American Sociology Research Articles

Феномен доверия в философии Адама Селигмена

The article analyzes the picture of historical changes in perceptions of the phenomenon of trust, which was proposed by the American philosopher and sociologist Adam Seligman. For a long time thinkers perceived trust as something identical to “faith”. However, under the in­fluence of the works of Niklas Luhmann, this understanding began to be reconsidered. Trust began to be seen as an integral element of daily interactions and was explored not only as a part of interpersonal communication, but also as a part of an individual’s interaction with social institutions and systems. Luhmann showed that the phenomenon of trust plays a much important role in our lives than it was thought before, and this gave impetus to further re­search into trust. It was on this wave that Seligman’s concept of trust arose. In his opinion, the phenomenon of trust in its proper sense appeared only in the Modern Times and it was connected with the formation of individualism, increasing social differentiation and deepen­ing the division of labor. The individual becomes an autonomous bearer of values, and this changes the previous balance between social prescriptions and individual acts of will. Under the new conditions, people, according to Seligman, began to express themselves much more through actions that transcended social roles and reflected the uniqueness of the individual. The individual actualizes himself as an individual by moving from one social role to another in a space where there are no clear prescriptions and norms, thus deserving or losing the trust of others. For more complete comprehension of the phenomenon of trust the article compares trust with confidence, faith and spiritual closeness.

Theoretical Approaches towards Studying the Transformation of the Family Institution

The transformation of the institutions of marriage, family and parenthood in recent decades in the context of rapid social, economic, cultural and technological innovations worldwide encourages theorists to look for explanations of the nature and direction of the processes that are taking place. American sociologists of the family Stan Knapp and Greg Wurm present a rather promising systematization of the theoretical approaches to changes in the institution of the family. The criteria of approaches according to the authors’ typology: relationality – vertical / horizontal, and dimensionality – single / multidimensional. This article’s purpose is to reflect on this typology so that Russian researchers go beyond theorizing in the framework of “opposing paradigms of crisis – modernization of the institution of family” disputes, which are more ideological than scientific. The institutional approach is widely represented in the works of classics of foreign and Russian sociology of the family. The classic institutional approach is expanded upon by the works of representatives of the new institutional approach. In the approach of deinstitutionalization, the main emphasis is placed on increasing individual needs, with “family” being a “pure relationship”. The diversification approach, which was mentioned among others by the author of this very article in the mid-1990’s, seems to be the most constructive from an empirical point of view. The article shows the diversification of the family institution, the spread of new family structures in many countries with references to empirical studies and statistical sources. Knapp and Wurm, the authors of the presented typology, consider the approach of institutional logic in relation to the family to be promising. The main problems of its application are discussed in article. The application of the classical theory of family development, as it was formulated in the 20th century when normative family paths were dominant, is also problematized, together with the lack of Russian longitudinal studies and works that describe modern family life paths. What western sociologists agree on, and what the analysis of Russian studies confirms, are the differences in the models of organizing private life in different social groups, at least among educated and uneducated citizens. Analysis of trends in the prevalence of alternative forms of family life in different social groups allows us to assess the nature of changes in the institutions of marriage and family, either as evolutionary or transformational.

Max Weber in Russian. Prospects for a New Understanding of Sociological Classics / Interview prepared by L.A. Kozlova

In light of the release of the Russian translation of Max Weber’s “Economy and society”, the article examines the relationship between the socio-economic views of Weber and Marx, and analyzes Weber’s position on the possibilities of the creation, functioning, and prospects of a socialist economy. An important question is also investigated about the connection of various aspects of Weber’s biography with the peculiarities of his theoretical position. In particular, the concept of the “iron cage”, which served as an explanation for Weber’s theoretical positions in American sociology of the 20th century, is criticized.

