Sociology Of Science Research Articles

Mediatization of medicine and health: dysfunctional aspects

In this article, based on the results of empirical research conducted by employees of the Faculty of Sociology, Doctor of Sociological Sciences, Associate Professor T.V. Semina and graduate student A.A. Belov, the destructive influence of electronic and digital media on the health of Russian citizens is considered. In fact, we are talking about the “mediatization of medicine”, which is understood as “the process caused by the emergence of digital communication tools, as a result of which the masses have free access to medical information, and all issues related to human and social health are somehow mediated by electronic media”. The author emphasizes that quite often the media practices uncontrolled submission of quasi-medical information, signs of economic bias present in the media are expressed in the fact that the main source of income for the media is advertising, especially medicines and pharmaceuticals. At the same time, commercials advertising medicines on television are the most effective in influencing the audience. In 2019, T.V. Semina, Doctor of Sociology, Associate Professor of the Faculty of Sociology at Lomonosov Moscow State University, proved the destructive role of the media in the genesis of social conflict in the doctor–patient system. In April–July 2024, the author also undertook an empirical sociological study on the problems of constructing public health in the Russian Federation, in particular, the effectiveness of the impact of advertising materials placed in the media on the health-saving attitudes of Russians, he results of which are presented in the article. In general, the results of empirical studies conducted by T.V. Semina and confirmed by the author’s research convincingly prove the dysfunctionality of the media in relation to the health of Russian citizens, their negative impact on the consciousness of both healthy and sick people. The author emphasizes that it is not so difficult to protect health, but, unfortunately, many people do not even try to do this, guided by certain stereotypes imposed by the media. For example, that after a certain age, absolutely everyone has high blood pressure, overweight, hormonal and other disorders and should regularly take appropriate (widely advertised) medications or dietary supplements, the benefits of which have not been scientifically proven. Most importantly, the author notes, changes are needed in the development of self-preservation behavior among the population. The main task of the state is not only to develop an effective health care system, but also to promote a responsible attitude of citizens to their own health, which implies regular medical examinations, giving up bad habits, leading a healthy lifestyle involving “life on the move”, full sleep and cognitive activity.

Academic Air Travel: Debates, Tensions and the Need for a Sociology of Science Perspective

ABSTRACTTraveling to conferences is a central feature of academic life. Yet recently, academic air travel has been called into question in the context of climate change, and the digital transformation has facilitated the spread of virtual alternatives to face‐to‐face meetings. The near‐total halt in air travel associated with the COVID‐19 pandemic has solidified the use of technologies of virtual meetings. However, the return to in‐person conferences after the pandemic suggests that these are not as easily replaced by virtual alternatives as is sometimes assumed. While this is increasingly coming into focus in the behavioral sciences, the sociology of science is largely absent in this debate. As a first step toward bringing this debate into conversation with the sociology of science, this review article examines the literature on academic air travel for key tensions, current debates and politicizations. It concludes that academic conference travel is an emerging, timely and relevant, yet under‐studied area of interest for sociologists of science, and suggests some avenues for future inquiry.

Durkheim’s war for civilization

Émile Durkheim’s collaborations with other French intellectuals during the war in various committees and polemical pamphlets, editorials, and scholarly essays are treated here as both a continuation of and a challenge to ideas he had developed earlier concerning social solidarity, the science of sociology, socialism, the modern state, and, ultimately, the moral foundations of civilization itself. Writing on behalf of the French war effort and against German “barbarism,” he tacitly or explicitly developed insights from his books On the Division of Social Labour, Suicide, The Rules of Sociological Method, and The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, and he elaborated on themes from his lecture courses on socialism, professional ethics and civic morals, and education. Although his wartime writings were largely commissioned, written, and published as propaganda, they also provided him with an opportunity to test, refine, and in some instances revise sociological arguments he had been working on throughout his career. Rather than bringing Durkheim’s scholarly production to an abrupt halt or signaling a gradual decline in his intellectual capacities, the war provoked him to rethink some of his key sociological ideas and inspired him to take his research program in new directions.

