This article proposes considering social contract not only at the macrolevel (interaction of the people with the state), but also at other levels, since social contract exists at both regional and organizational levels. This approach allows for a broader application of the “social contract” concept and a better understanding of social interactions between its subjects. The article illustrates the proposed approach on the example of the social contract between university and its employees: this social contract is defined as a balance of interests between the organization and its employees, and its empirical indicators include job satisfaction and employee loyalty. Based on these theoretical-methodological principles, the author conducted an empirical study at the Russian State University for the Humanities in October 2024: in addition to teachers, respondents from the administrative-management staff were surveyed. The study identified the following parameters of the social contract: employees are satisfied with their work at the university and demonstrate high loyalty to the organization. However, there are discrepancies between the faculty and administrative staff in various aspects of the social contract. For teachers, the content of work is of great importance, while for administration rather working conditions and psychological atmosphere. Moreover, administrative staff salaries are lower than those of teachers. The author makes a conclusion that administration and teachers have different “life worlds”, only partially overlapping in their goals and interests, which leads to misunderstandings and stereotyping of two groups. To successfully implement social contract at the university, it is necessary to consider aspects identified in the survey, interact with staff differently and develop a unified university community.
The article presents a study of student perceptions of the ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) agenda in the context of professional socialization. The relevance of this issue is determined by the lag of Russian business in implementing sustainable development principles and by the key role of the higher education system in developing human resources for ESG transformation. The study aims at overcoming superficial awareness analysis and conducting a comparative sociological analysis of the value orientations of future specialists from several professional groups. The methodological basis of the study is Schwartz’s theory of values, and the empirical base is the results of the survey of students majoring in management (RANEPA, RUDN University) and engineering-construction (MGSU). The authors identified a “double conflict of values”: the first conflict lies in the realm of individual priorities - it is the tension between the traditional career-oriented, materialistic orientations of future specialists and the altruistic ESG values; the second, more widespread conflict is a generational value gap, a significant difference between the value profile of students and the national “protective-stabilizing” type. While security is the dominant value in the Russian society, students have a more individual-humanistic value profile that prioritizes kindness (focusing on interpersonal relationships) and autonomy (striving for independence), while the value of security is less significant. This creates an area of potential value consensus with the ESG agenda in its social (S) aspect and a zone of alienation with respect to the values of stability and security, which are significant for society and traditional business. Thus, for the successful integration of ESG principles into strategic economic development goals the higher education system should consistently eliminate the double conflict between students’ personal career goals and the demands of sustainable development, between students’ innovative aspirations and the society’s protective conservatism.
The article is a review of the collective monograph Changes in the Social Structure of Russian and Chinese Societies over the Past Twenty Years” (Ed. by M.K. Gorshkov, Li Peilin, P.M. Kozyreva, M.F. Chernysh. Moscow: FCTAS RAS; 2025. 568 p.). The book presents the results of the analysis of social-structural transformations in Russia and China and the trends in their development in response to contemporary global challenges. The book describes changes in the demographic, regional and settlement structures, in family models, marital and family relations and employment; explains the transformation of income structure and accompanying changes in consumption patterns; pays special attention to digital divide and social mobility in the era of modernization. The book is based on government statistics and sociological surveys conducted by Russian and Chinese research teams. One of the authors’ key conclusions is that in the current social, economic, and geopolitical environment, Russia, endowed with abundant human and natural resources inherited from the Soviet Union, has not lost the ability to implement fundamental reforms. The state should focus on developing effective ways to use this potential for social change and sustainable economic growth, to improve quality of life and ensure public peace.
The article provides a theoretical-methodological basis for developing civil responsibility of the youth through a synthesis of sociology of education and philosophy of critical thinking. The authors consider contradictions between social demand for active citizenship and ritualized educational practices, which often reproduce passivity and conformism. The proposed integrative approach combines structural analysis of sociology of education and subject-activity perspective of philosophy of critical thinking. The article describes the structural barriers that determine the conformist “school habitus”: reproduction of social inequality through cultural capital (P. Bourdieu) and unintended but negative consequences of rational choice (R. Boudon) contribute to the formation of the conformist, adaptive school habitus. Critical thinking as a set of cognitive skills and social-ethical dispositions is considered as a conceptual counterweight. Critical thinking and reflection integrated into the educational process can help overcome the so-called symbolic violence of educational institutions and transform citizenship from mere memorization of rules into conscious and independent action. The proposed interdisciplinary approach defines civil responsibility as a dynamic result of the interaction between institutional structures and individual reflective work.
