Editor-in-Chief: Nikolay P. Narbut, DSc. (Sociology), Professor ISSN: 2313-2272 (Print) ISSN: 2408-8897 (Online) Founded in 2001. Publication frequency: quarterly PUBLISHER: Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia named after Patrice Lumumba (RUDN University) Open Access: . APC: no article processing charge Peer-Review: double blind. Publication language: Russian, English Indexation: White List, Russian Science Citation Index (K1), Web of Science Core Collection — Emerging Sources Citation Index (Clarivate Analytics), Scopus (Q2), Google Scholar, Ulrich's Periodicals Directory, ERIH PLUS, DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals), Dimensions
Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia named after Patrice Lumamba
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Publishing Agreement (Public Offer) to Publish an Article in an Academic Periodical RUDN Journal of Sociology The Federal State Autonomous Educational Institution of Higher Education "Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia named after Patrice Lumumba” (RUDN University), represented by the Vice-Rector for Scientific Work Andrey Aleksandrovich Kostin, acting under a Power of Attorney No 0036-03/21-163 dated 12.10.2021, hereinafter referred to as the Publisher, on the one hand, hereby offers to the public at large, hereinafter referred to as the Author, on the other hand, hereinafter collectively referred to as the Parties, to enter into this agreement, hereinafter referred to as the Agreement, regarding publication of scholarly materials, hereinafter referred to as the Article, in the Journal named 'RUDN Journal of Sociology', hereinafter referred to as the Journal, under the following terms. 1. General Terms and Conditions 1.1. 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Subject to Article 6 of the Federal Law On Personal Data No. 152-FZ dated July 27, 2006, for the period from the conclusion of this Agreement and until the discharge of Parties obligations hereunder, the Author expresses his/her consent to processing of the following personal data by the Publisher: last name, first name, patronymic; taxpayers identification number (TIN); place and date of birth; citizenship details; ID document details; registration and actual location address; e-mail address; mailing address with postal code; contact phone numbers; fax numbers; and details of the employers. 10.4. The Publisher is entitled to process the above personal data for the purpose of this Agreement performance, including for provision of information and reference services to the Author. 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The Author will, on a goodwill basis, submit his/her details (and details of each Co-Author subject to their prior consent) to the Journal's Editorial Office consisting of his/her: last name, first name, patronymic, academic rank, academic degree, job title, employer details (name and mailing address), work phone number and e-mail address for the purpose of its general publication in the Journal along with the Article. 11. Registered Address and Particulars of the Publisher Federal State Autonomous Educational Institution of Higher Education "Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia named after Patrice Lumumba” (RUDN University) Address: 6 Mikluho-Maklaya str., Moscow, 117198, Russian Federation TIN 7728073720, CRR 772801001, PSRN 1027739189323. Vice Rector for Scientific Work A.A. Kostin
Education and science: Experience and search for interaction
This article describes the current state and challenges of interaction between education and science in the context of the ongoing scientific-technological revolution (Industry 4.0 and Industry 5.0). The author identifies the conditions and factors limiting the impact of education and science on those processes in the Russian society that influence the achievement of both scientific and educational goals; characterizes the impact of science on the learning process, efficiency of this impact forms and types; refers to statistical and sociological data to explain the contradiction between goals and purposes of education and science and their practical implementation; makes the conclusion that education and science are at a crossroads in their interaction due to both indirect and real reasons. Based on his own experience, the author mentions current and potential measures for improving the management of education and science in terms of their mutual enrichment and improvement. Finally, the author describes the specific interaction between sociological education and sociological science.
Copyright (c) 2026 Toshchenko Z.T. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
The article considers the dichotomy of “ideology and education” in the context of current trends in the development of the Russian education system. The author defines education as a reflection of ideology and a stabilizing factor for public consciousness, since education ensures the reproduction of social experience, an adequate understanding of new realities and directions for social development by younger generations, contributes to the formation of civil and cultural identity. The author also notes those complexities of social life that prevent education from fulfilling its functions (ideological diversity and the state’s weak position in the value polyphony, excessive bureaucratization, and the mindless adoption of standardized Western models) and mentions possible ways to overcome these challenges and to return education system to its core value function.
