Социологический журнал 2-2014

CONTENTS

THEORY AND METHODOLOGY

P.A. Ambarova The dynamic of social time: evolution of sociological views p. 6

Ambarova Polina Anatoljevna — Associate professor, Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin. Phone: +7 (904) 381-29-35. Email: borges75@mail.ru

Abstract. The article presents a conceptual framework for analyzing the dynamics of social time. The purpose of this study was to justify the idea of the existence of temporal forms, methods and mechanisms of interaction between society and culture. The tasks of the research were: sociological examination of the evolution of ideas about the dynamics of social time, starting with the classical stage of history of sociology to the modern stage of its development; expanding the concept of dynamics of social time, as well as determining its dynamic properties. The main hypothesis is the understanding of social time as a mechanism linking society and culture, and social dynamics of time — as its properties, determining the character and features of this connection. The starting assumption was a radical change in the dynamic properties of time in the modern world, proving serious discrepancies between social time of society and social time of culture. Methodological basis of the research are the principles of historical-sociological and temporal approaches to examine the nature of temporal relationships and temporal contradictions between society and culture, internal rules of development of social time and change its properties.

Keywords: the time of society, the time of culture, dynamic of social time, the evolution of sociological views on the dynamic of social time; mobility, fluidity, tension of social time.

SURVEYS, EXPERIMENTS, CASE STUDIES

P.M. Kozyreva The reforms of the 1990s and 2000s: Acquisition and loss of Russians p. 25

Kozyreva Polina Mikhajlovna — Doctor of Sociology, First Deputy Director of the Institute of Sociology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Director of the Center for Longitudinal Studies of the NRU Higher School of Economics. Address: 24/35, korpus 5, Krzhizhanovskogo Str., Moscow, Russia, 117218. Phone: +7 (499) 125-80-88. Email: pkozyreva@isras.ru

Abstract. The article discusses the results of comparative analysis of the results of 1990s’ and 2000s’ reforms from the point of view of the losses and gains of Russians. Using the data from longitudinal sociological surveys the author presents the changes in the ratio of winners and losers, provides detailed characteristics of these groups, analyzes the peculiarities of their socio-economic adaptation. In particular, based on self-estimation, there is a six fold increase in the number of winners from the reforms of the 2000s in comparison with the winners from the reforms of the 1990s. This can be explained by improvement of socio-economic situation in the country and increasing government attention to tackling social problems as well as by the rise of people's adaptive capacities. Currently the proportion of “winners” is higher among those people who in the early stages of market reforms experienced disastrous deterioration of their economic situation. So today, among “winners” there are many people who were only able to slightly improve their position, and positive social well-being is often the result of modest pretensions. Often moderate social optimism expresses not so much a positive assessment of the existing reality but mainly strengthening opinion about favorable changes in the future. Among “winners” there is a substantial group of people who have received certain preferences from the state. Changes resulted in a considerable improvement of the social well-being of pensioners and public sector employees. The significance and emotional problems of physical survival expressed in previous years by a less successful and more successful people have visibly diminished. With the improvement of the socio-economic situation the number of supporters of market reforms has increased, especially among the most adapted people. At the same time the author emphasizes an internal inconsistency and conflict in mass consciousness, which is explains by the contradictions of social reality, on the one hand, and unclear prospects of future development of the country, on the other. The analysis leads to the conclusion that in the future the ratio of winners and losers will be largely determined by the directions of the country socio-economic policy.

Keywords: socio-economic reforms, social adaptation, well-being, social well-being, economic crisis.

N.N. Sedova Civic activism in modern Russia: Forms, factors, and social base p. 48

Sedova Natalia Nikolaevna — senior researcher, Center for Complex Social Research (Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences); scientific assistant to VCIOM`s Director General.

