Russian Sociology Research Articles

The Professional Culture of Russian Engineering and Technical Specialists

This article addresses universal elements in the professional culture of engineers and technical specialists, who demonstrate an ideology of working insistently and tirelessly, masculinity, rationality, an aesthetic appreciation for technical solutions, and a gravitation toward creative work. The theoretical framework is provided by the works of Soviet and Russian sociologists of labor and employment, as well as foreign publications on engineering culture; data used are from semi-formal interviews. The article concludes that there are Russian specifics within the phenomenon being examined: on one hand, elements of the culture of Soviet engineers and technical specialists, and on the other hand, characteristics of behavioral models and professional communication transmitted by global corporate standards.

Россия в контексте пространственного развития: взгляд с периферии Ближнего Севера


 Анатолий Васильевич Дмитриев – член-корреспондент РАН, доктор философских наук, профессор, главный научный сотрудник, руководитель группы конфликтогенности миграции Отдела этнической социологии, Институт социологии РАН. Адрес: 117218, Москва, ул. Кржижановского, 24/35, к. 5, офис 107. Е-mail: mig@isras.ru
 Виктор Васильевич Воронов – доктор социологических наук, профессор, ведущий научный сотрудник Центра региональной социологии и конфликтологии, Институт социологии РАН. Адрес: 117218, Москва, ул. Кржижановского, 24/35, к. 5, офис 509; ведущий исследователь Центра социальных исследований Института гуманитарных и социальных наук, Даугавпилсский университет. Е-mail: viktor.voronov@du.lv
 Цитирование: Дмитриев А.В., Воронов В.В. (2017) Россия в контексте пространственного развития: взгляд с периферии Ближнего Севера // Мир России. Т. 26. № 4. С. 169–181. DOI: 10.17323/1811-038X-2017-26-4-169-181
 
 Более 15 лет в Мантуровском районе Костромской области развивается Угорский проект – объединение на основе Сообщества профессиональных социологов под руководством профессора Н.Е. Покровского и ведущих специалистов совместно с научной молодежью, представляющих разные отрасли социальных наук: демографию, социологию, социальную биологию, социальную географию, экономику и другие. В ходе полевых исследований, апробации их результатов на научно-практических конференциях, в преподавательской практике и публикациях участники проекта сформулировали обобщенную теоретическую модель («клеточная» глобализация) и эмпирическую методологию. Это позволило проводить комплексные междисциплинарные исследования разнородных процессов и явлений, характерных для российского социума Ближнего Севера, дать им научное объяснение и наметить возможные сценарии развития региона.В рецензии анализируются представленные в трех коллективных монографиях результаты комплексного междисциплинарного исследования большого коллектива ученых об особенностях пространственного развития периферийных территорий Ближнего Севера в европейской части России в различных аспектах: социально-экономическом, социально-географическом, экологическом, социокультурном и демографическом. Рассматриваются вопросы деградации («социальное опустынивание») сельских сообществ Нечерноземья вследствие резкого сжатия сельскохозяйственного производства и разрушения социально-экономической, социокультурной и административной инфраструктуры сельских поселений, которые порождают кризис идентичности и социальный пессимизм у местных жителей.Анализируются предложенные авторами для преодоления деградации сельских сообществ новые экономические паттерны, обладающие определенными инновационными характеристиками (очаговая сельскохозяйственная экономика, современное отходничество), новые социальные явления и формы взаимодействий (фрилансеры, удаленная работа, мобильная медицина и другое), а также возможности их развития в современных условиях.

Питирим Сорокин и его теория революции


 Михаил Федорович Черныш – доктор социологических наук, заместитель директора, Институт социологии РАН. Адрес: 117218, Москва, ул. Кржижановского, д. 24/35, к. 5. E-mail: che@isras.ru
 Цитирование: Черныш М.Ф. (2017) Питирим Сорокин и его теория революции // Мир России. Т. 26. № 4. С. 71–96. DOI: 10.17323/1811-038X-2017-26-4-71-96
 
