Women’s organizations as a segment of civil society of modern Russia

The article analyses women’s organizations of modern Russia as a component of civil society. The study is based on the gender approach and materials analyzed include statistical data, results of opinion polls, websites of women’s organizations, interviews and other documents. The women’s movement is considered as one of the social practices in the context of the theory of practices proposed by Pierre Bourdie, Robert Connell and others. The author notes that the peak of women’s activity in Russia was in the 1990s, when women were uniting to solve social problems, such as women’s unemployment, human trafficking, etc. During that time, the women’s movement in Russia was developing with the support of international women’s organizations and foreign charity funds, but after the adoption of the so-called law on “foreign agents” many funds suspended or limited their activities in Russia. As a result, nowadays, many Russian NGOs including women’s organizations are facing financial problems. NGOs recognized as a “foreign agent” experience the most difficulties while organizations with the status of socially oriented NGOs can receive government’s support and funding. Using the method of content analysis, the author revealed that names of Russian women’s organizations often include such words as “family”, “childhood”, and “motherhood”, whereas the words “woman”/“women” and ‘women’s’ are rarely used. This is due to the fact that in Russian society there are still widespread views that the range of women’s interests should be limited to the private sphere. At the same time, the gender theory and feminism are often presented as attempts to undermine national traditions. As a result, a woman is considered as an object of social policy rather than a subject of social processes. The majority of Russian women’s organizations focus on charity work, but specific women’s interests and problems are often ignored or undervalued. However, domestic violence, labour market discrimination, and other gender problems can be solved only through the close interaction of the “third sector”, business, and government.

Methodological diversity in Russian sociology: An analysis of research on values

Methodological diversity is a condition for the development of sociology since the complexity of social reality does not allow adhering to one universal scientific paradigm. At the same time, the nature of methodological diversity in research is an indicator of the alignment of forces of agents in the field of science. Hence the research question arises — how is the influence of the external contour of science (business, public organizations, media, politicians, etc.) manifested in the methodology used by the authors of highly cited articles on values? The work is of qualitative design and the empirical base was formed by the texts of 42 of the most cited Russian articles on the issues of values posted on the RSCI platform in 2016–2019 and indexed by international scientometric databases (Scopus, Wos CC). The choice of articles on the study of values as an empirical object for assessing the nature of methodological diversity in sociology is explained by the complexity and multilevel nature of this phenomenon, and the existence of various approaches to its study, which provides ample opportunities for various methods and techniques. The research optics was the structuralist concept of the inner and outer contours of science. Analysis of the texts of articles showed that the quantitative methodology dominates (29 out of 42). In these studies, the signs of the pressure of the outer contour of science are most pronounced. The least pressure is experienced by authors of works in qualitative design, but there are very few studies in the sample of highly cited articles (2 out of 42), and the topic of values in them is optional. Promising areas for the continuation of the research are related to the analysis of the phenomenon of imitation in the process of producing scientific knowledge and its impact on methodological diversity.

The efficiency of communication strategies of politically oriented communities on the Internet

The Internet as a special space for political activity and political communication is becoming more and more attractive to political actors. The intensification of political activity on the Internet leads to the increase of researchers’ interest. One of the prominent areas of this research is the analysis of the efficiency of communication strategies used by politically oriented communities on the Internet. The results of such assessment contribute to, in particular, characterizing the level and features of the political engagement of Internet users into political processes. To study these processes, a telephone survey of residents of St. Petersburg was conducted. St. Petersburg was chosen because it is one of the largest cities in Russia with high Internet coverage and a high level of political activity compared to other regions. The results showed that politically oriented communities effectively implement primary communication strategies — information and presentation. More than two-thirds of politically active Internet users in St. Petersburg noted that visiting the relevant resources helped them to understand the political situation, to define their attitude toward parties, politicians, social movements and organizations. At the same time, the strategy of supporting political identification has not yet worked for the majority of users. Perhaps this is a consequence of the fact that the majority of St. Petersburg citizens have not yet found appropriate political leaders and organizations. The authors found that the majority of Internet users display an interest in politics permanently, and not only during the pre-election period. The hypothesis that one of the factors of an efficient strategy of politically oriented communities is emphasizing anti-power positions was confirmed. The survey results also confirmed the high level of opposition views among Internet users.

Applied knowledge in the humanities (based on the manuscript of N.I.Kareev “General methodology of the humanities”)

The purpose of the article is to introduce a fragment of an unpublished monograph by sociologist and historian Nikolay I.Kareev titled “General methodology of the humanities” (1922). The book was published only in fragments and needs further updating in terms of its significance for the history of Russian sociology. In the publication of archival documents and accompanying annotations, a fragment of the final seventh chapter “Normative and Applied Knowledge in the Humanities” is analyzed. In this text, the scholar turned to the complex theoretical issues of defining the role, function and correlation of fundamental and applied sciences. The text analyzes N.I.Kareev’s classification — the division of scientific knowledge into theoretical, normative and applied. By carefully examining applied knowledge, he revealed it in two aspects — vulgar and pragmatic utilitarianism. Regarding the first, he concluded that the absolutization of the utilitarian point of view is dangerous for science itself, since it makes the development of science dependent on particular goals, including party interests, and subordinates science to the changing circumstances of the moment. On the other hand, theoretical knowledge can also have value as the most reliable basis for any practical discipline. The importance of applied knowledge is due to the fact that true (factual) knowledge about society can only be obtained by inductive means, i. e., in order to cognize social reality, applied sciences must precede theoretical ones. The meaning of applied knowledge is that it, unlike theoretical knowledge, is aimed at transforming nature or society.