Copyright (c) 2026 Ivanov V.N. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
“Depopulation trap” in the reproduction of Russian science
Russian science is going through a difficult period that can be described as a “depopulation trap”: the number of research scientists has declined, and each new generation of scientists is smaller than the previous one. In demography, this phenomenon is characterized as a transition - a qualitative transformation of living conditions that contributes to a decline in the birth rate. A similar phenomenon in science is the decline in the number of “avatars” - highly qualified scientists who act as “guides” into science for university graduates. The number of scientists with degrees - PhD and DSc - declines annually. The average age of scientists with PhD degrees exceeds 50 years, and with DSc degrees - 64 years. If this trend continues, within ten years, it will be difficult to form dissertation and academic councils in many scientific fields, which would further complicate reproduction of personnel in science. Currently, postgraduate education fails to produce highly qualified scientific personnel: only one in ten completes studies with the thesis defense, and only one in twenty plans to continue working in science after the defense. The author insists on urgent changes in scientific policy to support postgraduate education and young scientists and to improve the situation in science.
Copyright (c) 2026 Chernysh M.F. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
R. Merton: steps to innovations -experience of forming innovative discourse among students
The article presents an attempt at modernization of R. Merton’s successful experience in developing innovative discourse for creating a sovereign theory with original theoretical-methodological tools. The author considers this experience valuable, because it reflects specific scientific-educational practices, the use of which can help sociology students develop their professional competencies of innovative experts, addressing the increasingly complex challenges our country faces today. This experience is particularly important for developing an optimal path of transition from absolutization of the Bologna principles to a sovereign educational system that preserves the fundamental achievements of global science.
Copyright (c) 2026 Kravchenko S.A. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Synthesis of traditions and innovations - universities’ response to the invasion of the future
The article considers the challenges of contemporary university education and the problems in training highly qualified specialists for all spheres of today’s society. The author mentions the high mission of universities as possessing the greatest potential to influence the future. In turn, economic and political institutions affect the demand for specialists, set priorities for state support and determine the situation on the labor market. The current system of higher education is a symbiosis of the Soviet and national models, taking into account state needs and cultural traditions, which makes it a powerful driver of social development. The main challenge of the post-Soviet higher education system is its abandonment of national traditions and the decades-tested experience of training specialists, combining traditions and innovations and focusing on the needs of the national economy, and also the uncritical transfer of foreign experience to the national education system without due examination and adaptation. Haste and uncritical thinking, the lack of a system, monetization, formalism and bureaucratization have seriously harmed the higher education system which lost its credibility in the public opinion, just as professors and university teachers. Much work remains to be done to implement the “roadmap” for the development of education as part of national culture, a center for the formation of the value matrix of the future, an institution that will best meet the social demands of the time, based on the efficient use of technologies and a combination of traditions and innovations.
Copyright (c) 2026 Danilov A.N. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Features of university management in Russia and China
The article presents a short overview of the key features of university management in the Chinese and Russian higher education systems. First, the authors conduct a brief comparative analysis of the historical trends in the development of higher education, focusing on the idea and model of classical university, which varied significantly depending on the cultural and educational traditions of different countries and over time produced many other types of higher education institutions. Then the article provides short, generalized descriptions of the Russian and Chinese higher education systems, emphasizing differences in their structure as based on the nature of institutions and their functional priorities. Finally, the authors suggest an explanation of the features (advantages and shortcomings) of the Chinese and Russian approaches and models of university management as determined by the scale of state control and centralization, integration with national development plans and economic strategy, research and academic autonomy, and by the balance between the legacy of the past and the demands of (regional and national) labor market and global competition. Since the article is rather a reflection on the topic, the authors deliberately abandoned the use of footnotes and presented the reader only a small part of references used.