The task of sociologists is to bring order into chaos (interview with RAS corresponding member M. F. Chernysh)

On the eve of the 50th anniversary of the journal Sociological Studies, we turned to Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Sociological Sciences Mikhail F. Chernysh – our long-time author and expert, member of the editorial board – with a request to answer our questions. I wanted to discuss not only the activities of our journal, but also the problems of sociology in general. In recent years, situation in sociology has been changing: alarming trends in sociological education in higher education are intensifying, decisions are being made to reduce the subject of social studies in school, the problem of reproduction of scientific personnel is becoming acute, and discussions about the subject of sociology are becoming more urgent. The interview raises such important issues as the essence of sociology as a science, provides an understanding of its functions and tasks, and outlines the structure and levels of sociological knowledge. Important elements of its existence and development are emphasized, in particular the impossibility of forming an exclusively “national” sociology. The development of sociological education in new conditions is discussed. The tasks of the functioning of the Federal Research Sociological Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences are outlined. Attention is focused on personnel problems in science and the perception of sociology by government institutions.

Знание и субъективация: прагматическая антропология Канта в прочтении Фуко

The article outlines a hypothesis about the influence of Foucault’s interpretation of Kant’s “Anthropology from a pragmatic point of view” on actual research of models of the subject based on scientific knowledge. Such models in­clude cerebral, genetic, immune subjects, etc., studied by a group of approaches in the history and sociology of science, as well as in philosophy. In the introduc­tion, a brief overview of the concept of the cerebral subject is given, the main properties of this type of subject models are derived, which differ from tradi­tional philosophical subjects, closed in the immanence of philosophical thinking. The subjects thematized in this group of approaches are multiple, partial and sit­uational (depending on the situation, an individual can adopt different models), changeable (circulating, they can mutate from practice to practice), historical and performative (they are embodied in practices). The approaches themselves are anti-essentialist in nature, since they imply a critical attitude towards the natural­ization of subjects carried out by sciences and non-scientific institutions. Their predecessor was Foucault’s thematization of human in “The Order of Things” and in the commentary to Kant’s pragmatic anthropology. It is shown that Fou­cault’s ideas can be traced in the discussed approaches to the study of subjectiva­tion based on scientific experience

Contemporary discourse on neocolonialism: an analytical review of research

The article provides an overview of contemporary research on neocolonialism. The work examines the history of the term "neocolonialism", as well as the main features of neocolonialism in the 21st century, including: the transformation of the nature, forms and methods of colonial influence, and changes in its scale. The main reasons for the interest in the problems of neocolonial studies are outlined, including a general change in research optics, the emergence of new forms of colonial dependence, etc. The prerequisites for the emergence of neocolonial studies in sociological science are indicated. The analysis of foreign studies demonstrates, on the one hand, the preservation of interest in traditional topics related to the colonial legacy in African countries, since they are still in the most vulnerable position compared to other former colonies, and on the other hand, an exit to a broader topic related to cultural neocolonialism in the context of globalisation, as well as the transformation of technology into an instrument of colonial influence. Modern domestic studies of neocolonialism have their own specifics, expressed, firstly, in the dominance of the economic interpretation of neocolonialism, secondly, they are often devoted to the study of the relationship between neocolonialism and globalisation and capitalism, thirdly, in the works of domestic authors special attention is paid to the position of Russia in the system of global neocolonialism. Based on the analysis of scientific discourse, the authors developed a typology of neocolonialism forms, that divides all forms into two large groups - traditional and new. Traditional forms include, first of all, economic and political neocolonialism. New forms include cultural and educational neocolonialism. The intensification of the digitalisation process and the increase in environmental risks at the beginning of the 21st century allow us to say that such forms of neocolonialism as environmental and digital are becoming increasingly important. Particular attention in the article is paid to environmental neocolonialism as a new, special form. The reasons for the growing interest in it and its impact on the political and economic spheres are also considered. The thesis of turning the green agenda into a new form of ideology, with the help of which the G7 countries implement policies that are beneficial to them, is discussed. The authors conclude that it is necessary to identify specific interests and values behind modern environmental initiatives.

Review of “Smoother Pebbles: Essays in the Sociology of Science”

Review of “Smoother Pebbles: Essays in the Sociology of Science”

Faculty of Sociology Science Session at the St Petersburg State University as part of the VIII St Petersburg International Labor Forum (February 20–22, 2024). Commemorating the 300th Anniversary of the Founding of St Petersburg State University

Faculty of Sociology Science Session at the St Petersburg State University as part of the VIII St Petersburg International Labor Forum (February 20–22, 2024). Commemorating the 300th Anniversary of the Founding of St Petersburg State University

SCIENTIFIC AND THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF THE SOCIOLOGICAL APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF SOCIAL REALITY

In the study of social phenomena, there are many theoretical approaches that help scientists to deeply understand the diversity of social processes. Some of these paradigms have become key to sociological science and form the basis for further research. Research methods: scientific and theoretical monitoring of scientific and theoretical sources; secondary analysis of empirical data.