The article considers local volunteer practices in Russia’s historical territories during the Special Military Operation (SMO). Contrary to institutional interpretations of volunteerism as an instrument of state policy or social capital, the study applies A. Touraine’s activist approach, examining volunteerism as a form of new social movements in which participants acquire civil agency and historicity through a triad: identity (“who we are”), opponent (“what we are fighting against or for”), and object of conflict (“what we want to change”). Volunteerism is presented not as a response to a crisis, but as an active construction of actor autonomy in a “programmable society”, where the SMO returns the “unnecessary man” the status of a historical subject, capable of defining the meaning of life through practices of solidarity, risk, and mutual support. The main research question is to what extent and by what means regional/city volunteer groups form autonomous agency under the SMO, especially in frontline zones (Severodonetsk, Donetsk, Kursk, Belgorod, Skadovsk, etc.). The study is based on methodological triangulation: 21 in-depth interviews with regional coordinators, group curators, and volunteers; three-year non-participant observation of several regional/local volunteer organizations; participant observation during the Russian Orthodox Church mission in Severodonetsk (October 2025). According to the data obtained, the volunteers’ identity is constructed in the logic of “us/ours” against internal opponents (Russians who ignore the SMO) and through distancing from the state “programmatic ideologies”; systemic alienation is observed in the attitude towards opponent (social atomization, indifference of some Russians); and the object of the conflict is described as the restoration of a “form of historicity” through solidarity. SMO has catalyzed transformation: successful youth and managers from megacities acquire authenticity, moving from imitation to a bodily experience of risk and humaneness, overcoming the value vacuum of the “culture of noise”. Solidarity practices enhance historicity: 7 out of 10 cases examined show constant return to places of volunteering, mythologization of heroes among frontline volunteers, developed networks (marriages, correspondence), regional features of the “typical” volunteer (specific personal and professional qualities).
Identity formation is traditionally linked to various factors of environmental and cultural development, issues of local patriotism and national relations; however, under the current crisis of legitimacy and the transformation of social-political processes, another important aspect - human interaction with nature - is reinterpreted. Moreover, this reassessment of values is evident not only in the context of global transformations and sustainable development concepts, but also in the context of paradigm shifts and the development of new models of awareness. The study is based on the mixed-methods design, which allowed to show the prioritization of social and economic development issues and the connection between environmental awareness, the value of natural resources, and national identity. To address the relationship between environmental awareness and national identity, the author used data from a number of empirical studies (a survey of 1,520 respondents and seven focus groups in Moscow, Voronezh, and Novosibirsk, including those conducted as part of the HSE project “CSR as a Tool for Forming a Network of Relationships”) and a collection of social media posts (13,000 posts by 10,000 authors) on the topics of pride, patriotism, importance of the social and environmental agenda, and “service” (including the features of this content dissemination). The article identifies the specifics of perceiving natural resources as an element of national identity, the potential for Russians’ consolidation on environmental issues, the drivers and barriers to wider participation in social and environmental projects; presents a “profile” of environmental activists and factors influencing the development of environmental awareness.
The article presents a brief sociological overview of the fundamental historical work by S.V. Volkov Elite Social Groups and Russia’s Civil Service (Moscow: Ruinaissance; 2026. 420 p.). The sociological “dimension” of the book is determined by the fact that behind its “big historical data” and explanations of the general logic of the evolution of the Russian civil service, there are thematic lines significant for sociological analysis: regional (geographical-political) differentiation; methodological limitations of any social-stratification model; its historical traditional (reproducible) features (“vertical of power”, mechanisms, factors and barriers to social mobility, anomic gaps and professional/corporate solidarity).