Copyright (c) 2026 Narbut N.P., Bing W. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Institutional and administrative management in education: From the past to the future
The transition to the post-industrial stage of society’s development has led to a crisis in administrative management based on directives and standardization. While the corporate sector successfully implements institutional approaches that create an environment for self-development of subordinates and innovations, the social sphere (in particular, higher education) moves in the opposite direction - increasing bureaucratization and regulation, which fundamentally contradicts its creative, complex and inertial nature. The article identifies similarities and differences between management in commercial organizations and educational sector. The dominance of administrative management, imitating corporate practices, in higher education leads to systemic negative effects: erosion of educational content, growth of formalism and bureaucratic burden, suppression of academic initiative and, consequently, decline in the quality of the national human capital. The authors present examples to show that the directive implementation of management innovations, ignoring the features of educational systems, results in the loss of their institutional development potential, and digitalization leads to new control tools rather than progressive models of interaction between teachers and students. The authors insist on the need to change management paradigm in education - from administrative control to institutional management that sets the framework for academic autonomy and self-development.
Copyright (c) 2026 Barkov S.A., Markeeva A.V., Kolodeznikova I.V. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Sociological education as a field for developing divergent thinking
The article considers the relationship between divergent thinking as a socially significant competency and the specifics of sociological education which serves as an institutional environment for developing such thinking. The author focuses on interpretation as a key mechanism fostering the ability to work with multiple meanings and uncertainty; shows that the structural features of sociological knowledge as based on the competition of theoretical paradigms and the practice of reflective work with empirical data form a student disposition towards divergence. At the same time, there is a contradiction between this inherent logic and institutional constraints of contemporary education (standardization and formalization). Thus, the development of divergent thinking is not a peripheral but essential result of sociological professional training, which is necessary for analytical and expert work in the complex society.
Copyright (c) 2026 Mamedov A.K. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
General and specific, qualitative and quantitative, demographic and philosophical aspects in discussions about Russian sociological education
The article identifies two main “dimensions” of current discussions about the content, quality, and results of sociological training in Russian universities. First, a macro- and interdisciplinary discourse on general trends in the development of higher education under regional, national, and global challenges, such as the contradiction between traditional (classical, fundamental-value) and modernization (personal- and practice-oriented) paradigms, which in sociological training determines a shift towards applied research. Second, an intradisciplinary discourse shaped by a multitude of problem areas with varying levels of consensus in the academic community. The article provides examples of such areas: the inclusion of social-demographic competencies in the curricula for sociologists (“demographic literacy”); the ratio of qualitative and quantitative approaches in methodological courses (“marginal status” of qualitative approach in fundamental research and its dominance in applied non-sociological fields); the basis of sociological competence (sociological imagination) and the increasing complexity of its development due to a growing number of obstacles to acquiring “theoretical competence”. These difficulties are determined by two factors: low “philosophical competence” of senior sociology students (although the importance of philosophizing for professional and everyday well-being is emphasized in the latest scientific and popular science works); features of the theoretical canon in sociology (fragmentary presentation of the Russian tradition and the uncritical perception of the Western tradition). In conclusion, the author mentions some ideas of S. Andreski’s book recently translated into Russian: the book contains sharp criticism of social sciences (witchcraft), and its main directions reproduce the core of the discussions about sociological education and science (especially the fascination with quantification and terminology and the rejection of philosophy).
Copyright (c) 2026 Trotsuk I.V. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Sociological education in Russia: Methodological challenges and practical guidelines for reform
This article considers the current state and prospects for reforming sociological education in Russia. Based on the question of the administrative elite’s demand for sociologists, the author conducts a comparative analysis of the sociological approach with related disciplines - systems engineering and economic cybernetics - to show unique advantages of sociology associated with working with meanings, values, and informal connections in human-dimensional systems. The article identifies key challenges sociological education faces, including the crisis of master’s programs, digitalization, and the need to develop new practice-oriented competencies. Based on this analysis, the author proposes specific directions for reform to strengthen the methodological core of sociology through its integration with new digital and interdisciplinary approaches and makes a conclusion that maintaining a balance between the fundamental nature of “sociological imagination” and an applied orientation is a strategic task for training professional sociologists as “translators” and “diagnosticians” for complex social processes.