Abstract. The article highlights Russian practices referring to civic activism. The objectives of the study were to reveal the links between political and non-political aspects of activism, to define the scale of the civic participation, and how deep its roots are; to analyze the social base of the civic engagement; and to determine the key factors of its development. To provide the social base of the civic activism the author proposes a typology based on the indicators of public involvement in political and non-political practices and readiness of public institutions to support public movements. Such a readiness refers to finding the major activist groups: the core, the periphery groups, those who are well-disposed, and those who are distant. The scale and social portrait of the major activist groups are defined during the study. The author concludes that modern civic activism in Russia is driven by socially advanced, successful mobile groups. The degree and the character of the civic activism are tightly connected to the character of the goals in life (level of education, self-realization, and social communication), social well-being, and general vision and basic values. According to the findings of the study, non-political activism and political activism are not opposed to each other; the higher the degree of activity is, the deeper their interaction is. The empirical basis of the study is nationwide public opinion survey of Russians conducted by the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2014.

Keywords: activism, participation, civic society, politics, political participation, public organization, typology, social well-being.

SOCIOLOGY OF EDUCATION

S.D. Lebedev Educational reflection of religion: to sociological interpretation p. 72

Lebedev, Sergey Dmitrievich — candidate of sociological sciences, professor of the Department of sociology and management of social work with the youth, the Belgorod State University for National Research. Address: 308036, Belgorod, lane Yurievskiy, 4. Phone: 8(4722) 53-63-97. Email: serg_ka2001-dar@mail.ru

Abstract. The article is devoted to theoretical justification of the concept "educational reflection of religion" that is obviously important for sociological judgment of the modern relations between religion and education institutions. Achievement of this purpose assumes the consecutive solution of the following tasks: theoretical interpretation of the function of educational reflection, its specification in relation to religion studying in modern Russian school, conceptual explanation of a problem zone and preliminary modeling of the sociological module in the educational process maintaining. General scientific methods of the analysis, synthesis, typology and comparison are applied for this purpose. The educational reflection can be defined and described as a complex of functionally specialized cogitative intensions of subjects of the educational process directed at its regulation. The coherence of strategic, tactical and target positions of subjects of education, ranged according to their functions in educational communication, is viewed as condition of success of such regulation. When studying religion in modern Russian school there comes forward the complex of latent contradictions between cultures of secular and religious types that questions the achievement of positive educational effect. The problem situation concentrates in the legitimated during the recent years confessionaly focused practices of education in secondary schools. Except the cross-cultural contradictions, this is caused by value-oriented character of the corresponding subjects and age factor of pupils. The prevention and the current regulation of the corresponding problems is seemed to be feasible by means of connection to the educational process of the sociological module of feedback between strategic and tactical subjects of education, on one hand, and the target subject on the other.

Keywords: confessionaly focused education, educational communication, educational knowledge, religion, reflection, social subjects of education, sociology.

DISCUSSION

A.V. Rezaev, V.S. Starikov, N.D. Tregubova Comparative Sociology: An overall outline and prospects for the future p. 89

Andrey V. Rezaev — Professor and Chair of Comparative Sociology, Faculty of Sociology, St. Petersburg State University. Address: 191124, St. Petersburg State University, ul. Smolnogo 1/3, entr. 9. Phone: +7 (812) 577-14-01. Email: anrezaev@yandex.ru
Valentin S. Starikov — PhD student, Comparative Sociology Chair, Faculty of Sociology, St. Petersburg State University. Address: 191124, St. Petersburg State University, ul. Smolnogo 1/3, entr. 9. Phone: +7 (812) 577-14-01. Email: starikov.valentin@gmail.com
Natalia D. Tregubova — PhD student, Comparative Sociology Chair, Faculty of Sociology, St. Petersburg State University. Address: 191124, St. Petersburg State University, ul. Smolnogo 1/3, entr. 9. Phone: +7 (812) 577-14-01. Email: Natalya.tr@mail.ru

Abstract. The paper is oriented toward an exploration into ‘comparative sociology’ as a science and teaching discipline. An understanding of the relations between comparative sociology and sociology per se is a primary concern for the authors. They argue that such an understanding along with a clarification of substantial and conceptual relations between comparative methods and comparative sociology would be crucial for the development of theoretical sociology. The paper begins with the analysis of the historical dynamics of comparative sociology in the USA. It follows with a survey of the comparative sociology institutionalization in Russian academia. Having described the current state of affairs for comparative sociology and critically debated qualitative and quantitative strategies in comparative sociological research the authors examine the potentials of comparative programs in sociological studies of everyday life. It gives them the basis to articulate their answers to the basic questions concerning relations between comparative sociology and sociology.

