Sociological Community Research Articles

In search for a balance: the authorship structure of the journal “Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya” [Sociological Studies] (2014–2023)

The article deals with the problems of selection and formation of the authorship of the journal Sotsiologicheskie Issledovaniya [Sociological Studies] (SocIs). The parameters of their scientific and official statuses, affiliation with research organizations and educational institutions, gender mix, regional and international affiliation are used as the basis for the analyzing publication activity of the authors of the journal for the period 2014–2023. A comparative retrospective analysizing of the above parameters for the first and last (current) decades of the journal’s functioning was also carried out. On the basis of the analysis of formal indicators of effectiveness and efficiency of the Russian Science Citation Index (RSCI) the special leading place of SocIs in the hierarchy of domestic periodicals of sociological profile was stated. The long-term traditions and trends in the work of the journal’s editorial staff, related to the realization of a balanced approach to the selection and attraction of promising researchers to publications, are revealed. The conclusion is made about the journal’s publication accessibility for both high-level professionals and beginner researchers, as well as about the broad thematic, regional, and international orientation of the published materials. In general, the authors’ composition of the journal to a certain extent represents the national sociological community with all its achievements and problems.

Syllabus as argument in an era of politicized pedagogy

AbstractThe traditional character of higher education in the US is under assault. The broad, intellectual focus on the liberal arts and its concomitant values of academic freedom and academic governance are giving way to an over‐managed vocational institution that prioritizes ambience over integrity and credentialism over citizenship. In this milieu, sociologists should use the classroom as an opportunity to model the explanatory power of the discipline by structuring our syllabi to make a point. I refer to this approach as syllabus‐as‐argument, which I contrast with the traditional organizational logic of syllabus‐as‐survey—configuring a syllabus to provide an overview of a given topic, theme or field. Where the chief criterion of success for the syllabus as survey is comprehensiveness, the syllabus as argument strives for convincingness. I draw from two courses to exemplify this approach. The first is a senior seminar in environmental sociology, which I have reworked into a course explaining the intractability of the climate crisis. The second is a general education course in community sociology that I remade to explain the links between growing inequality and deteriorating democracy in the US.

The new Federal State Educational Standard and sociological imagination: A few words about poor sociological (and not demoscopic) education

The article presents some thoughts about the reasons for the current extreme concern of the Russian professional sociological community about the model of training proposed by the Federal State Educational Standard of the fourth generation. In the first part of the article, the author briefly summarizes general problems of higher education, which are typical not only for the Russian university system but also, to one degree or another, for most national approaches to professional training (massification, commercialization, bureaucratization, digitalization, loss of university autonomy and institutional independence for the sake of socialeconomic reproduction, a decrease in the quality of training of future specialists and in the authority of the university teacher, etc.). In the second, main part of the article, the author refers to the respected sociological works and expert assessments to identify main reasons for the professional sociological community’s concern about the proposed radical change in the model of sociological training. Certainly, there is a number of obvious risks with “qualitative” variability, such as the priority of the political-science orientation, reduction in the volume of disciplines fundamentally important for sociological training, difficulty in mastering special professional competencies in a shorter period, unclear prospects for the full-time teaching staff of sociological departments, etc. However, the main danger is that the proposed model of sociological training would be unable to develop the main professional skill of the competent researcher (and not the demoscopist/practitioner) - sociological imagination, which requires longterm “slow reading” and constant methodological reflection.

Ukrainian Sociological Institute: Factional Politics, Research, and Intelligence Services in the Development of Ukrainian Sociology

In the history of Ukrainian sociology, it is considered that there were two organizations with the name "Ukrainian Sociological Institute". This article argues that they should be seen as two stages of one process — the academic and disciplinary institutionalization of Ukrainian sociology, which took place amid an (un)favorable and contradictory political struggle among Ukrainian revolutionary socialists (“esers”). This study attempts to characterize the context of this struggle and its significance for the institutional development of Ukrainian sociology in the first third of the 20th century. Ukrainian “esers” played a key role in endorsing the idea of establishing a professional sociological institution. The notion that the history of the two institutes should be considered separately emerged due to the competition between two opposing “eser” factions, one rallying around Mykhailo Hrushevsky and the other around Mykyta Shapoval. The article also provides an analysis-based overview of the institute's activities, considering the international context of contemporary sociology's development, using archival documents and sources of that time. Despite not always favorable conditions, the Ukrainian Sociological Institute (USI) spurred the emergence of new research directions and established a meaningful dialogue with the global sociological community. While much of the work of the USI has become part of the history of social and behavioral sciences, the author formulates three theses that, in his opinion, attest to the potential value of studying the USI's activities for modern Ukrainian sociology: rediscovering potential classics and seeking theoretical insights, decolonization/decommunization of Ukrainian sociology, and the first example in the history of Ukrainian sociology of a "strong program" through dialogue with civil society. It is argued that the USI was able to work quite effectively, primarily by skillfully integrating its activities into the network of civic initiatives and communities of Ukrainians on several continents, thereby testing sustainable practices that remain relevant today.