Copyright (c) 2026 Meshcheryakova N.N. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Professional identity of the sociologist: Teacher’s role at the current stage of the higher education development
Today professional identity of the sociologist develops under digital transformation of the higher education, which increases demands on interdisciplinary competencies, and in the changing professional environment. The article considers the development of professional sociological identity in this context and outlines the corresponding role of teachers. The study’s methodology combines social-cultural and institutional approaches to the analysis of professional identity with qualitative approach and elements of secondary analysis; the empirical basis consists of published interviews with university professors, data on professional identity of sociology students, and studies of the digital transformation of Russian education and identity of young professionals. The author believes that the key challenge for the professional sociological identity is the inconsistency between the traditional concept of the profession and the new demands determined by digitalization and changing professional landscape. Professional identity of sociologists is not formed automatically, it requires systematic, targeted work of students, teachers and professional community. The professional identity model of the sociologist includes three key components: sociological imagination, digital competencies, and ethical consciousness. In shaping the sociological professional identity, the teacher serves as a bearer of professional culture, a mentor and a mediator between academic and professional fields. Today teachers’ roles change dramatically - they need to become architects of professional trajectories and mentors who help students find their professional calling. Under digital transformation, the teacher’s roles have become more complex due to the need to operate in hybrid formats.
Copyright (c) 2026 Prokazina N.V. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Professional well-being in science: An eudaimonic perspective
The article explains the potential of the eudaimonic approach to the sociological study of professional well-being in science. The relevance of this approach is determined by the increasing complexity of the problem of professional burnout among scientists under the current new challenges. Eudaimonic well-being is the degree to which scientists realize their higher socialprofessional and personal needs. The article presents the evolution of the eudaimonic approach from Aristotelian philosophy to contemporary methods of measuring well-being. Another theoretical basis for the article is R. Merton’s concept of scientific ethos: the proposed method for measuring professional well-being is based on his principle of the ambivalence of scientific norms. The structure of eudaimonic well-being consists of two components - personally and socially oriented - and eight pairs of dichotomous variables. The author tested a hypothesis about structural differences in the eudaimonic well-being of scientists in the humanities and natural sciences on the data from the online survey conducted in 2024 (N=536). Common features include a high level of professional well-being and a structured distribution of motives (the most significant are “enjoying the content of work” and “independence - the ability to independently set work schedule and professional tasks”, while the least significant is “competing with colleagues”); however, scientists in natural sciences are more focused on higher social-professional needs. Thus, science retains its functional significance as an institutional channel for realizing higher needs in the profession. At the same time, a shift in the structure of value motives toward personally oriented, which is more evident among social researchers, may become a new ethical challenge for social science and indirectly affect prospects for social education in Russia.
Copyright (c) 2026 Noskova A.V. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Image of the higher education teacher under digital transformation of educational environment
This article considers social factors, mechanisms and conditions of the teacher image formation under digital transformation of educational environment. The empirical basis of the study consists of the online survey conducted in three Russian universities (Lomonosov Moscow State University, Siberian Federal University, and Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University; N=311) and of 20 expert interviews with teachers and administrators from 12 Moscow universities. The study revealed a gap between actual and ideal images of teachers as perceived by student and academic communities. The teacher image formed by the expert community primarily includes academic competencies - research activity and deep knowledge in their subject area, while communicative competencies play a supporting role. Students’ perception of the ideal teacher combines personal and professional qualities, with emotional responsiveness and communicative flexibility being just as important as academic competences (knowledge, ability to explain material, mastery of research methods and digital tools). In the digital age, the role of the teacher expands - an expert, a guarantor of the consistency and reliability of knowledge, a mediator - an intermediary between online knowledge and students. The authors conclude that the image of the higher education teacher is dual due to the gap between the actual (existing) and the ideal (desired) in students’ perception. This duality is based on the principle of complementing academic standards with communicative competencies: openness, emotional responsiveness, and readiness to dialogue.