Анализ формирования коллективной памяти профессиональных сообществ посредством конгрессов и круглых столов

В статье рассматривается возможность формирования коллективной памя­ти внутри небольших научных сообществ посредством проведения публич­ных мероприятий в формате круглых столов, конференций и конгрессов. Во многом научные встречи оказывали влияние на исследовательские ори­ентиры, становясь историческими событиями для тех или иных дисциплин. Философские конгрессы в данном случае не являются исключением: они стали традицией, что говорит о формализации практики коллективной па­мяти. По мнению автора, этой теме на сегодняшний день уделяется не­достаточно внимания, поскольку сами представления о коллективной па­мяти формировались в гуманитарном дискурсе, исходя из проблематики социальных макрогрупп. Тем не менее коннективная структура присуща не только им. Небольшие профессиональные сообщества также обладают собственной внутренней коллективной памятью, которая во многом уни­кальна, передается из поколения в поколение, конструирует идентичность группы и нуждается в изучении. Подтверждение этого тезиса автор находит в современной американской социологии, где уже на сегодняшний день су­ществуют и прорабатываются концепты трансактивной памяти. В качестве методологических источников для написания статьи были использованы работы М. Хальбвакса, П. Нора, Т.Г. Щедриной, П. Бергера, Т. Лукмана и др. Кроме этого, автор обращается к конкретным случаям формирования коллективной памяти внутри небольших сообществ, а именно к истории сектора Теории познания ИФ РАН.

Social stratification in Alain Touraine’s sociological theory

The article deals with the development of the theory of post-industrial society’s social stratification. Today it is difficult to present stratification research in the form of a harmonious ordered sequence. The social stratification theory of the famous French sociologist Alain Touraine does not fit any of the usual classical directions. He revises economic determinism and puts accents on the sphere of knowledge and culture. Touraine tries to overcome the long-standing traditions of structuralism through the analysis of social action and social relations when analyzing the social stratification system. The modern «programmable society» is characterized by departure from the economic struggle and economic decisions, which have lost the autonomy and the central place that they used to have in the previous societies. Touraine’s vision of the modern society’s social structure differs from the vision of other post-industrialism theorists, especially from the ideas of American sociology, in particular, those presented in D. Bell’s works. The author of the action theory focuses on the French model of society and takes into account the historical and cultural characteristics of its development. Touraine noted the significant changes which occurred in the stratification system of modern society and the nature of its main social conflict. It is the change in the power and the forms of social domination under the influence of new factors and social processes. The French sociologist made a significant contribution to the fact that the sociological explanation of the modern social stratification system is transformed. He described the main characteristics of the post-industrial society’s class structure, the main trends of its development, offered the ways of using some categories necessary for the description of the modern post-industrial society’s stratification system.

Sociology and philosophy in the United States since the sixties: Death and resurrection of a folk action obstacle

This article uses participant objectivation in sociology and philosophy as two knowledge fields to provide a reflexive comparison of their synced field effect in historical circumstances. Drawing on the philosopher and historian of science Gaston Bachelard, I theorize fielded knowledge as a social relation that combines the prior presence of folk knowledge with a socioanalytic exchange between field and folk that includes positions of either defense, replacement or critique. A comparison of post-Wittgenstein Anglophone philosophy and post-sixties American sociology describes their mutual confrontation with folk psychology as an “epistemological obstacle” that generates a remarkable concern with action as a position-taking on the folk relation. A reflexive objectivation of folk knowledge is therefore necessary for a revised understanding of action that correlates with the distinction of sociology’s knowledge capital and how it fares as an explanatory resource in competitive circumstances. The article concludes by leveraging the synced field effect even further to make a recommendation that sociologists can increase the distinction of their knowledge capital by producing discourse that can recognize, legitimate and officialize experiences that otherwise remain obscure, nameless or impossible within the bounded universe of folk psychology.

The Ritual of Cooperation and the Routine as a Tool for Shaping Social and Civic Competences – Based on the Thoughts of Richard Sennett

The subject of the article is the problem of the discrepancy between the actual educational practice in schools and the official policy and declarations regarding shaping social and civic competences, characterized, inter alia, by the ability to cooperate. The aim of the article is to try to answer the question about the causes of weakening the ability to cooperate in the everyday functioning of people and institutions. The answer to this question is analyzed on the basis of the source texts of Richard Sennett, an American sociologist who devoted a lot of space to this problem in his works. In the first part of the article, the author describes the problem of the condition of modern man. In the second part, she presents the problems of changes taking place in today's world that cause the "corrosion of character" of human. In the third part, she discusses the issue of cooperation ritual and routine, which have the power to educate. The last part of the article, she presents an attempt to answer the question about what one needs / what one can to be changed in contemporary education, so that the development of competencies important from the point of view of functioning in the contemporary world has become an essential tool for education and upbringing.