 Российско-американский социолог Питирим Сорокин обобщил свои мысли о Февральской и Октябрьской революциях в нескольких работах. В автобиографии «Длинная дорога» собраны воспоминания о том, как он присоединился к революционному движению, вступил в партию эсеров, агитировал рабочих и крестьян за свержение царского режима. После победы Февральской революции Сорокин стал одним из активных сторонников Временного правительства, секретарем Александра Керенского. Живые впечатления той эпохи он объединил не только в автобиографии, но и записках, в которых отражены развитие событий, стихия революционного хаоса, постепенно захвативших Россию в 1917 году. В работе «Социология революции» Сорокин сделал попытку (возможно, одну из первых) создать на основе российских событий собственную теорию революции. В ней он опирается на новейшую, с его точки зрения, теорию условных и безусловных рефлексов. В период революции, полагал он, общество входит в состояние, когда обеспечивающие социальный порядок условные рефлексы перестают оказывать свое сдерживающее влияние. Социальный порядок, который поддерживается условными рефлексами, распадается, уступая месту стихийным, деструктивным, животным по своей природе рефлексам. Теория революции Сорокина получила благоприятные отзывы среди его американских коллег, однако в Европе, а также в среде российской эмиграции она рассматривалась, скорее, как антибольшевистский манифест, не имеющий серьезной научной ценности. В сорокинской теории революция представала событием, вырванным из истории и не имеющим ни предпосылок, которые создавались политикой предыдущей власти, и ни последствий не только негативного, но и позитивного свойства. Тем не менее при всех своих недостатках теория революции Сорокина сохраняет свою ценность для российской социологии и как свидетельство эпохи, и как критика российской склонности к «историзму», заключающемуся в попытке отыскать ответ на сложные вопросы в стихии насильственной смены власти.

The Sociology of Culture in the Soviet Union and Russia: The Missed Turn

This article maps the development of the sociology of culture in the Soviet Union and Russia from pre-Soviet to post-Soviet times. The analysis highlights the effects of two groups of factors – one cultural, the other structural – the combination of which brought about various patterns at each stage of the discipline’s development. Because of the political environment within which they worked, Soviet researchers of culture had to employ strategies of resistance to survive. The three most common were: finding niches in related, ideologically neutral disciplines; doing purely empirical work; or, in contrast, critiquing ‘bourgeois social theories’. They also opted to work in the modes of reading rather than writing, oral discussions rather than publishing, and communication with like-minded colleagues rather than debates with opponents. Contemporary Russian sociology of culture displays this inheritance in being structured by the opposition between isolation and international integration, as well as the tension between an elitist vision of culture and the economically centered worldview which has been dominant since the 1990s.

Russian agon and the quest for theoretical sociology

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to represent an epistemological analysis of Russian sociological scholarship.Design/methodology/approachThe analytical approach that allows reducing the particular representations within the sum of propositions is the methodological base of the paper. Clearing of propositional attitudes explains the basic communications in a thought of researchers. The circle of grounds available to achievement of intuitively noticed purposes defines the preferences of researchers in general.FindingsThe author proves that the theoretical developments in the Russian sociology are possible as a derivative from the development of questions, which are raised nowadays in worldwide science, but possible in a view of original development of questions, which were raised in worldwide science in the past.Research limitations/implicationsThe Russian sociology represents a part of the European humanities, which is based on the various forms of theoretical combat or agonality.Practical implicationsThe author shows the ways out of the theoretical combat or agonality.Social implicationsThe research clarifies the perspectives for increasing of the knowledge-based society in Russia. The author analyzes the concept of Russia as a paradigmatic society, particularly in the context of transition economies.Originality/valueIn general, the author concludes that the pro-argument with respect to theoretical developments is weaker than the contra-argument with respect to theoretical developments. This paper has revealed the model within which extreme positions can be reconciled.

Русская историческая социология: междисциплинарный синтез, методология культурвитализма в исследованиях жизненных сил народонаселения

Русская историческая социология: междисциплинарный синтез, методология культурвитализма в исследованиях жизненных сил народонаселения

Экспертные сообщества Сибирского и Дальневосточного федеральных округов о факторах и условиях единения народов России, Украины и Белоруссии в начале XXI века

The data characterizing the demographic bases of differentiation in Siberia and the Far East of expert assessments of a number of factors and conditions for inhibition and stimulation of the sociocultural and national-state unity of the peoples of modern Russia, Ukraine and Belarus are presented. The data were obtained during the first stage of the International Research Project «The main factors and conditions for the inhibition (stimulation) of the socio-cultural unification of the peoples of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus at the beginning of the 21st century», implemented under the auspices of the REC «Culture is the basis of the quality of education ...» of the International Fund for Slavic Writing and Culture, Institute of Art Education and Cultural Studies of RAO, Research Committee of Social Qualimetry of the Russian Sociological Association. They testify to the significant socio-demographic differences in assessments of experts characterizing the main factors and conditions of inhibition (stimulation) of the socio-cultural and national-state unity of the peoples of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus at the beginning of the 21st century.