A bibliometric review study of Michael Burawoy.

This review article utilizes the technique of citation-based bibliometric analysis to provide a comprehensive understanding of the scholarly contributions made by sociologist Michael Burawoy. The most influential academic articles published by Burawoy were retrieved for analyses. Following this, scholars, journals and institutions that he most frequently collaborated with were traced. Further, country-wise analysis of his scholarship was carried out. Lastly, content analyses of retrieved articles identified prominent thematic domains in sociology to which Burawoy contributed, while temporal analyses helped to identify some emerging research hotspots. Findings reveal that historical and cultural context of Burawoy's research mostly remained confined to the U.S.A., however, he significantly contributed towards the foundation of sociology in the Global South and studied the ensuing global power imbalances. Contemporary sociological thought remains indebted to Burawoy for his comparative study of industrial relations in the 21st century, and recently, his elaboration upon the need for public sociology has taken the discipline in new intellectual directions that appeals to a broader sociological community.

Sociology of Tribal Community: Lebanese Emigrants Rethinking Pedigree as Pan-Tribal Cultural Individuality in Post-War Sierra Leone.

Academics critiquing pedigree and tribal categorisation in post-war Sierra Leone have lodged diminutive concentration on how Lebanese emigrants traverse the Sierra Leone tribal categorisation scheme and how they personality cultural individuality regardless of their daily social experience with foisted tribal categorisation in Sierra Leone. This social research addresses this lacuna by exploring foreign-born Lebanese Emigrant's social distinctiveness in the circumstance of an inflicted Sierra Leonean tribal categorisation social system. The upshot detailed at this moment shapes a segment of inclusive social research that explored how Lebanese emigrants in Sierra Leone's personality interpreted the encounter of tribalisation. The social researcher debated that by interpreting their tribe as Ash-sha’b Al-Lubnani, respondents reinterpreted the tribe as a pan-tribal cultural individuality, disregarding tribal individuality from physical features and complexion. Some emigrants who certainly are not personality individualised in conditions of composition lodged tribal categories are distinguishing cultural interpretations of individuality in post-war Sierra Leone.

THE SOCIOLOGY OF AGING AND SOCIAL GERONTOLOGY: CRITICAL TENSIONS AND NECESSARY DISTINCTIONS

Abstract This paper argues that the sociology of ageing has been diverted from developing a clearly sociological approach to ageing and old age by its entanglement with social gerontology. Dominated by social and health policy and advocacy on behalf of older people, the sociological analysis of later life has taken second place. The rise of critical gerontology and cultural gerontology have put further distance between sociology and the sociology of ageing. The changes to ageing and old age challenge the residualisation of ageing within the wider sociological community and set up new tasks for a sociology of ageing which resonates with contemporary later life. We argue that to achieve those tasks requires not only separating the sociology of ageing from social gerontology, but also employing contemporary sociological theory can enable the sociology of ageing to move beyond the ‘problem’ of old age. This involves an analysis of the social structural dimensions of contemporary ageing, its symbolic representations and the embodied and agentic experiences of people becoming older. We conclude that a re-envisioned sociology of ageing can also better equip social gerontology with more effective tools to understand the ‘new ageing’.

Russians’ Perception of the Conflict with Ukraine: Testing the “Spiral of Silence” Hypothesis