Chinese students actively share their impressions about studying in Russia on their social media. The analysis of such information allows to identify their general attitudes towards studying in our country, the most pressing challenges faced, specific perceptions of the higher education, and compare them with those of Russian students. As a part of initiative research of materials posted on social media about higher education and student life, a group of Chinese Master’s students of the Department of Economic Sociology and Management of the Moscow State University collected information on these topics from Chinese social media and conducted a primary quantitative and qualitative content analysis. In this article, the authors - supervisors of the project - present the results of a comprehensive analysis of the data collected in specific areas of the study. In general, Chinese students have a positive attitude towards studying in Russia, mentioning such its main advantages as the relatively low cost and high quality of education in some fields (mainly natural sciences and literature). The absence of Russian universities in global university rankings or their low positions is considered the main negative characteristic. Chinese students name the language barrier, food differences (which they call “dietary discomfort”) and climate as the most pressing challenges of studying in Russia, which are often perceived as insurmountable. The key feature of the Chinese perception of higher education is its strong connection with getting a prestigious job. This connection stems from the millennia-old practice of passing exams for high positions in imperial China (keju). This is why there are so many posts about university rankings on Chinese social media - only by graduating from a highly ranked university can a Chinese hope for a high social position. Such a strong connection is not typical for Russians who believe that education makes a person intelligent, but an intelligent person can be successful or unsuccessful in life. Good education is only one of many factors of wealth, power and a high place in the social hierarchy.
The article considers value orientations and reproductive attitudes in the Republic of Tatarstan under the current demographic crisis. The author interprets the phenomenon of the large family as a distinct social model that lost its widespread character but retains its significance for social reproduction. The article’s theoretical framework consists of classical sociological approaches (A. Comte, E. Durkheim, M. Weber, K. Marx, F. Engels) and contemporary concepts of demographic transition, which allows to show the transformation of the family institution from traditional large families to the prevalence of two children and the spread of childlessness: in the 20th century, social upheavals, industrialization and the changing role of the state determined a decline in fertility and marginalization of large families. The empirical part of the article is based on the results of a survey in the Republic of Tatarstan (N = 400) and in-depth interviews with mothers with many children (N = 20). The author identifies the key factors in decision-making regarding childbearing: health, financial situation, housing conditions, and partner support. Women name a wider range of reproductive choice factors, while men often find it difficult to identify specific reasons. The article also mentions barriers to having many children and the population’s proposals for the state fertility support measures, among which affordable housing and financial stability predominate. Thus, in Russia the family with many children remains an exceptional model of childbearing, which is based primarily on value-based choices and institutional support.
This article presents approaches to the reception of religion proposed by the German sociologist and phenomenologist Gustav Mensching (1901-1978). Mensching’s primary goal was to identify a more meaningful perspective for studying religion in its existential and social essence. He proposed considering the interdisciplinary interaction between sociology of religion and phenomenology of religion, focusing on religious experience as a unifying perspective. The article describes various aspects of reflecting on religion within the religious, social, and existential experience, as proposed by Mensching; identifies the points of convergence between the sociological and phenomenological approaches to religious research, strengthening the position of the so-called phenomenological sociology of religion with an emphasis on the application of intentionality. Mensching reveals the content of religious experience not only within a set of specific religious acts and actions, but also in the interaction between generations. In his concept, the “order of generations” is determined by religious experience, which, together with the social and existential levels of human existence, strengthens the consolidation of individuals. The author’s focus on Mensching’s ideas is explained by two factors: first, he proposed considering religious experience as a reflection of the collective and individual existence of subjects, which persists over an indefinite period, despite possible changes in the nature of religion under the influence of economic and political factors; second, he developed his own sociological approach to the study of religious experience, which can be applied by contemporary researchers.