Problems of Taxonomy, Issues of Class, Citizenship, Consumption, and Avdot’ia Smirnova’s KoKoKo (2012)

ABSTRACTSundry discussions of Russian society by scholars, journalists, and politicians suffer from imprecise taxonomy, wielding labels such as middle class, civil society, and creative class in an automatic transfer of discursive categories long defining Western societies to one at increasing odds with numerous Western values. As various surveys by Russian sociologists have indicated, a ‘middle class’ and ‘civil society’ in the traditional sense do not exist in Russia. Moreover, even ‘the intelligentsia’, as historically defined, seems to have diminished, evaporated, or emigrated. Indeed, the incisive portrayal of contemporary Russian class distinctions in Avdot’ia Smirnova’s film KoKoKo (2012) exposes the impotence of the self-serving intelligentsia, contrasted to the vitality and drive of ‘the people’, who may be the only hope for Russia’s future – neither the radiant future fantasized by the Soviet Union nor the democratic future that seemed possible after perestroika, but one that meaningful resistance to the authoritarianism of Putin’s regime will need to elaborate step by painstaking step.

THE CONCEPTS OF «MASS» AND «MASS BEHAVIOR» IN THE WORKS OF B.A. GRUSHIN

The article provides an anal- ysis of concepts of «social mass» and «mass behavior» proposed by the Sovi- et sociologist B. A. Grushin. The study covers the time from 1967 to 1987 when the key Grushin’s works devoted to the mass consciousness and related concepts appeared. The basis of the analysis is Grushin’s published lectures and scientific publications. The paper also includes data from studies of the history of Russian sociology, Grushin’s and his contemporaries’ memories. The author discusses factors that influenced Grushin’s scientific interests, analyzes his views of «mass» and «mass behavior» as well as their strengths and limitations. To conclude, the author states that the notions proposed by the sociologist thirty years ago are still relevant and can be used to develop the modern theory of «mass» and «mass consciousness». An essential feature of Grushin’s concept is that it makes it possible to combine ideas of his Western and domestic predecessors.

Развитие феминистских идей в рамках географического направления русской социологии XIX - начала XX века: А.П. Щапов

Развитие феминистских идей в рамках географического направления русской социологии XIX - начала XX века: А.П. Щапов

Genetic approach to history of sociology in Russia

Genetic approach to history of sociology in Russia

THE OCCUPATIONAL CHOICE AS A SOCIOLOGICAL PHENOMENON: QUESTIONS OF THE THEORY

At different stages of the history of various types of labor assigned to the members of the society forced or involuntary manner. Only in a market society, i.e., under capitalism, the process of securing the labor of employees assumes the character almost free occupational choice. On the professional preferences of the applicant affect not only his needs, desires, motivation and personal qualities, but also the situation on the labour market and economic situation of the family. In the Russian sociology there are two phenomena – the occupational choice and occupational selection. The occupational choice – a spontaneous process of finding an individual workplace, the characteristics of which would correspond to the characteristics of the person (inclinations, temperament, social status, place of residence, etc.). Occupational selection – purposeful selection of a single candidate among several applicants for vacancies, which is carried out expert – an employee of the organization, on the basis of the list of requirements that characterize a given workplace. Sociologists often use the definition that is offered by psychologists. According to the latest point of view, the occupational selection – a purposeful process of selecting a single candidate from the group of applicants for the position of those persons who meet the requirements of the workplace in their personal qualities. Occupational selection – the process by which a company or an organization chooses from among the candidates of one or more that best fit under the criteria of selection for the vacant position, taking into account the current environment conditions. The occupational choice, as opposed to professional self-determination (for E.I. Golovakha) – a decision that affects only the near-term student life. American sociologist and psychologist D. Super believes that during the life (career), a person is forced to make a lot of choices (he considered a career as an “alternating elections”). Sociologist is always interesting to know how a person chooses a profession: walking in the footsteps of their parents, chose institute, where was the least competition or, on the contrary, he acted in a prestigious university. If unable to pass competition from the first contest, he have done in the same institute again. Or he decided flexible approach to solving the problem, not to break the spear of an impregnable wall and choose the same profession, but in a different school. Or, in general, after the failure he has decided not to risk and spread to another profession. The occupational choice and professional orientations of young people became the subject of studies by Russian sociologists in the 1960s. Following Novosibirsk sociologists study the professional and educational orientations began Baltic sociologists headed by M.H. Titma (M.I. Talyunayte, K.A. Pyarna), Leningrad with V.V. Vodzinskoy and V.A. Yadov, sociologists from Sverdlovsk (M.N. Rutkevich, L.Ya. Rubina, F.R. Filippov), Ukrainian sociologists led by V.F. Chernovolenko (V.L. Ossovsky, V.I. Paniotto), as well asBelarussociologists (V.N. Tihonov, Ya.V. Leverovskaya),Armenia(Dzhilavyan),Tajikistan(Sh. Shoismatuloev),Uzbekistan(Z.H. Saidov),Turkmenistan(G.N. Dzhumaeva). In the 1990s and 2000s under the leadership of D.L. Konstantinovsky, V.N. Shubkin, F.E. Sheregi, V.G. Harcheva, I.M. Kozina conducted serious research professional orientations of Russian schoolchildren. The data found that the claims of the students in future career too high in comparison with the needs of society. The author seeks to draw clear boundaries between the occupational choice as a psychological (intrinsic motivation) and sociological (external institutionalization) phenomenon. In the second case, the person’s decision is influenced by such social agents as significant others, and social factors such as family background, material prosperity, social environment. Important factors of the occupational choice are vacancies in the labor market, the financial situation of the family of origin, socio-economic status, the prestige of the profession, age, na tional traditions and racial characteristics. The article distinguishes between two close concepts – occupational choice and professional selection.