Robert K. Merton and Innovation-Related Topics: Three Theoretical Ideas

As in other disciplines, such as organization science, sociology, and economics, there are good reasons for scholars in innovation and entrepreneurship research to revisit the classics within and outside their own research fields. Robert K. Merton (1910–2003) is not usually explicitly connected to innovation research, but to fields such as the sociology of science and knowledge. However, his scholarly productions include texts relevant to innovation and entrepreneurship. In 1935, he published on invention and innovation in American industry, and in 1938, he put forward the idea of innovation as deviant behavior or nonconformist adaptive behavior (Merton 1938a). In 1945, he began writing about the concept of serendipity, which he later discussed several times. This paper discusses how theoretical insights from Merton may inspire entrepreneurship, creativity, and innovation research. The discussion is framed around Merton’s innovation-related ideas and their relevance today, based on 20–25 Merton publications from 1934 to 2004 drawn from his larger scholarly production. The paper extracts three main examples of Merton’s theoretical ideas and insights. The first is his interest in simultaneous independent discoveries (Merton 1961a; 1961b), which has later been seen as a zeitgeist perspective on (scientific) creativity. The second is his view of innovation as deviant behavior and an adaptive response (Merton 1938), which is relevant to, among others, discussion of the dark side of innovation. The third is his interest in the idea of serendipity in scientific discovery (Merton 1945; 1948a), which is relevant today in relation to entrepreneurial opportunity and accidental innovation.

(Amoralny) familizm: propozycja rekonceptualizacji z wykorzystaniem psychologii ewolucyjnej i międzykulturowej

In his 1958 book Moral Basis of a Backward Society, Edward Banfield introduced the term amoral familism to describe social relations and values in a poor rural community in southern Italy. In my analysis, I propose to abandon the value-laden epithet "amoral" and consider familism as an evolutionary adaptive strategy activated in times of scarcity or crises. I base the thesis of the evolutionary roots of familism on the inclusive fitness theory (Hamilton 1964) and the theory of kin and reciprocal altruism (Trivers 1971). The perspective of evolutionary psychology makes it possible to see the positive functions of familism and to propose a new biological-cultural understanding of familism. Familism has so far been diagnosed primarily "indirectly" in sociological studies of bonding (and bridging) capital and in research on social trust conducted as part of cyclical social surveys such as the World Values Survey and the European Social Survey. In the search for accurate measures of biological-cultural familism we can additionally turn to the research of cross-cultural psychologists conducted for international management. I argue that the dimension of particularism on the 7-dimensional cultural map of Fons Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner (2002) and the dimension of in-group collectivism on the 9-dimensional cultural map of the GLOBE project (House et al. 2004), can valuably complement the measures used in sociological sciences and make the diagnosis of familism more reliable. Finally, I call for in-depth research on Polish familism aimed at testing whether it is possible to build bridging capital on the basis of familist bonding capital.

Mellan disciplin och profession.

This article describes and analyzes the formation of subject didactic research through the interaction between different disciplinary starting points and the new demands for profession-oriented interdisciplinary research fields, with subject didactics serving as an example. The focus is on the early development of literature didactics in Sweden. The main research question is: How have early internal factors, such as the discipline of literary studies, and external factors, including changes in the school system, education policy, or the social climate in general, influenced or contributed to the repertoire of research questions, methods, and theories within the field now known as literature didactics? The material analyzed, from the perspective of the history and sociology of science, consists of the scientific production from two early literary didactic contributions (1960–1980). The results follow two lines. The first formulates and develops subject didactic relevant issues from interdisciplinary starting points. The second develops subject didactic research based on the practical aspects of school teaching. Both lines of development in subject didactic research are strengthened and accelerated by external research funding, which also brings them closer together in several respects. The results are discussed based on Fensham's (2003) criteria for when a subject didactic research field can be considered established, Bernstein's (2003) dichotomy between singularities and regions, and Abbot's (2001) fractal theory for the development of new disciplines and research areas. The main conclusion is that the heterogeneity of the current field, in terms of paradigmatic orientations, and its homogeneity in certain theoretical starting points and recurring questions, can be clarified through this prehistory.

