ABSTRACT
This explanatory study of the adaptation of Western economics in Russia includes analyses of ideas, actors, processes, and artifacts that are involved in material and symbolic changes in Russian universities. Previous research on change in organizations in general and higher education organizations in particular suggest that cases (Clark, 1956; Epper, 1997; Hammond, 1984; Hartley, 1994; Selznick, 1949; Stensaker & Norgard, 2001; Van Loon, 2001) and narrative analytical approaches (Clark, 1972; Czarniawska, 1997; Gabriel, 1998, 2000; Morril, Yalda, Adelman, Musheno, & Bejarano, 2000) are effective tools for conducting such studies. In this investigation I employ both methods complementarily. The cases reflect the accounts of adaptation presented in official university publications, while the narrative analysis adds the perspectives of individuals who participated in this change process to the cases.