Keywords: comparative sociology, comparative methods, qualitative and quantitative strategies of comparative research, everyday life sociology.

HISTORY OF SOCIOLOGY

Hecker’s viewpoint on Russian sociology and contribution of S.N. Yuzhakov: foreword of translator / K.K. Oganyan p. 114

Oganyan Karina Kadzhikovna — candidate of sociological science, sociology’s department of Sankt-Petersburg University of economics. Email: karina_oganyan@mail.ru

Abstract. The analysis of the results of Yuzhakov’s historical and sociological studies as a representative of the subjective school, shown in J. Hecker’s monograph “Russian sociology. Contribution to the history of sociological thought and theory” (1915), is made. The basic aspects, through which the author of the monograph examines Yuzhakov’s sociological views are brought to light; analysis of his theory of society are defined; critical evaluation and importance of Yuzhakov’s ideas for the development and sociologists are shown. The evaluation of J. Hecker’s monograph by N.I. Kareyev is analyzed. Having assessed quite critically this work as a whole, N.I. Kareyev emphasizes Hecker’s conclusion of special importance of subjective school of sociology for the development of sociology and the relevance of this trend in the context of the world sociological thought. In our opinion one of the drawbacks of the analysis presented by J. Hecker is that he did not pay enough attention to the consideration of concepts of identity, culture, activity, which are key in the theory of Russian sociologist.

Keywords: S.N. Juzhakov, J. Hecker, person, activity, culture, Russian sociology, Russian subjective school of sociology.

Hecker J.F. The sociological contributions of Youzhakov / Transl. by K.K.Oganyan p. 120

ESSAY

A.T. Gasparishvili Power of public opinion in the Athenian democracy: Tribunal or rationality p. 134

Gasparishvili Alexander Tengizovich —candidate of philosophy sciences, associate professor, leading research fellow, Lomonosov Moscow State University. Address: Bolshaya Nikitskaya, 5, Moskow, 125009, Russia. Phone: +7 (916) 351-77-53. Email: Gasparishvili@gmail.com

Abstract. The article deals with the peculiarities of the functioning of public opinion in the ancient Greek polis. The author aims to prove that public opinion in ancient times did not always and did not everywhere represent only a collection of the traditional concepts of the due. Under Athenian democracy and in other democratic polises it existed as a product of a discussion among the free citizens taking part in politics, and, in this respect, it was a phenomenon of the same order as public opinion in Modern Times. Proceeding from the works by ancient and modern authors, specific features of Athenian public opinion are described and explained, and discussions between Athenian thinkers on its subject and epistemological value are reconstructed. The article makes use of works by ancient Greek philosophers and historians, explorers of antiquity, and sociologists engaged in public opinion studies. The author also identifies factors which limited the omnipotence of Athenian public opinion. Those were the causes of metaphysical character, that is, natural inequality due to the divine kinship of eminent personalities, participation of divine forces in the daily life of ancient Greeks, and also the social and economic causes implying the preference of personal well-being to common good. Despite those limitations, the public opinion under Athenian democracy, based on a wide citizen participation in discussing important problems of the functioning of society and state, was an important instrument of governing the antique polis.

Keywords: public opinion, society, democracy, politics, policy, authority, Athens.

ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF G.V. OSIPOV

G.V. Osipov: “Nowadays all problems have to be solved only on the basis of social sciences” / Interview prepared by B.Z. Doktorov p. 144

ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF B.M. FIRSOV

A.N. Alexeev, B.Z. Doktorov The man who made things happen. On the 85th anniversary of Boris Maksimovich Firsov p. 168

IN MEMORIAM

Pavel Vasilyevich Romanov (1964–2014) p. 174

REVIEWS, SUMMARIES

A. Kondakov, A. Vichkitova, A. Grigorieva, A. Evstifeev, et. al Generational analysis of solitude: review of I.S. Kon’s “80 years of solitude” p. 175

NEW RELEASES p. 183