Public policy and public religion in the paradigm of religious freedom

The article analyzes the connection between public policy and public religion, examines the problems and prospects of their interaction, links the expansion of religious freedom with the level and degree of this relationship.
 The authors clarify the concepts of "public policy" and "public religion", which are the basic postulates of the article, that rest on the definitions given by modern domestic and foreign science.
 Investigating the presence of religion in the public sphere, the authors draw on the methodology proposed by American sociologist of religion J. Casanova. He identified three forms of collective self-organization of religion:
 1) institutional lobbying by religious groups;
 2) the mobilization of religious groups into social movements;
 3) self-organization and mobilization of religious groups into political parties.
 The authors use convincing examples of the presence or the absence of publicity in the religious sphere, which has a positive or negative impact on the religious freedom in the country.
 Based on the analysis of a specific socio-political situation, the authors argue that in Ukraine, especially after the Revolution of Dignity, there is a real possibility of public influence of people who unite in communities, incl. and religious ones. The right of public influence, then and now, is used by almost all religious organizations to express their attitude to politics and politicians, to the activities of state and public institutions. Going out into the public arena, churches, as a rule, describe themselves in a complimentary way, contributing to the growth of the authority of religious figures, the activation and self-organization of believers, the emergence of new forms of inter-denominational solidarity, and even ecumenical cooperation. But publicity does not only cover the positive aspects of religious organizations. Scandals, crimes, conflicts in the religious environment, becoming a public domain, exacerbate contradictions within the church structures themselves, between different denominational areas, between the church and society. The consolidating function of religion is dominant. Religious institutions as a component of civil society, on the one hand, and public policy, on the other, being attributes of a democratic state, capable of achieving sustainable development, overcoming contradictions and conflicts between different socio-political, socio-cultural and religious groups.
 The authors illustrate the importance of public activity of advisory and interfaith associations at higher levels of government. There are currently 8 institutions in Ukraine, which try to overcome misunderstandings and tensions in the religious and political sphere. Within their limits, public discussions between religious organizations and the state relate to various relevant areas (introduction of military chaplaincy, organization of alternative service and pastoral care, simplification of registration of religious organizations, reforms in the field of religious education, changes to the tax code, etc.).
 The dynamics of self-organization of religious groups into political parties is interesting. In Ukraine, unlike other countries, religious parties did not spread, did not become popular. Politicians are actually indifferent to a religious resource. This is evident from the article in the analysis of the election programs of the candidates of the last presidential campaign.
 All these trends are confirmed by opinion polls conducted annually by the Analytic centre of O. Razumkov. The authors illustrate their theoretical conclusions with these materials, which prove that the lack of transparent public policy may carry the risks of aggravation of the socio-political situation, which is why tolerance of inter-denominational and state-church relations is so important.
 The special role here belongs to religious scholars as subjects of public policy, through whom the interaction of society and the state with the religious sphere becomes more effective.

The denial of slavery in contemporary American sociology

American sociology has largely neglected enslavement as a topic of study, despite slavery’s being one of the most foundational, pervasive, and far-reaching social institutions in the West. In this paper I explain this scholarly neglect as stemming from three factors. First, disciplinary parochialism has blinded US sociologists to the complex interweaving of enslavement with the systems of oppression that sociology has decided to care about. Second, presentism, an ahistorical “account” of the past that culminates in a preference for present-day events and institutions, has relegated slavery to history. Finally, theoretical frameworks that revise enslavement as “ennobling” erase the long-term effects of psychological and physical violence on the descendants of enslaved peoples.

What may we hope for? Education in times of climate change

What may we hope for? Education in times of climate change

On Mimesis, Folkways, and the Impossibility of Christianity

Neither rationally constructed nor intentionally imposed, humans live much of their lives guided by unspoken folkway traditions passed on from genera- tion to generation. As the American sociologist William Graham Sumner reminded us over a century ago, those norms that prescribe “acceptable” social behavior bubble up from everyday life experience, rather than imposed from the top by cultural authorities. Sumner’s insights throw further light on the mimetic theory developed by René Girard and offer a more nuanced understanding of how mimesis actually works. The benefit of the extraordinary grip that folkway traditions hold on us is their utilitarian value and resultant cost-effectiveness in terms of expenditure of mental energy. We follow folkway traditions to save time and mental energy. It is the thesis of this paper that Jesus recognized this power of customary thinking as a determinant of human behavior, and it was his strategy to attack specifically those folkway traditions that were exclusionary in nature in “shocking” ways that agitated many who followed generally accepted behavioral norms. As a result, it is wrong to take Jesus for a moral law-giver, even with such benign terms as a new “law of love,” or the like. In fact, he did not propose a new formal legal tradition, but challenged individuals to reflect consciously on their unthinking behavior and assume responsible ownership of it. To follow Jesus, therefore, does not so much imply a deeper understanding of love, but a deeper understanding of the unconscious decision-making processes that unwittingly guide our everyday lives.