Copyright (c) 2026 Temnova L.V., Verbitskaya A.K. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Sociology of Risk and Safety in training sociologists: Societal cognitive security and its guarantors
The article considers the crisis of today’s education as a consequence of the systemic impact of global challenges, leading to the deformation of the classical triad - understanding, goal setting, action. The relevance of the study is determined by the combination of long-term trends (globalization, information revolution, consumerization) and new threats (hybrid wars, explosive development of AI, use of ICS) to the cognitive and value security of society, which turns education into a frontline in geopolitical confrontation. The authors conducted a comprehensive analysis of the challenges and threats for each stage of the education triad under hybrid wars and global competition, outlining the contours of a strategic response within the framework of social-humanitarian knowledge and educational policy. The theoretical-methodological basis of the article is a critical analysis of the concepts of the network society, “liquid modernity”, globalization and consumer society and a riskological approach that allows for integration of social, information and educational processes into a single subject field of security studies. The authors show that today “understanding” is blocked by information overload and fragmented worldview, “goal setting” is eroded by marketization and external value-based aggression leading to anomie, and “activity” loses its creative and collective meaning, being reduced to a formal competence or a tool for individualistic competition. Thus, we need a transition from narrowly focused prevention to a comprehensive strategy to simultaneously develop holistic worldview, value consciousness and socially significant practice, for which the authors propose a specific institutional framework - the Master’s program in Sociology of Risk and Security.
Copyright (c) 2026 Khagurov T.A., Medvedev M.M. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Sociology of public relations in the context of sociological education
Sociological research in public relations has become an increasingly important priority. In recent years, several studies were conducted in Russia on the use of sociological methods by public relations professionals. The authors identified the most frequently used tools, tasks and platforms in and outside the classroom to meet the needs of young public relations professionals at the beginning of their professional careers. As the social significance of public relations grows, it is necessary to understand how this field of activity influences society and why it is needed. To answer these questions, the authors rely on a combination of theoretical approaches, particularly to understand how public relations function at the micro-, meso-, and macro-levels, referring to the sociological interpretation of concepts and conducting a methodological analysis of ongoing social processes. The article presents the results of research conducted in three broad categories: social change, social forces, and social interactions. Sociology of public relations as a branch of sociological science has developed primarily under the influence of a multitude of practical issues related to public relations and political problems under the rapid transformation of the media landscape. Many studies aim at identifying whether this specialized sociological discipline fulfils its promise of forming more rational, culturally adapted and productive individuals and, as a result, a “better” society.
Copyright (c) 2026 Sharkov F.I., Silkin V.V., Kireeva O.F. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Social-demographic competence as a systemic element of sociologists’ training: An integrative model
The article explains the importance of the targeted development of sociologists’ social-demographic competence in the system of professional training. The authors propose a definition and an integrative model of this competence, including cognitive, instrumental, analytical-interpretative and value-reflexive components. The article is based on the analysis of educational standards, curricula of leading universities and interviews with teachers and students and reveals the fragmented nature of sociologists’ social-demographic competence: its elements develop incoherently - through separate courses and practical training, theoretical knowledge is given in disciplines on demography and social statistics, without integration into the general sociological cycle; skills in analyzing empirical data are formed through separate modules and disciplines in SPSS, Excel, etc., without connection with demographic and statistical calculations; practical sociological skills are formed through elective courses or student projects, without mandatory internships or practical training at demographic centers. This fragmentation results in basic knowledge without abilities to comprehensively model demographic scenarios or conduct interdisciplinary research. The authors insist on the need for an integrative model for the holistic development of sociologists’ social-demographic competence, including the restructuring of educational trajectories on the basis of cross-cutting project modules and case studies, agreements for student practical training at demographic research institutes and laboratories, and the use of such updated textbooks as Social Demography.
Copyright (c) 2026 Yudina T.N., Volkova O.A. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Educational practices of the present time and the future: Students’ opinions on the use of AI at university
The study of various subject areas of artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the most popular topics in scientific and professional communities. Interest in this area is also fueled by the government as a key actor that actively encourages AI research not only from a technological but also from humanitarian perspective and through legislation. Rapid institutionalization increases the need for new personnel in this field and for regulation of AI-related activities. Universities find themselves in a difficult position: on the one hand, they are at the forefront of cutting-edge research and respond to the demand for integration of AI-based technologies into educational process; on the other hand, universities require regulations for the use of AI in educational activities. Today students actively use AI technologies - from spell checking to writing term papers and theses. According to the results of the online survey conducted in the RUDN University (N=576), despite understanding the limits of acceptable AI-generated material in various types of academic work, seven out of ten students use entirely generated texts without edits. In general students hold positive views on the use of AI in education, primarily focusing on improving the university’s organizational work and personalizing the educational system, but also mention the risks of AI-technologies.