The article is the second part of the author’s study of the avant-garde of the early 20th century, or early avant-garde, which is considered the third stage in the development of the Romantic movement - not in the narrow art-historical sense, but in a broader social-cultural sense as an “intellectual movement”, a type of worldview defining the culture of Western society. This movement is defined as regressive due to its course toward a return to the “original” and its opposition to the ideological vector of humanism aimed at unleashing human potential in the spirit of the Enlightenment. The antagonism of these intellectual directions constitutes a social-cultural cycle divided into stages. A distinctive feature of the period initiated by “upper Romanticism” is the expansion of the Romantic movement, irreversibly changing the social-cultural landscape of the West. “High” and “late Romanticism” (decadence) were examined from the same perspective as in the first part of the study. The author interprets the avant-garde as an unprecedented “tidal wave” of the Romantic movement, the most radical in its nihilism and ambitious in its scope, which was initially perceived as the final phase in the destruction of the old culture and society and the beginning of the construction of a “new world”. The self-perception as barbarians and titans, superhuman beings of the new world, was determined by the conviction that a social-cultural upheaval was already underway. This “titanic avant-garde” was inspired by the “Dionysian” ideas of F. Nietzsche, H. Bergson, and the spiritualism of the time. Having failed to achieve its maximalist goal, the avant-garde, like the extreme political movements associated with it, integrated into Western society. As the revolution began to decline, C. Greenberg suggested a neopositivist conception of art criticism influenced by J. Ortega y Gasset’s dualistic theory of “new art”, merging rationalism with vitalism. Greenberg’s formalist conception of art was opposite to the “titanic avant-garde” in terms of its conceptual foundation and social-political orientation - it determined a different, “Americanized” avant-garde with a “human face”, which integrated into Western society at the time, becoming the dominant force in Western art. While Western art historians generally “civilized” the early avant-garde, weakening or concealing its chthonic nature, Soviet art historians, on the contrary, sought to expose it, sometimes in an exaggerated form. In creating an image of the degraded art of the bourgeois world, Soviet critics believed to prove its total social crisis and decline. The principles of the “titanic avant-garde” were most fully expressed in surrealism with its psychologistic focus on the unconscious and its understanding of the artist as a medium.
The article presents the “positive” part of a theoretical-analytical dilogy on the underage and full age society in the supramoralist concept of N.F. Fedorov. The article focuses on the content of the key supramoralist idea of coming of age - a projectively proper state of society as an antinomic pair with the present, crisis state of underage. The relevance of the study is determined by the lack of a structured and semantically comprehensive explication of the concept of full age developed by the philosophy of common cause. The author reveals a system of criteria for full age society and paths to its historical achievement as proposed by supramoralism, explains why Fedorov’s concept of coming of age signifies the ontological autonomy of humanity, its capacity for independent evolutionary management of social-natural and cosmic processes, and active historical realization of creative eschatology. In such a systemic-integrative approach, the set of criteria for social coming of age constitutes a multi-vector semantic space that corresponds to the cosmosophic concept of a “proper society” which can be achieved not through social reforms in the traditional sense, but through the fulfillment of the highest moral duty of universal resurrection. This imperative becomes both a central criterion and a practical project for overcoming humanity’s fundamental underage as determined by mortality and discord. The results of the study show that in Fedorov’s concept the full age society is a cosmic program and the historical-eschatological task of humanity, which are to be implemented and solved through global regulation as a synthetic arsenal of worldviews that unites science, religion and art in the common cause of transforming nature, defeating death, and mastering the universe.
The article is a brief review of two books: a book by Scottish educator and psychoanalyst A.S. Neill Summerhill: A Radical Approach to Child Rearing (with a Foreword by E. Fromm; transl. from English by E.N. Gusinsky, Yu.I. Turchaninov. Moscow: Pochin Publishing House; 2025. 378 p.) and a collection of interviews with Russian school teachers The Bell for the Teacher: Interviews about Work (comp. by L.R. Gafiatullin, A.A. Komarova; Moscow: Napilnik Publishing House, 2025. 224 p.). The article outlines the fundamental elements of Neill’s model of school organization and functioning, and the underlying philosophical, psychological and pedagogical ideas, which enabled him to implement his social-utopian project in an experimental format. Despite the decades separating two books, the expert perspective of a humanistically oriented educator and school principal coincide with the narratives of today’s Russian teachers - in descriptions of “social ills” of contemporary society with its reproducing school system of education and rearing and of “bureaucratic ills” of school as a special type of social organization and community.