Russians' attitude towards the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and the very possibility of its quantitative measurement became a subject of heated debates inside Russian sociological community. The most popular argument among professionals who believe that the level of support for the military actions is lower than the recorded values is the "Spiral of Silence" model used by E. Noelle-Neumann to explain people's unwillingness to express unpopular opinions out of fear of facing social disapproval. To test the hypothesis about the spiral of silence we used the method of all-Russian phone survey (N = 1977), repeating the railway test performed by Noelle-Neumann for measuring the willingness of supporters and opponents of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict to discuss it with their political opponents. The results of the research showed that in Russian public opinion about the Russian-Ukrainian conflict there is indeed a spiral of silence, as described by Noelle-Neumann, taking place. It influences both sides of the debate, its effect on the opponents of the conflict being, of course, significantly stronger (21% against 35%). However, opponents of military action have learned better than their opponents to resist the spiral of silence. Therefore, with a possible change in the climate of opinion in Russia, opponents of the military conflict will have greater opportunities than their opponents to promote their own narrative about the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. Along with the railway test, we have conducted research of attitudes towards the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in the respondents’ close circle, in which the share of the conflict supporters turns out to be much lower than among the respondents themselves. This may be an indirect sign of a shift in the samples towards the position of Russian-Ukrainian conflict supporters.

Pendampingan Penulisan Penelitian Tindakan Kelas (PTK) Guru Sosiologi di Musyawarah Guru Mata Pelajaran (MGMP) Sosiologi DKI Jakarta

The Community Service (PkM) activities that will be carried out with the Jakarta State University grant for the 2023 fiscal year depart from the road map of the research and community service program as an implementation of the tridarma of higher education at Jakarta State University related to the field of education, especially the development of teacher professionalism and the road map of the Sociology Education study program which aims to assist in writing class action research (PTK) for sociology teachers who are members of the DKI Jakarta subject teacher deliberation (MGMP). Through teacher communities such as MGMP, teachers can use it to improve the quality of teaching from preparation to evaluation and quality improvement through class action research. However, the problem that is currently present is that there are still few teacher communities that utilize the forum to improve their teaching capacity, one of which is experienced by teachers in the DKI Jakarta MGMP Sociology community. Therefore, in this community service activity, training on classroom action research will be carried out to improve the quality of learning by sharing experiences and knowledge related to classroom action research. This community service activity is in partnership with the Education Office and the DKI Jakarta MGMP Sociology Community. The process of activities that will be carried out by this service team with a mentoring system, mentoring activities begins with organizing focus group discussions to explore more deeply related to constraints and mapping the ability of teachers to make class action research. In mentoring, all teachers who are members of the DKI Jakarta Sociology MGMP will participate. It is expected that the output of this activity will result in a mentoring video on YouTube, teacher work, and intellectual property rights from making class action research

Ivanov D. V. (2023) Western sociology from an Eastern European perspective (review of the handbook. Titarenko L. G. Modern western sociology. Minsk : RIVSH, 2021. 420 p.)

The review presents the textbook "Modern western sociology" (Minsk, 2021) by Belarusian sociologist and philosopher L.G.Titarenko. Structure and contents of the handbook are considered from a pint of view of the multiparadigm condition in current sociology and in the context of post-globalization trends. The reviewed work, due to amount of material and to deep analysis, is reaching a level of sophisticated academic textbook. The author analyses main paradigms and theories which define the character of scientific discipline in its modern period covering a century since the 1920s to our days. The book demonstrates very well that Western sociology remains the core of modern sociology as a scientific discipline and that Western sociology is reassessed and modified in local sociological communities being a starting point for the new conceptions of social knowledge, including anti-Western and counter-globalist ones.

Russian university bureaucracy - terra incognita for sociology of education

The authors argue that in contemporary Russian universities, the bureaucracy has turned into the most influential corporation, and insist on the sociological analysis of its status, positive and negative consequences of formation and evolution. Despite many studies of this phenomenon, the university bureaucracy remains terra incognita for sociology of education - many fundamental issues remain unclear: why in the meritocratic and initially humanitarian university, practices of formal rationality with the focus on normative acts and instructions (rationality for its own sake) prevail; how to explain that even the obvious inconsistency of many bureaucratic practices does not lead to discrediting the bureaucratic system, but, on the contrary, contributes to its extended reproduction; why many specialists find the results of the university management optimization based on a bureaucratic approach doubtful. The majority of sociological works on the university bureaucratization provide answers to these questions in the form of admitting the current situation, but there is no causal analysis of the university bureaucracy development and evolution. The article considers possible causes of the current situation: the lack of a systematic approach to the university bureaucratization, its study mainly in the context of the higher education reforms; uncritical reproduction of the classical theories of bureaucracy, which need changes according to the contemporary realities; the lack of works on the status of the university bureaucracy under the digital transformation of society; the barrier of institutionalized hypocrisy; servility relationships between sociologists and university managers. The identified problems require empirical verification and discussion in the professional sociological community.