The genesis of Western European sociological thought in the works of G. V. Plekhanov

The article presents the results of the analysis by G.V.Plekhanov of the genesis of Western European sociological thought based on the consideration of the social ideas of the French materialists of the 18th century, the rudiments in their philosophical systems of the historical approach to the study of society and understanding the causes of social inequality and injustice as well as overcoming them. The sources and content of the philosophical and historical theories of the French historians of the Restoration period are revealed, those who recognized the struggle of classes as the cornerstone of the social, political and mental development of European society, including the interpretation of the concept of “social environment” as a set of economic relations of classes, which was a contribution to the history of sociology. The analysis of the sociological views of utopian socialists and representatives of German classical philosophy is conducted. It was revealed that a significant contribution to the development of the theory of society were the ideas of social progress and the creation of a new social science that served the cause of social organization, developed by the utopian socialists, as well as the statement that the future of society is decided in the sphere of social and economic relations, and not political and legal ones. It is emphasized that Hegel’s application of dialectics to the analysis of social changes meant undoubted progress in the development of sociological thought, which consisted in the advancement of the idea of the regularity of the social process. The methodological basis of the author’s study of the problem of the genesis of Western European sociological thought in the works of G.V.Plekhanov is made up of dialectical-materialistic and comparative-historical methods, as well as the method of textological analysis and historical-philosophical reconstruction.

Russian working youth: Strategies to achieve wellbeing

The article presents the results of the analysis of strategies to achieve wellbeing among Russian working youth. The analysis is based on the survey of 1121 respondents between 20 and 30 years old, living in Moscow and major cities of eight federal districts of Russia. The article describes the following five strategies. (1) “Familism” is a predominantly female strategy directed at attaining a work-life balance. It is characterized by high life satisfaction, low work and career satisfaction, as well as by low labor mobility. (2) “Rational consumerism” includes the economical use of family resources and savings activities. It reflects the predominance of materialistic values, an orientation towards a moderate and quiet life, and the absence of professional ambitions. (3) “Networking and entrepreneurship” is a pronounced achievementoriented strategy directed at the accumulation of social capital and entrepreneurial activity. The strategy is characterized by moral nihilism and by orientations towards personal responsibility and self-efficiency. (4) “Investing in professional development” is a work-centric strategy focused on increasing professional knowledge and the acquisition of new professional skills, together with increasing work efforts. This is a predominantly male strategy, more typical for respondents from Russian regions compared to Moscow. (5) “Civic activism” is a less frequently mentioned strategy directed at protecting one’s rights and participation in public and political life. It is common mainly for those living in Moscow. The analysis reveals that these five strategies are shaped by different combinations of the respondents’ individual characteristics, values and orientations, industry of employment, residency, and organizational practices. It was determined that some strategies are developed by the mechanism of accumulating advantages while others are predominantly compensatory in their nature.

Criminal activity of the population during the pandemic: Preconditions, situation and possible risks

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly intensified all social processes and has given rise to a series of negative social phenomena. In the article, the author considers only one of them — crime. The author analyzes the features of the criminal activity of the Russian population during the pandemic. The following preconditions for the criminalization of the Russian population during the pandemic are noted: uncontrollability of the process to prevent the virus from spreading; deterioration of the situation of the population; unsuccessful optimization of healthcare in previous years; lack of control over the activities of the political and economic elite, which controls the distribution of social benefits. An analysis of the criminal activity of the Russian population showed that it is characterized by both global trends and some specific characteristics. These characteristics include: the growth of banditry, extremism and organized crime; an increase in the number of grave and especially grave crimes; high levels of corruption and economic crime. Particularly alarming is the damage caused by white-collar crime, in particular, in the implementation of national projects. The risks of criminal activity are also highlighted: legal practice in relation to organized crime of business structures; further deterioration of the situation of the population; imperfection of the law regarding domestic violence; high level of corruption among officials; the rapid development of cyberbullying, leading to an increase in aggression and violence among underage youth. All of them act as risks of propagating both actual and “delayed” criminal activity.

Conspiracy beliefs about vaccination: Questionnaire validation

Vaccination in light of the COVID-19 pandemic is a hot topic in scientific and popular circles. The article presents the adaptation and validation of the questionnaire measuring the propensity to believe in conspiracy theories regarding vaccination (Vaccine Conspiracy Beliefs Scale). The questionnaire consists of 7 statements with 7 response categories in the Likert scale. The work includes translation and adaptation for the Russian sample of the Englishlanguage version of the questionnaire, including forward and backward translation as well as the use of cognitive laboratories. The translation was carried out by three experts, followed by the finalization of the questionnaire version for quantitative analysis. The cognitive laboratory tested how clear the translation and the investigated construct were for respondents. Data analysis was conducted within the framework of modern testing theory using models from Rasch modeling. The sample consisted of 308 students from Russian universities (average age 20.6 years; SD = 3.9). The quantitative analysis showed satisfactory psychometric characteristics of the questionnaire. A deeper analysis revealed that the sample is divided into two latent classes according to the response style of the test takers. The response style is a specific characteristic of the test-taker, which makes it possible to closer examine the reasons why the testtaker has chosen one or another response option. The study of response styles is an underrepresented area in domestic research and the article contributes to the development of this area while also emphasizing the need to study response styles when using questionnaires. Overall, the article details the methodology for validating measurement tools in the social sciences.