The paper examines how a well-designed training program can enhance the critical media literacy skills of public health promotion officers, changing how the state communicates with society under infodemic. The authors applied an explanatory sequential mixed-methods approach that combines quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis: quantitative data is collected first, followed by qualitative research to explain and assess quantitative findings. In the quantitative research, 47 key employees participated in pre- and post-testing and N-Gain analyses in six domains: basic health communication concepts, audience segmentation, key message design, cultural adaptation, risk communication, and digital/media literacy. In the qualitative research, the participants’ essays were analysed using thematic coding to identify changes in their understanding of the media, power and their professional communication responsibilities. The quantitative data showed a significant improvement in total test scores from pre-test to post-test, with N-Gain figures indicating moderate to high learning gains, particularly in fundamentals and key message formulation. Thematic analysis demonstrated a shift from a transmission-oriented model of communication to critical, participatory and self-reflective models, highlighting the importance of fact-checking, information integrity, and the use of culturally relevant messages. The research emphasizes the potential of health communication training for public-sector professionals in low- and middle-income societies to develop the critical media literacy, thereby providing empirical and pedagogical grounds for enhancing trust, legitimacy, and media literacy education in complex information environments.
Deterioration of reproductive health is one of the pressing issues of our time, and assisted reproductive technologies are increasingly used to address it. However, technological progress has far outpaced social adaptation, complicating the definition of new kinship structures determined by reproductive donation. The article considers the relationship between kinship and anonymity in the context of reproductive donation and is based on a complex approach that expands the theoretical framework of social sciences and presents an interdisciplinary understanding of reproductive donation practices by integrating sociological and anthropological perspectives. The authors analyze social aspects of kinship and anonymity to identify the significance of genetic kinship within the broader context of personal identity and kinship development. The empirical study consisted of 14 in-depth semi-structured interviews with recipients of donor reproductive material: their narratives reveal personal and social aspects of the perception of genetic kinship in ART (Assisted Reproductive Technologies) programs involving third parties in parenting, and attitudes toward anonymity of donation and issues related to disclosing information about such conception. The study focuses on how donor anonymity shapes understanding of kinship, influencing social norms, identity patterns, family and genealogical ties. The authors argue that anonymity affects how kinship is perceived, strengthening boundaries between biological and social dimensions. Despite arguments for openness driven by medical reasoning and the right to know one’s genetic origins, Russian society in general and traditional family models in particular remain unready for full transparency in this sphere.
In the context of deep mediatization, professional reputation is increasingly determined not only by direct interaction between professionals and clients, but also by the hybrid communicative space in which offline work practices are extended through digital reviews, recommendations and other forms of public feedback. In the applied reputation management, gratitude is typically reduced to such quantitative indicators of satisfaction, while its value-based and legitimizing role remains undertheorized. The article considers public expressions of gratitude in digital reviews of professionals, normative framework of public gratitude and mediatized conditions that make such gratitude a reputational resource, i.e., public gratitude expressed in digital reviews functions as a hybrid reputational agent, transforming individual experiences of professional interaction into a publicly validated reputational asset and contributing to legitimation of professionals in the mediatized environment. The study is based on Boltanski and Thévenot’s sociology of orders of worth, mediatization theory, and actor-network theory. The empirical data consist of customer reviews of employees of home improvement retailers posted on Yandex Maps and Google Maps, and patient reviews of physicians published on the ProDoctorov platform. The authors applied discourse analysis of mediatized acts of recognition to operationalize the orders of worth framework. The findings indicate that public gratitude cannot be reduced to an emotional reaction or a mere indicator of satisfaction but operates as a reputational mediator that translates offline professional conduct into a publicly visible and value-structured reputational asset, and reveal the predominance of industrial, market and fame orders of worth, through which competence, efficiency, attentiveness, reliability, and recommendability are legitimized. The authors suggest a model of the hybrid reputational cycle: reputation is not an aggregate of evaluations but a result of public legitimation through mediatized user expressions - platform logic shapes regimes of visibility and orders of worth provide criteria of significance and justification.
Today the debate about the undervaluation of the engineering profession and the reluctance of engineering graduates to pursue careers in their field remains relevant. The study aims at presenting the opinions of engineering students about their future profession, labor market diversification, and its impact on their future. The empirical basis is the data from the student surveys conducted in 2024 (N = 610) and 2015 (N = 290). In general, income, career and social responsibility are important components of students’ perceptions of professional employment, the engineering profession, and their career trajectories. Students believe that the engineering profession is in demand and see it as a field of open opportunities. However, they note different professional future paths and admit that advantages and disadvantages of potential jobs would affect their social status. Students perceive the state as providing such employment options for engineers that ensure moderate achievements and stability, while the private sector is perceived as a source of high earnings and a successful career. The expert survey added to this picture the importance of corporate culture in various organizations. To attract and retain young professionals focused on meritocracy, it is crucial to remember the importance of their feeling of a competitive balance between responsibilities and benefits of the workplace. Professional communities focus on combining a high level of education, knowledge, experience and social status: solving engineering problems requires not only deep theoretical knowledge but also practical experience, continuous professional development, and a corporate culture based on partnership.
