Freedom and Independence During the Pandemic

The scale and the speed of the spread of the new coronavirus strain and economic crises associated with it are becoming the reason to rethink the essential features and ways of interaction between freedom and independence. The aim of the research is to consider new and evaluate the significance of traditional approaches to defining independence and freedom. The authors analyze the mechanisms of the formation and development of biopower, the effectiveness of which is manifested in the possibility of turning people into "obedient bodies" (M. Foucault) and reducing human existence to the state of "bare life" (J. Agamben).The researchers emphasize that the highest form biopower manifestation, arose due to the effective development of medicine, became the possibility of transforming life and death into political concepts that require a "special solution". Therefore, the restrictive measures that arose during the spread of COVID-19 cannot be considered as a manifestation of total forms of addiction are established by biopolitics. The research allows the authors to come to the conclusion that the impossibility of achieving freedom and the loss of independence arise in the process of consistent implementation of the individualistic ideals. The results of the study contain a few contradictions identified by the authors. First of all, the development of biopower points that the concern for people's health enables the State to penetrate and manage all spheres of an individual's existence including issues of life and death. Biopolitics does not contribute to the establishment and development of civil rights, but creates effective means for reducing people to a state of "bare life". In the spread of COVID-19 the contradiction of following the individualistic ideals became obvious. Risks and threats that have a global character are confronted by a person unwilling to take responsibility. The revealed contradictions lead to the conclusion that a condition to maintain independence and achieve freedom in the modern world can be the formation of the new types of solidarities that make it possible to overcome the autonomy of existence and develop a responsible attitude to what is happening in the world.

Social Isolation Challenge: Russian Context

The article considers the main trends and features of the impact of social isolation measures in a global pandemic on the life of modern society. The author notes that the practice of implementing measures of social isolation distinguishes certain social strata, pushing others to the periphery of managerial attention and support; aggravates feelings of social inequality of opportunity, changes space and intensity of individual and social mobility; affects the authority of local and regional government and attitudes towards them. The article describes various aspects and difficulties of individual and social adaptation to the pandemic. The carried out comparative analysis of European and Russian sociocultural context, in which social challenges of the pandemic are manifested, shows their common features: aggravation of problems of social adaptation, different degrees of readiness for it, an asynchronous development of integration processes, an authoritarian-conservative turn in the mass consciousness. The characteristic of the main trends of changes in consciousness and behavior is given, in which the response of Russian society to the challenges of new living conditions and the pandemic reformatting of the social communications space is manifested. The attention to the multidirectional character of adaptation strategies of the population is drawn. The author expresses the opinion that the choice of the optimal variant of society's adaptation to global environmental, including pandemic, challenges is determined both by the elite's ability to transform social institutions and by a change in the dominant personality type. An atomized type of individual, focused on the values of early modernity, in whose subconsciousness authoritarian-paternalistic attitudes are preserved, should be replaced by a type of personality, with qualities and abilities corresponding to the imperatives of a complex and dynamically changing modern society.

On the Classification of Fake Information During the Coronavirus Pandemic

This article presents the classification of fakes on grounds of the information source that underlies the occurrence of false information. The study was perfomed on the coronavirus fakes that spread in Russian Federation in March 2020 during the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in our country. For the analysis, only those fakes were taken, which the Administrations of the Russian regions promptly denied in their official accounts on social networks. Based on this, only those fakes that caused the greatest public response were selected for analysis. In this article, the following types of fakes are distinguished: folklore, symmetric, interpretive, additional, and conspiracy. Folklore fakes in various variations reproduce the same motives and are associated with well-established ideas and stereotypes in the mass consciousness. Symmetrical fakes partially or completely transfer true facts from one territory (country, region) to another. They can also transfer information from one person (structure) to another (s). Interpretative fakes are associated with the incorrect interpretation of events, information disseminated, or decisions made by the authorities by individual individuals. Additional fakes for a short period of time continue the theme of previously thrown disinformation. Conspiracy fakes are associated with conspiracy theory, characterized by stuffing on a wide territory and a large audience This classification is not exhaustive and can be supplemented as new fakes appear and are studied. Also, within the framework of this article, recommendations are given on how to refute a particular fake, depending on its belonging to a particular type.

From Effect to Affect and Back... (Reflections on the Book: Russian Society in Self-Isolation. Social Effects and Consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic [Text] : Monograph / N. Kh. Gafiatulina, V. V. Kasyanov, P. S. Samygin, S. I. Samygin ; ed. by M. A. Vaskov. – Moscow : RUSAYNS, 2020. – 178 p.)