Социология в России: становление и развитие

The article reveals the national identity of Russian sociology, and identifies the main factors of this identity. The specifics of Russian sociology are determined by the author in three appraisal and analytical dimensions: historical roots; substantial and institutional development; modern condition and the resource for further development. It is noted that the pluralism established in modern Russian sociology is related to the rethinking of dominant world theoretical directions. It is concluded that there is a need to scientifically and critically comprehend the possibility of applying the knowledge accumulated by Western sociological schools, and certainly in the context of building respect for own national traditions of social thinking.

Социальные исследования субъективного благополучия в контексте духовности и религиозности

The transformation of religious life in Russian society, which has been occurring during the last two decades, defines the need for an academic reconsideration of the influence of religion on both the macro and micro-levels of social reality, including the influence on the quality of people’s lives. Studies of religiousness and the well-being of the people has become a traditional field for analysis in foreign humanities and social sciences since the late 1980’s. In Russian sociology, the problem of the interconnection between quality of life and individual spirituality and religiousness is characterized by a lack of studies and a lack of relevant methodological instruments. This article presents a brief review of contemporary foreign studies dedicated to the empirical exploration of life quality and the influence of individual spirituality and religiosity on subjective well-being. Said review provides an idea of the various approaches towards the operationalization of well-being in empirical studies and the scales used within them. Special attention is paid to describing the connection and dependence between variables that reflect cognitive and affective aspects of subjective well-being, as well as the factors which affect believers’ evaluation of their own life. The authors note the influence of confessed religion, inter-confessional peculiarities, values and common cultural context on how people perceive well-being and how they choose the necessary strategy for evaluating the latter. The end of the article presents conclusions in relation to the possibility of studying the influence of spirituality and religiousness on subjective well-being in the context of Russia.

олонтерство в российском обществе и в российской социологии: взгляд из-за рубежа

The author presents three models of volunteer work (utilizing critical analysis of Russian and foreign research as a basis) which compete for prominence in the Russian public consciousness. These three models — traditional, Soviet and democratic — correspond semantically with three intersecting concepts in the Russian discourse — “charity”, “dobrovolchestvo” (which literally translates to “volunteerism”) and “volunteer work”. They act as independent cultural and ideological concepts and symbolize the more or less probable scenarios of Russian civil society development. However, since the results of recent empirical studies conducted by Russian sociologists lean towards the “Soviet” model, studying the latter has become an important task. Qualitative retrospective empirical studies of Soviet experience which “somewhat resembles volunteering” (millions of Russians are carriers of said experience) can be useful not only when it comes to forming a deeper understanding of modern Russian volunteering, but also when it comes to its development.

Будимиру Гвидоновичу Тукумцеву, профессионалу и человеку, посвящается

The article makes an attempt to analyze the biography of the well-known Russian sociologist B.G. Tukumtsev in the genre of ethnographic strategy of qualitative sociological research. The basic norms and practices that were established in the legendary Laboratory of Sociological Research of the Kuibyshev Polytechnic University, and later — the Samara State University, whose leader was always B.G. Tukumtsev, are considered.