Investment Opportunity of Financial Technology

FinTech is a new term combining finance and technology. The term did not exist until the end of 2014. Although there is agreement over what finance is, there is no agreed upon definition of technology. It changes with time. American sociologist Read Bain wrote in 1937 that technology includes all tools, machines, utensils, weapons, instruments, housing, clothing, communicating devices, and transporting devices and the skills by which we produce and use them. Scientist Ursula Franklin [1992] gave a different definition in 1989 and referred to technology as a “practice, the way we do things around here.” Rather than referring to the objects that people produce and use, scientists and engineers usually prefer to define technology as applied science. Still, there are other views, such as French philosopher Bernard Stiegler’s (1988) definition of technology as “the pursuit of life by means other than life” and as “organized inorganic matter.”

Antidote to Alienation: The Voluntary Association in the Work of Robert Nisbet

The American sociologist Robert Nisbet argued that alienation was endemic in the modern world. He blamed processes of individualization and politicization where political power was utilized to separate individuals from intermediate associations. While Nisbet was accused of nostalgia for a lost past of medieval communalism, he pointed to the voluntary association as a source of community in the modern world. Using Nisbet's historical and sociological analysis, this article explains the phenomena of alienation in Nisbet's thought and argues that the voluntary association is capable of integrating individuals into meaningful communities.

The Culminating Crisis of American Sociology and Its Role in Social Science and Public Policy: An Autobiographical, Multimethod, Reflexive Perspective

For over 50 years I have been, and remain, an interdisciplinary social scientist seeking to develop and apply social science to improve the well-being of human individuals and social life. Sociology has been my disciplinary home for 48 of these years. As a researcher/scholar, teacher, administrator, and member of review panels in both sociology and interdisciplinary organizations that include and/or intersect with sociology, I have sought to improve the quality and quantity of sociolog ists and sociolog y. This article offers my assessment as a participant observer of what (largely American) sociology has been over the course of my lifetime, which is virtually coterminous with the history of modern (post–World War II) sociology, and what it might become. I supplement my participant observations with those of others with similarly broad perspectives, and with broader literature and quantitative indicators on the state of sociology, social science, and society over this period.I entered sociology and social science at a time (the 1960s and early 1970s) when they were arguably their most dynamic and impactful, both within themselves and also with respect to intersections with other disciplines and the larger society. Whereas the third quarter of the twentieth century was a golden age of growth and development for sociology and the social sciences, the last quarter of that century saw sociology and much of social science—excepting economics and, to some extent, psychology—decline in size, coherence, and extradisciplinary connections and impact, not returning until the beginning of the twenty-first century, if at all, to levels reached in the early 1970s. Over this latter period, I and numerous other observers have bemoaned sociology's lack of intellectual unity (i.e., coherence and cohesion), along with attendant dissension and problems within the discipline and in its relation to the other social sciences and public policy. The twenty-first century has seen much of the discipline, and its American Sociological Association (ASA), turn toward public and critical sociology, yet this shift has come with no clear indicators of improvement of the state of the discipline and some suggestions of further decline.The reasons for and implications of all of this are complex, reflecting changes within the discipline and in its academic, scientific, and societal environments. This article can only offer initial thoughts and directions for future discussion, research, and action. I do, however, believe that sociology's problems are serious, arguably a crisis, and have been going on for almost a half-century, at the outset of which the future looked much brighter.It is unclear whether the discipline as now constituted can effectively confront, much less resolve, these problems. Sociolog ists continue to do excellent work, arguably in spite of rather than because of their location within the current discipline of sociolog y. They might realize the brighter future that appeared in the offing as of the early 1970s for sociology and its impact on other disciplines and society if they assumed new organizational and/or disciplinary forms, as has been increasingly occurring in other social sciences, the natural sciences, and even the humanities. Society needs more and better sociology. The question is how can we deliver it.