There was no more pressing topic than the reaction of the Russian community to the events around COVID-19 for scientific research in 2020. The researchers chose the only correct methodological message under the given conditions: under the conditions of the pandemic, the problems that are characteristic of modern Western European / Russian civilization and in conditions of relative stability have worsened, accelerated, and aggravated. This made it possible to attract the potential of both domestic and foreign publications of a sufficiently large time range to explain social processes. The work is based on a systematic approach, as the most adequate to the study of the COVID-19 threat to the social immunity of Russian society. At the time of writing the monograph and studying the problem, no one foresaw the threat of the second or third waves, relying on the experience of China, which managed to localize the pandemic in 76 days. Since then, psychological fatigue from the threat of infection has turned into protests against both lockdowns and mandatory vaccinations. The dynamics of social processes expands the subject of research, confirms the correctness of the question about the choice of guidelines for the future development of mankind. New technologies for controlling large masses of people, which are being developed in the context of a pandemic, allow us to solve the problems of further structuring society. The book was published in the summer of 2020, and the months that have passed since then allow readers to assess the heuristic and predictive potential not only of the authors of the monograph, but also of those whose works they attracted to analyze the situation. In our opinion, the researchers correctly assessed the social risks of strengthening the patterns that were formed even before the pandemic, including those associated with restriction.

Justice in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Mobility Capital and New Social Order

The COVID-19 pandemic forces us to reconsider the conceptual boundaries of the world and everyday social order, affecting such pairs of concepts as: natural / artificial; habitual / extraordinary. The author considers one of the aspects of the changes having occured: the transformation of spatial mobility, which is connected with deep social changes. In the first part, the experience of isolation is interpreted on the basis of the theoretical resources of the social theory of mobilities, primarily the concepts of mobility capital and mobility justice. Not all social groups were equally mobile, because they had different mobility capital. The issue of mobility equity has taken in a new context: a natural global threat that has exacerbated the existing inequalities caused by the emergency. The second part of the article deals with the concept of "state of emergency" by G. Agamben and analyzes the issue of transgression of the system of the world social order, including its everyday dimension. The answer to this question is given on the basis of an analysis of the interpretations and forecasts of the leading contemporary European intellectuals (Agamben, Žižek, Latour, Sloterdijk, Fuller). The problems of social distancing, the transformation of higher education, the increase in the powers of the state, associated with medical justifications are considered. Important parameters of the new social order are the environmental factor and the need for sociocritical optics to understand the consequences of the pandemic. Analysis captures the increasing role of digital intermediaries of social interactions, which forms a new context for the problem of justice, opening up perspectives for issues of distance with digital technologies and issues of digital ecology.

Quarantine Understanding of Some Metaphysical Problems

The pandemic and the quarantine situation have had and continue to have multi-directional influence on the processes of social and individual life. From unprecedented acceleration and progress (in information technologies and getting involved with them) to slowdown, and sometimes full stop and stagnation (tourism business, transport sector). Comprehension of what is happening will be a long process. The authors propose to revaluate some metaphysical problems actualized by the experienced situation. These issues include virtual reality, which clearly defined its boundaries and it became clear that the state many plunged into in the process of quarantine and isolation is not a kind of it. The problem of social space, which has changed, intertwined, confused a person in his social roles and statuses. Physically, one place of stay at different times of the day with the help of information technologies was transformed into a space for work, scientific debate, education, family life, entertainment and even sports. The philosophical problem of uncertainty having left the theoretical discourse has directly invaded the lifeworld and everyday life of every person, influenced all spheres of life, plans and prospects for the future. Becoming a social reality uncertainty during a pandemic has acted as a factor that erodes the existence of people, their habitual, definable, measurable being, which begins to lose its characteristics, losing its identity. It becomes unpredictable, ambiguous, unplanned. Such a being casts doubt on many usual forms of organizing the achievement of results in almost any field of activity: setting a goal, choosing methods and systematic movement towards its implementation. That is how project thinking is realized. However, in a situation of total uncertainty, it begins to fail and turns out to be inefficient. A possible overcoming this situation is thinking aimed at realizing and «understanding real circumstances». Thinking that was appreciated primarily by Russian philosophers and the Eastern tradition of philosophy.

The Pandemic Social Services Market: New Practices and Technologies

This article analyzes the processes of development of the social service market, which is part of the social protection system. Through a comparative analysis of the Soviet and Russian models of social services, the authors conclude that the modern system, while partially retaining some characteristics of the Soviet system, is transforming and acquiring new specific features. Based on the generalization of the results of the authors' comprehensive sociological research using quantitative and qualitative methods (questionnaire survey, in-depth interviews, content analysis), the innovative practices of working with consumers (recipients) of social services, which social efficiency in the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic was noted by respondents, used by NCOs operating in the social services market. Despite the complexity of objective circumstances faced by organizations, regional NCOs still managed to maintain the quality of social services provided in both online and offline formats at a level that meets the needs of recipients. The prospects for the development of SO NPOs are connected not only with the creation and implementation of innovative technologies and practices, but also depend on strengthening the personnel composition of employees through the development and subsequent implementation of proposals for protecting their health and improving professional competencies by creating conditions for training, advanced training and mastering new specialties. The article notes the important role of regional media in covering the activities of NGOs in the difficult period of the spread of coronavirus infection and the establishment of a forced regime of social isolation. An analysis of video materials broadcast on official channels of Volgograd television is given, which contributed to strengthening the status of NGOs as competitive providers of quality social services. It is predicted that the experience gained during the "pandemic" period will be used by NGOs in their day-to-day activities in the future.