Communicative Philosophy of Science: Genesis and Contemporary Trends of Development

The study is dedicated to modelling the contemporary portrayal of the philosophy of science. The essence of its theses is elucidated through the following assertions: a) right from its beginning, a communicative potential was embedded within the philosophy of science; b) its origin arises from a culmination of predecessors’ accomplishments; c) the value of the communicative approach in the philosophy of science lies in its acceptance rather than opposition to the formal direction. The analysis is conducted retrospectively. The emergence of ideas within communicative philosophy of science is noticeable in its relevant relationship with the evolution of theories in logical positivism, rhetoric, pragmatism, linguistics, philosophy of language, and sociology of science. Analytical, synthetic, historical, rhetorical and structural-functional methodologies were used in the investigation. The findings of the study confirmed the hypothesis: communicative philosophy of science represents a historical combination of the field’s achievements, incorporating rhetorical, universalistic and particularistic developmental perspectives.

Civilization in the Face of Sociology

The article is a brief overview of the concepts that exist in sociological science from the moment of its inception to the present and related to civilizational issues. The peculiarities of this branch of knowledge, which arose during the Great Industrial Revolution, in the era of the formation of nation-states, led to the fact that for a long time sociologists did not use a civilizational approach, the idea of civilization prevailed as a certain stage in the development of society, opposing “barbarism”, in the age of Enlightenment (F. Guizot), and in the twentieth century (N. Elias). At the same time, it is possible to identify a certain attitude to civilizational issues in Marxism, and in an alternative approach to it, which the author calls technological (D. Bell, O. Tofler with J. Gelbraith adjacent to them), and in the concept of the “world-system” by I. Wallerstein, and in geoeconomics by F. Braudel. The article analyzes the contribution to the sociology of civilizations of the classics of the civilizational approach (N.Y. Danilevsky, O. Spengler, A. Toynbee, P. Sorokin). Special attention is paid to the “civilizational turn” in sociology in the 1970s, primarily related to the works of Sh. Eisenstadt and continued at the beginning of the XXI century by Aronson, as well as the concept of Russian civilization in the works of sociologists D. Nielsen and I. Yakovenko. The article raises theoretical questions about the civilizational approach from a sociological perspective, first of all, the scientific possibilities to identify specifically cultural and value cores of various civilizations, including Russian, to define Russian civilization in relation to the concepts of Eastern Christian civilization and Soviet civilization, as well as the degree of its universalism and autarkism.

Subnational Environmental Policy: Trends and Issues

Policies relevant to many key sociological processes are often subnational, enacted at the regional, state/provincial, and/or local levels. This applies notably in the politics of the environmental state, where public and private subnational environmental policies (SNEPs) have major consequences for managing climate change, addressing environmental injustices, regulating land uses, greening energy markets, limiting pollution, and much more. While sociologists focus more on national policies, diverse sociological contributions emphasize the importance of SNEPs and their origins, diffusion, implementation, and sources of backlash. We begin by providing a typology of SNEPs. Next, we highlight not only environmental sociology (with its particular attention to climate change and energy) but also the sociologies of social movements, politics, the economy, science, risk, and organizations, which have each offered unique perspectives. Finally, we outline an agenda for how sociologists can further elaborate a distinctive perspective that highlights inequality, valuation, diffusion, scale shifts, and venue-shopping up to national and global policy systems.

Uncertain Knowledge: The Medicalisation of Intersex People and the Production of Ignorance

Ignorance is produced through mechanisms related to power relations and socio-cultural context. This article examines whether the theoretical conceptualisation of agnotology may be useful when exploring intersex and the way it has been erased socially and physically. Specifically, based on the work of a PhD in Sociology and History of Science, it proposes categorising three types of mechanisms of ignorance production—cultural, epistemological and physical—with the aim of providing a greater understanding of how medicine, science and technology participate in a continuous process of erasing intersex bodies and lived experiences. Using medical literature, interviews and observations, the article focuses on a specific area of biomedical knowledge and intervention: the prenatal ‘treatment’ of Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH) with dexamethasone or ‘prenatal DEX’. It shows how this procedure was pioneered by French doctors and how it continues to be practised in France despite numerous uncertainties and controversies inside and outside of the medical sphere.