The More American Sociology Seeks to Become a Politically-Relevant Discipline, the More Irrelevant it Becomes to Solving Societal Problems

The long-standing divide between sociology as an activist discipline vs. sociology as a science is examined in light of the current trend for American sociology focus on a limited set of justice issues resulting from inequalities and discrimination against certain categories of persons. Increasingly, this trend is pushing sociology toward become an activist discipline and, as a result, an ideologically-oriented discipline in its teaching and research activities. The outcome of this trend is the growing marginalization of those committed to sociology as a science in departments and academic meetings, resulting in demoralization of sociology’s scientists and their escalating concern over their fate in a discipline increasingly mimicking a social movement organization. Even more damaging to sociology will be a loss of respect inside academia and a loss of relevance among publics not sharing American sociology’s political biases. Furthermore, the chance for sociology to use its vast store of knowledge to help clients of all types solve their organizational problems will be lost if sociology is defined as a political rather than scientific enterprise. Sociology will thus willingly leave the vast resource niche for applications of social science knowledge to disciplines that know little about social organization (i.e., economics and psychology). Sociology will endure, of course, but it will not realize its enormous potential for reshaping societies.

Boltzmann Entropy for the Spatial Information of Raster Data

Abstract. Entropy is an important concept that originated in thermodynamics. It is the subject of the famous Second Law of Thermodynamics, which states that “the entropy of a closed system increases continuously and irrevocably toward a maximum” (Huettner 1976, 102) or “the disorder in the universe always increases” (Framer and Cook 2013, 21). Accordingly, it has been widely regarded as an ideal measure of disorder. Its computation can be theoretically performed according to the Boltzmann equation, which was proposed by the Austrian physicist Ludwig Boltzmann in 1872. In practice, however, the Boltzmann equation involves two problems that are difficult to solve, that is the definition of the macrostate of a system and the determination of the number of possible microstates in the microstate. As noted by the American sociologist Kenneth Bailey, “when the notion of entropy is extended beyond physics, researchers may not be certain how to specify and measure the macrostate/microstate relations” (Bailey 2009, 151). As a result, this entropy (also referred to as Boltzmann entropy and thermodynamic entropy) has remained largely at a conceptual level. In practice, the widely used entropy is actually proposed by the American mathematician, electrical engineer, and cryptographer Claude Elwood Shannon in 1948, hence the term Shannon entropy. Shannon entropy was proposed to quantify the statistical disorder of telegraph messages in the area of communications. The quantification result was interpreted as the information content of a telegraph message, hence also the term information entropy. This entropy has served as the cornerstone of information theory and was introduced to various fields including chemistry, biology, and geography. It has been widely utilized to quantify the information content of geographic data (or spatial data) in either a vector format (i.e., vector data) or a raster format (i.e., raster data). However, only the statistical information of spatial data can be quantified by using Shannon entropy. The spatial information is ignored by Shannon entropy; for example, a grey image and its corresponding error image share the same Shannon entropy. Therefore, considerable efforts have been made to improve the suitability of Shannon entropy for spatial data, and a number of improved Shannon entropies have been put forward. Rather than further improving Shannon entropy, this study introduces a novel strategy, namely shifting back from Shannon entropy to Boltzmann entropy. There are two advantages of employing Boltzmann entropy. First, as previously mentioned, Boltzmann entropy is the ideal, standard measure of disorder or information. It is theoretically capable of quantifying not only the statistical information but also the spatial information of a data set. Second, Boltzmann entropy can serve as the bridge between spatial patterns and thermodynamic interpretations. In this sense, the Boltzmann entropy of spatial data may have wider applications. In this study, Boltzmann entropy is employed to quantify the spatial information of raster data, such as images, raster maps, digital elevation models, landscape mosaics, and landscape gradients. To this end, the macrostate of raster data is defined, and the number of all possible microstates in the macrostate is determined. To demonstrate the usefulness of Boltzmann entropy, it is applied to satellite remote sensing image processing, and a comparison is made between its performance and that of Shannon entropy.