О соотношении стабильности и мобильности глобальных систем

Drawing on the studies in globalization in a world and Russian sciences, on a dynamics of sustainability-modernization in Russia, and on his own long-term research in the realms of social ecologyand risk theory, the author came to the following conclusions. First, the globalization is a double-sided process of shaping of unifying all- penetrating networks embracing the planet, and locally-fixed national systems. Second, recently the globalization is a struggle of two forms of production, virtual and ‘material.’ Both of them is producing the ‘goods’ and ‘bads.’ Thirdly, one-sided globalization generates mass social and political protest. Fourth, in the run of last two decades the Russian sociology has concentrated on two issues: on the processes of transition from a planned economy to a market one. Fifth, during that period a set of fundamental research of Russia’s modernization have been fulfilled; at the same time the studies in globalization lagged behind. Sixth, the interdisciplinary, problem and civic oriented studies inherent to Russian scientific community should be restored. Seventh, recently the globalization process has nonlinear and probable character featured by bifurcations and unintended consequences. Eighth, in turn its milieu is not inertial because it consists of numerous actors of static and mobile character. Ninth, mainly unseen the metabolic processes are the most difficult and acute research issue. Tenth, the other urgent problem is the drivers of modernization processes since it accompanied by surplus of labor power, mass the South-North migration flows, etc. Eleventh, the tempo-rhythms of institutional transformations are lag far behind from a pace of social transformations. Twelfth, a prestige of fundamental science is going down whereas a social and political weight of politics built- in the media is growing.

Crime, Police, and Samosudy in Petrograd in the Russian Revolution and Sociological Theories of Anomie

This article attempts to assess the importance of social breakdown in the Russian Revolution. It argues that Petrograd experienced an unprecedented rise in violent crime from March to October, which reduced the society to a state of anomie. The article introduces the sociological concepts of anomie developed by Emile Durkheim and Robert Merton. Introducing Durkheim’s theory that anomie results from the breakdown of “organic solidarity” that assures cohesion in an advanced society, and Merton’s theory that anomie arises when the cultural structures and the social structures break down, the article attempts to examine how these theories can be applicable to the reality of Petrograd during the revolution. Durkheim argues that when “organic solidarity” fails, “mechanical solidarity,” characterized by collective conscious, emotion, and violence, takes over. In this article this theory is applied to explain the violence in samosudy. The article further attempts to identify those who committed crime, who participated in samosudy, and where crime and samosudy took place. It argues that crime and samosudy took place in the central and southern districts of Petrograd with a mixed population of predominantly urban poor and the lower rung of the middle class, rather than in the working-class neighborhoods. It argues that samosudy were reflections of the frustrations of the urban poor, who achieved momentary empowerment by exerting violence against petty criminals. Popular violence committed by criminal acts and by samosudy provided an important background for the Bolshevik assumption of power.

Phenomenon of Fashion in Theoretical Jurisprudence

Fashion is not only part of life but of science as well. The most interesting works on fashion in sciencehave been published by Russian sociologist, Professor at the National Research University HigherSchool of Economics A. B. Gofman. His papers enable to consider this phenomenon in terms of theoreticaljurisprudence. According to the author of the article, currently, different concepts which are notdirectly linked to the quest of scientific truth have come into fashion. Considering the existing fashions,the author gets fairly skeptical as to their heuristic capabilities. In particular, the concepts are highlightedsuch as those related to the alleged crisis of law, the invention of new legal phenomena by addingthe adjective legal, criticizing positivism of law, the problem of understanding law, legal policy and someother buzzwords (mythology, utilitarianism). To support his idea, the author presents examples of currentscientific publications. The author also draws attention to the typical complaints of legal scholarsto their negligence by the representatives of state. While in the legal regulation of public relations manyinaccuracies occur, lawmakers often ignore such forms of communication s with science, which leadsin turn to a new fashion, i.e. utilitarianism -the need for scientists to engage in various types of waste“fisheries”: writing every countless textbooks and manuals, spark notes, even courses such as Theoryof State and Law in Three Hours. Is it possible to reduce the influence of such fashion? According to theauthor, fashion should be studied and reflect on the recent trends. As many scholars claim, theoreticaljurisprudence is deprived of self-reflection and the theory of law lacks fundamental problems. Howeversuch problems as dispute of opinions in science, freedom of criticism, the inadmissibility of monopolismand dogmatism require a closer attention.

Utopian visions of contemporary rural-urban Russia

Rural Russia is undergoing changes in its agrarian economy and in its social and economic structure more generally in ways that differ greatly across the country’s numerous regions. This is due to both internal transformations of the last decades of post-Soviet transition and external causes related to processes of globalisation. The most visible of these changes is the growing concentration of large-scale agribusiness landholdings. This concentration is transforming rural–urban linkages, intensifying rural–urban migration and leading to the disappearance of smallholders, family farmers and even entire rural settlements. This paper considers key aspects of contemporary reciprocity between rural and urban Russia through the analytical lens of the utopian models of rural development proposed by Russian economist and sociologist A.V. Chayanov in the early twentieth century. We argue that Chayanov’s models of social development provide an optimal conceptual frame within which to understand the contemporary contradictions between town and village, industry and agriculture, the peasantry and the capitalist state.