No 1 (2013)

The article by outstanding Czech sociologist Miloslav Petrusek (1936—2012) discusses a number of theoretical, methodological and practical issues of great importance for sociology today. In particular, the author touches upon various approaches to the classification of the Western sociological tradition (R. Collins, R. Boudon), raises the fundamental question of the specific nature of sociological cognition of social phenomena, characterizing its 'multi-paradigm' status, points out a number of difficulties connected with the peculiarities of teaching sociology in universities under the conditions of radical pluralization of intellectual life, typical of the 'post-modern epoch'.

The article deals with one of the key theoretical dilemmas of contemporary sociology: the dualism of the individualistic and holistic approaches. One of the most famous attempts to overcome this dualism is Anthony Giddens’ structuring theory, alongside with the conception of critical realism of Roy Bhaskar and Margaret Archer. Their efforts are focused on bringing together the individualistic and holistic approaches, as well as on the alternation of both perspectives within a single explanatory model. The author of this article believes that this problem can be solved exclusively if both perspectives are “blended” in their theoretical explanation demonstrating that the concepts which we use in sociological theory — the actor, action, and structure — are inherently dualistic, in other words, they are “duplexes”.

The article is devoted to the problem of destructive trends in modern Russian mass media as well as to the information component in the activities of extremist and terrorist organizations. The destructive trends in the mass media manifest themselves in the escalation of animosity, aggression, creation of the cult of violence and xenophobia moods. Terrorist organizations use the mass media for their own purposes: they create the atmosphere of fear and tension in society, recruit new followers, mainly among the youth, which is a serious problem. It is important to use the positive potential of the mass media to counteract extremism and terrorism.

The structure of consumption of gold in the world is analyzed in the article. It is noted that since the beginning of this century it has seen substantial changes. The investment demand for this precious metal has become the leading consumption drive alongside with the jewelry industry. Besides, the geography of demand has changed substantially, too. Some countries on the Asian continent, primarily India and China, have become the major consumers of gold.

This article focuses on the word ‘chinovnik’, which ceased to be a historical term after the disintegration of the Russian empire and means an official who had a rank in tzarist Russia. Nevertheless, one century later, this word is frequently used in the modern Russian language, and mostly with a negative connotation. The author analyses the reasons for the new figurative meaning of the word ‘chinovnik’ and formulates the main notional elements of this concept. The article is based on the empirical material of interviews with state and municipal officials, where they speak about their attitude to the word ‘chinovnik’, as well as the attitude of ‘common’ people towards themselves that they experience in their work.

The processes of globalization, liberalization and transition will inevitably lead to changes in the value systems of certain societies, shaping the elements of their structure. Thus, the above mentioned processes directly affect the family as the primary social group and a basic unit of society. This results in a number of positive and negative changes and consequences in the family. Apart from positive changes that are primarily related to the democratization of husband-wife and parents-children relations, there are often many negative changes and effects (depletion, domestic violence, weakening of the emotional bond and alienation, etc.). Despite all these numerous changes within and around the family, it has always been and remains the primary social group which plays a significant role in forming the personality, leaving a deep mark on individual lives. In the whirlwind of globalization and transition, the Serbian family is faced with many difficulties and problems while carrying out its functions. The youth in Serbia increasingly postpone getting married and starting a family, the frequency of divorce is higher and the birth rate of children is lower, etc. This paper analyzes the data obtained in the research project “Value orientations among students in Serbia”, carried out in Belgrade, as part of the extensive research project organized in the capitals of China, Russia and the Czech Republic.

The article describes an attempt to study some concrete aspects in the functioning of the higher education system and its structural components. The state of humanitarian (philosophical, in particular) education in modern Russia is in the focus of research and is studied with the help of the methods of empirical sociology. The author makes use of both the “secondary analysis” of the data collected by other researchers, and the materials of his own pilot studies of the problems in Russian higher education.

Non-verbal communication is studied in psychology. Being a part of human communication, though, it also contains useful information in terms of sociology of management. Different stages of business communication determine and are determined by non-verbal communication.