Ritual Inclusion? Discourses and Constraints of Social Policy in Higher Education

Abstract

This article examines the constraints on implementing social policy in inclusive higher education in Russia. Despite the development of regulatory frameworks and improvements in infrastructure, inclusive practices remain fragmented, and key barriers persist across different institutional contexts. The study is based on a systematic review of academic publications from 2015 to 2025, conducted using PRISMA procedures and qualitative thematic synthesis. The analysis reconstructs the dominant discourses of inclusion: infrastructural, pedagogical and value-­based. The findings demonstrate that limitations in the implementation of inclusion policies stem from a lack of alignment between these discourses; the development of material and technical infrastructure, as well as the declarative endorsement of inclusive principles, are not accompanied by comparable changes in pedagogical practices. The 'readiness paradox' identified among academic staff reflects a discrepancy between recognising the importance of inclusion and having the practical capacity to implement it. The study contributes to this field of research by interpreting these contradictions as a structural imbalance in social policy, which is reproduced through differences in the institutionalisation of its key components. It shows that this configuration creates a tendency towards the 'ritualization' of inclusion, whereby formal changes do not lead to a transformation of educational practices. The results highlight the need to synchronise infrastructural, pedagogical and value-­based components institutionally through social policy mechanisms, including changes to funding principles, coordination and the evaluation of inclusion quality.