Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities

Svetlana Stephenson

I am a Senior Lecturer in International Comparative Sociology/Social Policy at this university. I joined London Metropolitan University in 2001, having previously worked as a researcher at the universities of Essex and Luton. Before that I had worked for 10 years at the Russian Centre for Public Opinion Research in Moscow.

I have researched urban social organisation in Moscow and written on disadvantaged social groups in urban informal economy (sex workers, street children and homeless people). My most recent research has been on youth gangs and violence in Russia. I have also carried out research on social capital; civil society, human rights and social justice in Russia and Eastern Europe.

My consultancy work included advising the Department of International Development on juvenile justice in Russia and the World Bank on poverty in Russia. I also worked with the International Labour Organisation on child labour in Russia, and prepared a report on Youth and Violence in Moscow for the Council of Europe. I am a member of the Editorial Board of the “European Journal of Homelessness”.

Education and Academic Qualifications

1996 Candidate of Sciences Degree (Ph.D.) in Sociology, Institute of Sociology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow

1984 MA in History, Moscow State Pedagogical University. Qualification awarded: Teacher of history and foundations of state and law

Selected Publications

Stephenson, S. (2006), Crossing the line. Vagrancy, homelessness and social displacement in Russia, Ashgate, Aldershot.

  • Stephenson, S. (2008), Searching for home. Street youth and organized crime in Russia, in D.Brotherton and M.Flynn, eds, Globalizing the Streets. Cross- Cultural Perspectives on Youth,Social Control, and Empowerment, New York: Columbia University Press, pp.78-92.
  • Stephenson, S. (2008). Russian gangs, in D.Brotherton and L.Kontos, eds. Encyclopedia of Gangs, Greenwood Press, pp. 214-216.
  • Stephenson, S. (2008), The dog that could not bark, in R.Sollund, ed., Global Harms. Speciesism and Ecological Crime, Nova Publishers,  pp.151-166.
  • Stephenson, S. (2002), Child Labour in the Russian Federation, ILO, Geneva
  • Stephenson, S. (2001), Street children in Moscow: using and creating social capital, The Sociological Review, Vol.49, No. 4, pp.530-547
  • Stephenson, S. (2000), Civil society and its agents in the postcommunist world – the case of the Russian voluntary sector, Social Policy Review, 12, pp. 272-294.