Koncepcja bezinteresowności ekonomicznej Talcotta Parsonsa

The task of the paper is to analyze Talcott Parsons’ concept of economic disinterestedness, which the classical American sociologist introduced at an early stage of his work. It is aimed at economic orthodoxy, whose permanent foundation is the still vital figure of homo oeconomicus. The concept of disinterestedness is about crossing the limits of one’s own advantage in economic activities. When justifying the concept, Parsons refers to Alfred Marshall and his concept of a “gentleman of the world of free industry and entrepreneurship” and Max Weber’s concept of the “spirit of capitalism”. According to Parsons, the embodiment of disinterestedness in advanced capitalism should become a specific type of bureaucracy.

Мода как механизм формирования социокультурных образцов и стилей поведения. Концепция Г. Блумера

<p>В статье показано, что теоретические работы, рассматривающие моду классового общества конца ХIХ — ХХ в., составили научную базу для становления и формирования научной мысли о моде. Автор прослеживает тенденции развития моды и их отражение в культурфилософской и социологической литературе, доказывает, что мода выступает как мощный фактор формирования и трансляции социокультурных образцов.</p><p>Значительное внимание в статье уделяется взглядам П. Бурдье, Ж.-Г. Тарда, Э. С. Богардуса, А. Ленгле. Особое значение автор придает работам известного американского социолога Г. Блумера, который в значительной степени пересматривает подход Г. Зиммеля к феномену моды и расширяет трактовку моды как явления, распространяемого на все сферы человеческой деятельности — поведение, искусство, науку. Автор показывает современность взглядов Г. Блумера, который, отказавшись от трактовки моды как механизма классовой дифференциации, сосредоточивается на ее способности выступать в качестве механизма коллективного отбора. Концептуальное положение исследователя о том, что мода формируется не только естественным путем, но и создается искусственно, позволяет автору рассмотреть ряд тенденций в сфере военно-патриотического воспитания, усиливающих патриотические настроения.</p><p>В качестве примера разбираются тенденции развития модной одежды в стиле милитари, представленные отечественными торговыми марками и разработанные одним из представителей российской моды — дизайнером В. Юдашкиным. Введение новой военной формы, соответствующей и технологически, и эстетически современным тенденциям, а также представление этой коллекции Верховному главнокомандующему в 2008 г., состоявшей примерно из 70 моделей, привело к подъему патриотических настроений в обществе и существенному улучшению имиджа Российской армии.</p>

Abandon canon in American sociology

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to challenge the practice of having, using and constructing any canon in sociological theory. This paper argues that the elitism of American sociology and the forms of inequality it engenders are sustained by the construction of a canon itself.Design/methodology/approachThis paper adopts a conceptual approach to examine the problems of research practice, academic writing, inequality and empirical translation that canonical thinking engenders within the academy and beyond.FindingsReflecting on the problems outlined, this paper articulates a more democratic agenda for treating canon in research and education by drawing upon standards of practice in ethnography, participatory action research and Southern Theory.Originality/valueThis paper interrogates the relations of domination that remain at work in the discipline and that which concern the elite position of American sociology itself.

The current problems of the digital reflection of social reality: rethinking scientific concepts

Need of new reading of sociological concepts of society of risk, network society, complex society and different scientific views on modern society in relation to process of an institutionalization of digital sociology as special sociological theory, subject matter and special methodology of knowledge of digital reality has been substantiated. Methodological approaches to use of the principles, the ideas and categories of various schools of sciences, groups of erudite and certain representatives of sociological science to development of the conceptual and categorial device, methodical potential and tools of digital sociology have been adduced. Special attention has been paid to the consideration of the concept of social network of the American sociologist Richard Mark Emerson in the context of digitalization. From positions of the concept of Richard Mark Emerson emergence of new dependences of users of Internet network on special category of subjects socially of interaction – moderators, administrators, owners of resources, the controlling public authorities and also manipulators of people’s attention has been explained; the specific motivation, which reveals itself in such phenomena as hypertrophied aspiration to the self-presentation (“selfie”, etc.); representation of the distorted virtual image for communications, hyperactivity in the appeal to various resources (“Internet surfing”) and also prevalence of motivators and estimated means – anonymous comments, “likes”, posts, reposts, symbolical encouragement and awards. Besides that, the behavior of Internet users has been considered in the context of the theory of the rational choice of the American sociologist James S. Coleman: at all risks of virtual interaction, the choice for integration of social communications into digital space, use of Internet resources for satisfaction of personal and group needs brings more vital benefits for people, than folding of social activity in the Internet network.