Regional “sociology without sociologists” in the Middle Volga Region in the Soviet Period

Introduction. The article analyzes circumstances of the emergence of regional sociology in the Soviet era. To describe this phenomenon, the author applies the concept of “sociology without sociology”. This idiom means scientific and sociological activity without the participation of the professional sociological community and describes this multivariate and non-linear process. The author also describes the reasons of existence of “sociology without sociologists” in Soviet and then in Russian social sciences. Methodology and sources. The category “sociology without sociologists”, used by R. Ahlberg, N. Werth, and J. Matthes describes the abnormal state of science. In addition, the author uses the concept of “public sociology” by M. Burawoy to determine the vectors of evolution of Soviet and Russian regional sociology. The main research method is the analysis of documentary sources of the Soviet era. Also new, previously unexplored archival documents have been introduced into scientific circulation. Results and discussion. The studied issue is examined on the ground of mass surveys of the state of religiosity of the population, which were initiated and carried out by the party bodies of the Tatarstan ASSR and Kuybishev area in 1964–1966. The results of those amateurish surveys served as a foundation for the development of sociology in the region. The article shows that throughout the existence of the “legal” regional sociology, in parallel with it, there were various forms of “sociology without sociologists”. The specificity of the Soviet period was that the existence of “sociology without sociologists” met the expectations of some CSPU circles, responsible for ideology tasks.Conclusion. The application of the category "sociology without sociologists" is of great importance for the implementation of the demarcation of scientific and non-scientific forms of social knowledge.

Why does Sociology Need a New Integrative Paradigm?

The article is devoted to analyzing a new sociological paradigm proposed by Nikolai Genov, a European sociologist of Bulgarian origin, known for his work in the history and theory of sociology, social transformation in Eastern Europe and globalization. His new monograph is characterized by his desire to offer the sociological community an original outlook on the theoretical trends in the development of the discipline over the past few decades, as well as to construct a new paradigm of social interaction as a way to overcome the current theoretical crisis. It presents a rational analysis of the current state of theoretical sociology while substantiating and describing the heuristic possibilities of sociology, revealed by means of paradigmatic synthesis based on the concept of social interaction as rethought by the author. Social interactions are the prerogative of key actors operating in networks of social relations and within social processes. The new paradigm can provide sociologists with explanatory models that can serve as the basis for creating mid-level theories that would incorporate previously accumulated sociological knowledge. According to Genov, this synthesis can open up new ways for advancing sociological comprehension of controversial social problems at different levels of their consideration (macro-, meso- and micro-) and while considering modern global development trends.

Actor-network theory: innovative aspects of sociological methodology

In recent years, a discussion about the dissatisfaction of scientists with the current state of sociology has intensified in the world sociological community. In this situation, various ways of raising the scientific level of sociology as a whole are proposed. One of them was proposed by B. Latour in the framework of the actor-network theory (ANT), the theoretical concepts of which were further developed in the works of his like-minded colleages. Representatives of the Russian sociology are actively involved in a versatile study of the contribution made by the ANT to the development of sociology. The article studies the basic provisions of the actor-network theory concerning the subject specifics of sociological knowledge, the fundamental difference between the definition of understanding the subject of ANT sociology and the definitions given by traditional sociological trends and paradigms, as well as the consequences of this innovative understanding for the formation of methodological principles for studying social reality. The authors also dwell on the consideration of the most fundamental and controversial methodological innovation of ANT - the “turn to things” and the introduction of the concept of heterogeneity of agents into the understanding of social processes.
 Particular attention in the article is paid to the analysis of the meaning of the term “actant”, innovative for sociology, borrowed by the ANT from the semiotic theory of narrative and incorporated into sociology and ontology of the network of associations of heterogeneous actants. Concerning the disagreements between the actor-network theory and the sociological mainstream of our time, the authors dwell on the criticism by ANT theorists of the sociological "metaphysics of social forces", understood as a way of theoretical legitimation of social inequality. The purpose of the article is to clarify the unity and interconnection of the key innovative positions of ANT in sociological methodology, and through this, to substantiate the significance and heuristic potential of the innovations proposed by the actor-network theory for raising the scientific level of sociology in the study of social reality. As a result, the authors demonstrate the methodological turn of ANT, that makes possible overcoming the gap between sociological theory and social and political practice, thus opening the way for building a new attitude of sociology to reality, returning it to solving not only scientific, but also social and practical problems.