Social Readiness for the Consequences of the Pandemic: Sociological View

The speed of development and transformation of modern society is directly related to the conditions in which people live. The development of science and technology leads to transformations in social structures. The article analyzes the concept of social readiness in relation to the consequences of a number of social transformations, in particular, the coronavirus infection pandemic. Connections, interactions and relationships in all spheres of society have changed dramatically over the past year. These changes in the article are compared with the consequences of the Spanish Flu pandemic, which took place more than a hundred years ago. The article reveals the peculiarities of the perception of quarantine measures, distance learning and other consequences of self-isolation due to coronavirus infection by various categories of citizens, these conclusions are made based on the analysis of qualitative and quantitative sociological data. When disclosing the concept of «social readiness», attention is paid to both internal and external factors - factors of the social environment. Among the external factors, as an example, the measures introduced after the start of the pandemic by the governments of different countries, including the Russian Federation, are given in relation to various categories of citizens. Elderly citizens, the working-age population and students are the object of research of this article. The features of the perception of work in the online format, compulsory and voluntary self-isolation, distance education in departmental and civil universities by students are considered. The empirical basis of the work was semi-structured interviews with representatives of these social groups, a questionnaire survey among one of the categories of citizens, as well as a secondary analysis of sociological research. The conducted research allowed us to conclude that the age and perception of the threat of coronavirus infection for oneself are important internal factors affecting social readiness for the consequences of the pandemic; among the external factors, socialization agents and government measures have a great influence. Promising directions for further research are indicated.

Professional Age: On the Issue of Sociological Conceptualization (On the Example of Professional Athletes)

The article presents a sociological conceptualization of the category "professional age" in relation to the field of professional sports. Based on the interpretation of the terms "age" and "professional athlete", the author's vision of the category "professional age" is proposed. The interpretation of the concept of "professional age" is carried out through the prism of chronological, biological, social, and psychological ages, as a result of which the specifics of professional age are determined on the example of professional athletes. The specific features of integration of athletes into the professional environment, which is associated with the specific functioning of this sphere of activity that affects the process of formation of their professional age, are shown. In turn, the professional age of athletes is determined, firstly, by the earlier entry of the individual into the professional sports environment and, consequently, by a faster entry into professional age; secondly, a shorter work experience depending on the sport compared to other areas of work and, accordingly, a faster completion of professional age. Factors leading to the formation of perceptions of professional age are established: discrepancy between the chronological and social functioning of the individual; effects of biological ageing on the course of professional age; effect of psychological aging on the duration of professional age. The characteristics of the professional age of athletes that have a changeable nature of existence are revealed: heterochronicity, variability, normativity, multidimensionality, linearity and cyclicality. The professional age of athletes is analyzed as a multivariate social phenomenon, in particular, the significance of biographical, ideological, social-stratificational, ethnological, historical, aesthetic research aspects is revealed. The socio-cultural features of the professional age of the representatives of elite sport are for egrounded, firstly, the construction of the sports self-awareness of the individual / community, which is specific depending on the kind of sport; secondly, the construction of a sports subculture based on a constant stressful situation. On the basis of theoretical developments, the author's conceptualization of the professional age of athletes is proposed.

COVID-19 and Polyglot Peace: A Grammatical Understanding of Our Present Predicament

The challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is argued in this contribution, can only be met by a common effort of responsibility by all nation states across the world. That is what the COVID-19 pandemic has in common with the upcoming climate crisis and with the social and economic problems of the emerging world society in general. This contribution, however, is not focused on direct and effective methods and solutions. Such measures and methods can only meet their objectives within the framework of a new understanding. It requires a new way of ordering the world, a new type of man, a new way of speaking with and to each other. A new mindset and attitude are required. This, it is proposed, will be a mindset shaped by the grammatical method or, more commonly called, the dialogical philosophy of Rosenstock-Huessy and a circle of friends. It is the aim of the grammatical method to find the right rhythm, sequence and alternation of the different values and institutions of different societies and cultures. This can put the analytical methods and measures for the COVID-19 crisis within the broader framework of a history of salvation. We have to understand where each of our traditions is coming from, and how we are challenged to find a common destination. The COVID-19 crisis turns such mutual understanding and a sense of common purpose into a true imperative. Therefore the potential of the grammatical method to meet that requirement is explored with a special focus on the understanding of language by Rosenstock-Huessy and Levinas.