The genesis of the development of the category of trust and mistrust in science

The Relevance. The initial manifestations of trust were recorded in the political philosophy of Ancient Greece and Ancient China, on the basis of which thinkers determined the interconnection and interdependence of relations between government and society. Further developing in line with political sociology, trust as the principle of “fides” (“faith”) from the Roman law was conceptualized by M. Weber as an “emotional product” of a social contract, violation of the terms of which does not carry sanctions, with the exception of the loss of business reputation. The category of trust was significantly enriched during the development of sociology of the 20th – early 21st centuries, and thanks to the works of P. Sztompka and F. Fukuyama, it gained understanding of the conditions for sustainable development of society in conditions of uncertainty, in which the individual proceeds from the “credit” of confidence in the respectable behavior of another and absolute confidence in one's own actions. In recent years, a “crisis of confidence” in science as a social institution in modern society has been recorded.The problem of the research is to identify the peculiarities of understanding the category of “trust” by the classics of sociological science and their applicability in modern science.The goal of the research is to study the relationship between the dynamics of trust in Sociology in the scientific community and in science as a social institution as a whole.The methodological basis of the reseearch is a systematic approach and general methods of scientific knowledge, such as analysis, synthesis, generalization.The Research results. The classics of sociological science have enriched the motivational, value and political meanings of the concept of «trust» in modern science.

Formation of students' language competencies through the use of innovative technologies

The article reveals the importance of podcasting; the most effective tasks for the formation of students' language competencies through the use of innovative technologies are singled out; the necessary preconceptions and main linguistic didactic tasks were identified for assimilation of knowledge and formation of linguistic competencies of students, the solution of which contributes to the introduction of information technologies of education into professional activity. The purpose of the study is to develop students' language competencies through the use of innovative technologies. The methodological foundations of the research are leading propositions of the theory of scientific knowledge; general scientific principles of historicism, systematicity, and scientificity; conceptual provisions of pedagogical, psychological, and sociological sciences; and ideas of the development of modern education. The results of the article show the role of the graphical interface in the formation of language competencies of higher education students; the essence and principles are revealed; the need to introduce STEM technologies, gamification, and virtual whiteboards into the educational process is emphasized. Summarizing the results of the experimental study made it possible to conclude the effectiveness of the developed system of forming students' language competencies through the use of innovative technologies.

Imaginaries of Care and Science in Anthropocene Utopian Futurology: The Sociology of Science in Kim S. Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future

The article analyzes climate fiction utopia ‘Ministry for the Future’ by Kim S. Robinson. The analytical method relies on the framework of sociotechnical imaginaries proposed by Sheila Jasanoff and Sang-Hyun Kim and combines it with the critical history of science and feminist studies of care. Since in the process of writing the novel its author went through numerous consultations with scientists, in the article this oeuvre is analyzed both as a piece of science fiction and as a futurology essay. It is examined how the institutions of science are portrayed, how society of citizens is imagined and how this vision of the future remains trapped in the misconceptions regarding science that result from the Cold War modernistic propaganda of science. On the basis of this analysis, the article offers a discussion of how the imaginaries of Anthropocene are likely to repeat such tropes, unless history of science and sociology of science during the Cold War becomes a necessary part of the Anthropocene studies.

Академия будущего для будущего России

Dear readers! The guest of the journal “Municipality: Economy and Management” is the director of the Ural Institute of Management of the Presidential Academy Oleg V. Gushchin. His interlocutor is the editor-in-chief of the journal, Advanced Doctor of Law, Full Professor Igor V. Vydrin.Official information. Oleg V. Gushchin was born on November 24, 1972 in Lesnoy, Sverdlovsk region. In 1996, he graduated from the Ural Academy of Public Administration (hereinafter referred to as UAPA) with a degree in Public and Municipal Administration. He continued his studies at UAPA with a degree in Jurisprudence and received the qualification of lawyer in 1998. In 2014, Oleg V Gushchin completed his master’s degree at the Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B. N. Yeltsin (hereinafter referred to as UrFU) in the field of training in Social Work. From 1990 to 1998, he worked in the Komsomol and public service. In 1998, Oleg V. Gushchin was accepted into the civil service as the head of the Youth Policy Department of the Department of Youth Affairs and Relations with Public Organizations of the Sverdlovsk Region. From 1999 to 2010 – Director of the Department of Youth Affairs of the Sverdlovsk Region. During 2010-2019, Oleg V. Gushchin worked at UrFU as Vice-Rector for Social and Youth Policy, Advisor to the Rector’s Office. From 2019 to 2022 – Director of the Department of Youth Policy of the Ministry of Education and Youth Policy of the Sverdlovsk Region. Since October 2022 – Director of the Ural Institute of Management – branch of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. Oleg V. Gushchin is a candidate of sociological sciences.