Forestry Sector Corruption and Oligarchy: A Case Study of the Laman Kinipan Indigenous People, Central Kalimantan

Corruption is a serious problem in the rule of law development and sustainable development efforts. Law enforcement for weak environmental destroyers. On the other hand, the corruption process that is conducted involves a very strong power network and has impunity. This paper used a socio-legal based legal research method. Corruption in the forestry sector in Indonesia not only harms the state financially, but also creates environmental degradation that has an impact on human rights violations for the Laman Kinipan indigenous people. The Laman Kinipan indigenous people as victims of environmental damage have the right to get a solution from the perspective of being victims of environmental damage, both in the context of criminology, access to responsibility and accountability for environmental damage, then the impact of community sociology recovery, ensuring for perpetrators of environmental damage receive appropriate sanctions, as well as recovery in a collective sense. An effective anti-corruption mechanism with programs and compliance intended for business people and the government in preventing bribery corruption in the licensing sector, especially for PT.SML and the concession management circle at Laman Kinipan. Strengthening the concept of strict liability is a very strategic option in this era of industrialization to prevent environmental damage from corruption in the forestry sector.

Sociology in a Region as a Subject of Scientific Research

The article examines Russian sociology as a whole and in one particular Russian region (the Ural) through the lens of several scientific approaches. The situation in modern Russian sociology is described as a crisis, and the science itself is in need of a new revival. The Great Sociological Ural is considered as an object of research. The subject of research is the main scientific approaches towards studying sociology in the region. Of special interest is the interpretation of the generational approach, which is considered as a tool for analyzing sociology in the region. The purpose of the article is to present the resurgence process, the formation and development of sociology in the region as a subject of research in the mirror of a number of scientific approaches with an emphasis on generational analysis. The author’s theoretical framework is based on the concept of generations in B.Z. Doktorov’s sociology, including his “ladder of generations”. A generational stratification of the sociological community in the Ural is provided, including seven generations — from the moment of the resurgence of sociology in the Ural (during late 1950’s – 1960’s) up to the present day. A characteristic for each of them is provided. The author’s methodology and methods of empirical research are shown. The main methods used were in-depth interviews, the biographical method, as well as the document research method.

Political hegemony and the intellectual production in the world semi-periphery (Contribution to modern sociology of the school of Prof. Tomasz Zarycki)

In the conditions of military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, the future of Ukrainian sociology largely depends on the ability to be included in the world processes of the development of science. The openness of the sociological community of Ukraine to prospective development trends in world sociology is necessary. The most favorable conditions for the emergence of stable dialogical relations exist in the relations between the Ukrainian and Polish sociological communities, which is due to the significant common past of our peoples, in many respects common problems and possible common perspectives. In modern Polish sociology, one of the most open to dialogue is the Warsaw sociological school of Prof. Tomasz Zarycki. Research of its participants, and first of all Prof. T. Zarycki, cover a wide range of problems: from changes in the social space of Poland to the peculiarities of the reformation of the ruling class and the production of political knowledge. A special feature of the school is the intense search for an adequate methodology for the study of modern society. This methodological search led to the synthesis of the ideas of Immanuel Wallerstein’s world-system analysis and Pierre Bourdieu’s field theory, which made it possible to cover the macro-, meso- and micro-levels of social life in a single perspective. The peculiarities of the transformation of the society of state socialism into the society of liberal capitalism in modern Poland are largely determined by the fact that the basis of the political class here was formed from representatives of the intelligentsia. This explains the insignificant weight of the bourgeoisie in the political life of the country, the absence of such a phenomenon as the oligarchy. At the same time, in global conditions, the Polish intelligentsia found itself in a difficult situation, because the country remained on the semi-periphery of the world capitalist system. This leads to the fact that the production of knowledge about society takes place in hierarchical relations, where the rules are set by the countries of the world center.

ТЕОРЕТИЧЕСКАЯ СОЦИОЛОГИЯ СОВРЕМЕННОЙ РОССИИ: КЕЙС А.Ф. ФИЛИППОВА

In the 1990s, Russian sociology made up for the lack of knowledge of Western and pre-revolutionary Russian sociology. The study of Western sociology brought the understanding that there is no well-proportioned building of Western theoretical sociology. Comprehending the results of the reforms, which contradicted the predictions of Russian sociologists, and comparing them with the works of the classics of sociology led to a change in the views of Russian sociologists. Therefore, in the mid-1990s, some Russian sociologists raised the question of creating a theory of post-Soviet society. In such conditions, an article by A.F. Filippov appeared, in which it was argued that there is no theoretical sociology in Russia, the question of creating a national sociology in Russia was raised, the principles of a “good” theory were considered. The article provoked discussions in the sociological community for two decades. Opinions ranged from full support of A.F. Filippov’s theses to denial of the need for theoretical sociology in Russia. It was important to reject the statement about the non-existence of theoretical sociology in Russia, and that gave impetus to the development of new theories.

