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The Production of Ambition: the Making of a Baltic Business Elite

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The Production of Ambition: the Making of a Baltic Business Elite The Production of Ambition: the making of a Baltic business elite Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Anja Timm Department of Anthropology London School of Economics and Political Science University o f London 2002 UMI Number: U198707 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U198707 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 ~f^eses r 3 5 3 g Library British Library of Political and Economic Science ABSTRACT This dissertation comments on the current period of intense social change in the former Soviet Union by charting processes of elite production at a business school in Riga, Latvia. It is concerned with an ethnically diverse group of students from the Baltic states who attend a Swedish institution established to accelerate the transition. I suggest that rather than producing ‘catalysts of change’ the business school represents a foreign-direct-investment into human capital. The thesis tackles the transnational complexities of the organisation by combining ethnographic description with an analysis of the historical and ideological shifts in international relations and a review of the anthropological literature on socialism. The thesis also responds to the lack of anthropological research on elites by presenting the first ethnographic study of a business school. It investigates elite schooling practices and parameters through an engagement with the debates on reproduction in education. In Riga an off-the-peg curriculum sidelines issues specifically concerned with the Baltic context; instead of addressing local problems students are increasingly drawn towards transnational corporations. During their attendance they partially develop their own agenda, which is a finding that questions prevalent assumptions about the docility of students in elite education. Other key factors of the students’ transformation are language, image, style, school space and consumption. Their collective grooming project forms an important part of the esprit de corps at the school. Additionally, the thesis highlights the establishment of multi­ ethnic networks on the basis of shared interests, thus challenging one-dimensional reports of nationalism in the region. Caught between the post-Soviet context and a forceful Swedish vision of change students experience upward mobility along with problematic negotiations of ongoing circumstances. Intended as a contribution to anthropological studies of post­ socialism the thesis explains how the business school generates graduates who are willing and desirable recruits for the capitalist expansion. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT...................................................................................... 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS...............................................................................................3 LIST OF TABLES......................................................................................................... 4 INTRODUCTION TO THE THESIS...........................................................................7 Fieldwork Site........................................................................................................... 9 Access Arrangements.............................................................................................. 13 Methodology............................................................................................................18 Latvian anthropology..............................................................................................27 Scope of the thesis................................................................................................... 31 Structure of the thesis..............................................................................................34 First day at REA...................................................................................................... 36 1. SOCIALISM AND THE BALTIC STATES........................................................42 Introduction............................................................................................................. 42 1.1 Anthropological perspectives of Socialism.....................................................44 1.2 The Baltic states in the Soviet period.............................................................. 58 2. TRANSITION AND THE SWEDISH INPUT.....................................................66 Introduction..............................................................................................................66 2.1 Transitology vs. uncertain trajectories............................................................ 70 2.2 Transition and nation-building in Latvia......................................................... 76 2.3 Nordic co-operation and Swedish dominance.................................................87 2.4 Sweden’s bilateral thrust.................................................................................. 92 2.5 REA: mission, funding and set................................................................... u p 95 2.6 Conclusion.......................................................................................................100 3. ELITE RECRUITMENT AND EDUCATION AT REA................................... 102 Introduction............................................................................................................102 3.1 Elite schooling and reproduction theory......................... :.............................104 3.2 REA recruitment channels..............................................................................110 3.3 Selection criteria for REA students................................................................118 3.4 The REA curriculum and faculty...................................................................124 3.5 Conclusion.......................................................................................................132 4. STUDENTS’ RESPONSES TO REA SCHOOLING................. 135 Introduction............................................................................................................135 4.1 Forging the transnational connection.............................................................138 4.2 Institutional intention and educational outcomes..........................................146 4.3 Students’ reaction to the REA programme................................................... 149 4.4 Theoretical implications: non-conformism and aspirations.........................159 4.5 Conclusion.......................................................................................................166 3 5. SPACE, GROOMING AND STYLE AT REA...................................................168 Introduction............................................................................................................168 5.1 The Swedish nature of REA space.................................................................171 5.2 Communicating the agenda of change.......................................................... 181 5.3 Negotiating visible identifications: consumption at REA............................191 5.4 Theoretical considerations of space, grooming and consumption..............202 6. DISCONTINUITIES, DIFFERENTIALS AND ESPRIT DE CORPS .............209 Introduction........................................................................................................... 209 6.1 REA vs. home .................................................................................................212 6.2 Issues of nationality, citizenship and difference.......................................... 225 6.3 Language and politics at REA........................................................................234 6.4 Esprit de corps at REA...................................................................................245 7. DESTINIES AND DESTINATIONS .................................................................. 257 Introduction........................................................................................................... 257 7.1 Deciding between corporate and local futures............................................. 259 7.2 Conflicting tendencies: academic vs. applied engagements....................... 267 7.3 Mutual seduction: students and companies......................................... meet 274 7.4 Arriving at the corporate destination.............................................................281 7.5 Dropping out, studying on and post-REA networking................................287 8. CONCLUSION TO THE THESIS...................................................................... 301 Students’ motivations and the REA programme................................................ 303 Reproduction vs. non-compliance and collaboration......................................... 305 The centrality of grooming and consumption.....................................................307 Esprit de corps: networking on neutral ground...................................................310
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