the third sector. The research utilizes the resource approach, which conceptualizes inequality as unequal possession of material and non-material resources, and individual careers as the process of their accumulation. The findings reveal that the key form of capital in Russia's third sector is social capital: defined by respondents as stemming from the breadth and diversity of social ties, and a deep solidarity with fellow non-profit organizations. Better access to scarce social resources (donors) opens up opportunities for better earnings, higher managerial positions, and wider opportunities for lifelong learning and the advancement of competences demanded in the post-Soviet labour market. The model of a successful career in non-profit organizations (associated with higher levels of human and administrative capitals) shares some similarity with successful careers typical in other sectors. And yet the third sector is specific for the fact that it allows upward mobility for those who are alienated from the core labour market because of disability or for family reasons. More resourceful individuals also opted for third-sector careers as a way of coping with loss and downward mobility in the aftermath of the market transition in the early 1990s. The key disadvantages of third-sector careers in Russia include lowand unstable remuneration, social alienation, the disregard of non-profit professional experience in the business world, and a general disregard by the population. In general, third-sector careers reflect the structural deficiencies of civil society in today's Russia.