Postsecular society developing under ethnic and confessional diversity is characterized by the coexistence and interpenetration of traditional religious practices, individualized forms of spirituality, and secular attitudes, which creates unique challenges and opportunities for ensuring spiritual security and social stability. The article examines the features of religiosity, religious identity and perceptions of security among the population of Russia’s Asian border regions (Altai Region, Altai Republic, Republic of Tuva) based on the sociological surveys conducted in 2024. The Centrality of Religiosity Scale and statistical modeling allowed the authors to identify the multilevel structure of religious consciousness and its influence on subjective assessments of personal and spiritual security and on social well-being. The results show that religiosity and religious identity are significant factors of spiritual security, but their impact depends on the regional ethno-confessional context. In regions with prevailing traditional religious practices, religious identity is closely linked to the sense of security, while in more secularized communities, spiritual security acquires a non-religious character. The analysis also revealed that the perception of spiritual security threats is largely determined by religious attitudes and the level of individual religious integration. The presented data broaden the understanding of religiosity as a complex social-psychological construct in postsecular society and highlight the need for further research of spiritual security mechanisms in multiethnic and multiconfessional border regions.
The professionally significant personal qualities of the best representatives of the Russian legal profession are a crucial component of the effectiveness of the state’s legal system. The relevance of the study of the “ideal portrait of the head of law firm” is determined by the requirements for professional and personal qualities of the lawyer, which are established by the Federal Law “On Advocacy and the Bar in the Russian Federation” [26] and the Code of Professional Ethics of Lawyers [7]. The analysis of scientific research conducted in recent years revealed a number of requirements for personal and professional qualities of successful lawyers under informatization of the Russian legal profession: interest (in the chosen field), morality, communication skills, punctuality, stress resistance [8]. However, the methodological question of how to identify and measure such qualities of employees and candidates for the position of lawyer remains unresolved. The study aims at identifying the degree of compliance of personal qualities of heads of law firms with the author’s “ideal model of manager” and at creating a database for the subsequent development of a model of the effective head of law firm and for the successful solution of functional tasks by organizations in the field of jurisprudence. The author suggests an approach for identifying personal qualities of the head of law firm [8]; ways and methods for verifying the identified requirements; and an applied empirical model of the “ideal portrait of the head of law firm”. This ideal portrait contains unique features: out of 16 possible personal qualities, 12 are distinctive and dominant for a successful practicing lawyer (less - 11 - are only for heads of educational complexes), which significantly exceeds the “average” for representatives of other professional groups.
The article considers the development of values crucial to national identity: the definition of friends and foes, illness and health, law and punishment for misdeeds. The study aims at reconstructing the development of socially important values and attitudes toward them in the contemporary world. The theoretical framework of the study is value analysis and the method of sociolinguistic isomorphism, which allows for a diachronic comparison of the development of values with the evolution of society. The authors consider the core values individually, dividing them into specific areas of social functioning. The empirical basis of the article is data from etymological sources, dictionaries and online databases, which allows to trace the formation and development of values in close connection with their denotation and connotation. The authors show significant differences in the geopolitical and historical development of the national communities of Russia and Great Britain through the prism of sociolinguistic isomorphism (relationships with “others”): the temporariness of “friendship” in Russia and loyalty to “one’s own” and financial interests in Britain, which led to Brexit in Britain and the constant shifting of friendly states in Russia. Different perceptions of “illness” are expressed in Russians’ belief in their own healthy spirit and traditional methods of healing, while in Great Britain - in the belief in the effective healthcare management. Approaches to law also differ greatly: legislative nihilism in Russia and the general belief in justice vs the perception of offenses within the clearly graduated system of punishments in Great Britain.
