THE BEEKEEPERS: A GROUP OF ATYPICAL RURAL MOBILITY

Marina Morekhanova

Petr P. Velikiy

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.