Structures and Meanings in the Agenda of The Scientific Community: an Overview of the International Conference

On October 22, 2021, MGIMO University hosted the international scientific conference Risks to the Human Capital of the Scientific Community in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic, organized by the Department of Sociology. The agenda of the conference included a wide variety of topics and issues related to self-identification of the scientific community in times of the COVID-19 pandemic. Its relevance and importance of the topic attracted participants from Russia, the Czech Republic, Italy, Belarus, Vietnam, Lebanon, Armenia, Brazil, Austria, China, Finland and Israel making it diverse and international. During the plenary session possibilities and boundaries of the use of the terms capital and risks in the sociological discourse were considered. The participants discussed global dilemmas of the civilization of the future, philosophical education in conditions of social turbulence, psychological factors in inflating risks and social instability as well as the demand for longterm humanistic trends to minimize risks for human academic capital in times of the pandemic. There were three sessions. The first one concentrated on the issue of human academic capital transformation in times of the pandemic. Its focus was on the effects of COVID on the sociological research agenda, new risks for social sciences (such as pseudoscientific arguments) and many others. The second session as devoted to digitalization with its influence, paradoxes, challenges, and risks. The speakers made it clear that digitalization today is not only a new research area, but a factor of producing social knowledge. This idea was illustrated by the analyses of advantages and disadvantages of scientometrics. The third session discussed the risks associated with digitalization of education and overall implications of the pandemic for the learning process. Both explicit and implicit, these implications of distant learning need to be considered. The participants spoke about digital competences and digital capital of university lecturers and professors, students’ academic mobility, etc. The sociological academic community welcome new perspectives and ideas, thus graduate students and masters were invited to participate in the conference together with experts. The conference bridged two main sociological trends: structural knowledge and comprehension. The former studies social institutions and structures and their functioning, while the latter investigates social actions and interactions, coupled with the meanings and intentions behind them. The current situation made it necessary to combine both approaches so that qualitative and quantitative methods would help study social structures, nuanced contexts, and values alike.

K.M. Takhtarev is one of the First Professional Sociologists in Russia. To the 150th Anniversary of His Birth

Introduction. The article presents the fate and work of the famous Russian sociologist Konstantin Mikhailovich Takhtarev (1871–1925), who would have turned 150 years old in 2021. He was one of the first professional sociologists who played an important role in the institutionalization of Russian sociology. His works and other deeds are still not fully comprehended and, therefore, are insufficiently used in research and in the process of training sociologists. The article presents the main results of his work and the direction of his activities in organizing sociological knowledge in Russia.Methodology and sources. The article implements a historical and biographical approach combined with a comparative analysis of the life and scientific fate of the famous Russian sociologist K. M. Takhtarev, professor of the St Petersburg University (1911–1925). His main works and the results of his activities on the institutionalization of Russian sociology are analyzed.Results and discussion. The name of K.M. Takhtarev stands next to such names as M.M. Kovalevsky, N.I. Kareev, A.S. Lappo-Danilevsky, E.V. de Roberti, P.A. Sorokin, etc. His contribution to the institutionalization of Russian sociology is very significant. He was one of the first to prepare complete textbooks, created his own system of sociology (P. Sorokin), was one of the organizers of the M.M. Kovalevsky Russian Sociological Society, which confirmed the formation of the Russian sociological community. The creation of the country's first sociological institute is associated with his name. N.I. Kareev called him and P.A. Sorokin the first professional sociologists of Russia. The article shows his understanding of the subject of sociology, the basic concepts that reveal the essence of social life, its evolution, through the stages of self-sufficiency – the foundations of his theory. The significance of the systematization of sociological ideas carried out by him, which formed the basis of his system of sociology, is revealed. The role of Takhtarev in the development of genetic sociology as a sociological direction studying the dynamics of forms of society and social institutions is emphasized.Conclusion. The significance of K.M. Takhtarev's ideas for today's sociology is shown and it is argued that it is necessary to refer to his works today. The special relevance of the logic of building his own system of sociology, research experiments in the field of genetic sociology, the substantiation of social laws and the classification of social laws are emphasized.