Copyright (c) 2026 Puzanova Z.V., Gudkova Y.A. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Educational policy as a tool for identity formation: In search of a balance between tradition and modernization
The article considers the transformation of the Russian educational policy as a strategic tool for shaping national identity under global competition. The author identifies the key contradiction between the traditional paradigm, focusing on patriotism, cultural values and national sovereignty, and the modernization paradigm, focusing on competitive competencies, individualization and integration into the global context. The interaction and conflict of these paradigms determine intellectual-political tension expressed in such binary oppositions as “national-global”, “patriotism-cosmopolitanism”, “fundamental-practice-oriented”, “collective-individual”. It is within these contradictions that the search for balance in the contemporary Russian educational policy takes place. The author identifies the following historical stages in this search for balance: radical modernization of the 1990s, technocratic centralization of the 2000s, conservative turn of the 2010s, and development of the “sovereign” educational model in the 2020s with three vectors - institutional unification (unified educational programs and textbooks), systematic ideologization, and structural reorganization of the higher education after abandoning the Bologna system. The author reveals the internal contradictions of this hybrid model, which attempts to combine technological modernization and critical thinking with rigid value indoctrination, and mentions both the risks of this model (system overload, devaluation of pedagogical methods) and its potential opportunities (the use of digital tools to strengthen cultural heritage). Thus, educational policy has entered a phase of conscious hybrid modeling, the success of which will depend on flexibility and integration of two paradigms rather than on ideological rigidity.
Copyright (c) 2026 Subbotina M.V. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Social technologies in the sociological and “non-sociological” dimensions
The article explains the historical and logical connection between social technologies and the theory of social technologies: today simply acknowledging this connection is insufficient to understand the content and complexity of the relationships between these fields of social science and humanities. Digitalization processes in the hybrid environment necessitate the study of social technologies as a complexly structured set of algorithmically constructed, synchronized “physical”, social, and information-communication (digital) procedures and operations developed and used to optimize social processes. The author argues that the traditional perception of social technologies solely as a specialized field of social knowledge limits their application and transfer to the level of social engineering. However, developers of the idea of social architecture have not yet succeeded in overcoming shortcomings of the sociological analysis of social technologies.
Copyright (c) 2026 Babintsev V.P. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
An emotionally oriented approach: How to capture the human behind the numbers
The intensification of digitalization in education actualizes a serious methodological challenge: how to study social interactions in the new digital environment without losing the human dimension behind aggregated data and metrics? The article offers as an answer the emotionally oriented approach (EOA) developed by the author. EOA is not a replacement but a necessary methodological decision designed to supplement traditional sociological methods with systemic integration of data on the emotional sphere of the study participants. EOA aims at overcoming such a problem of empirical sociology as considering the respondent as a social-typical representative and ignoring his personal, primarily emotional, characteristics as the subject filed of psychology. The conceptual basis of EOA is formed by a hierarchy of four elements: psychotype (the Big Five, 7 radicals), emotional intelligence, non-verbal behavior (FACS) and affective tonality of communication (SPAFF). The author shows the heuristic potential of EOA on the example of the digital educational environment which is characterized by latent but intense emotionality that affects communication, satisfaction and stress levels. Five key areas of EOA application are described: verification of sincerity and reduction of sensitivities in online surveys; improving the quality of tools; deepening personal context in the mass data; assessing the efficiency of digital educational technologies; monitoring emotional climate and involvement in digital learning groups. Thus, EOP allows to increase reliability and validity of the empirical data by returning the subjective experience of actors to the focus of research and eliminating the risk of “losing’ the personal behind the digital.
Copyright (c) 2026 Larina T.I. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Institutional mechanisms for a model of effective family-demographic policy
Maintaining demographic potential is one of the basic components of national demographic security. To achieve this goal, the state should solve many tasks among which the most relevant are strengthening the family, increasing the birth rate and developing motivation for having many children. The Russian Federation has strategically outlined the course of state policy to preserve traditional family values (1) and has developed the relevant legislation. The year 2024, declared by the President of Russia as the Year of the Family (2), made it possible to emphasize at the national level the importance of the family institution and support for the prosperous large family as a significant model for solving demographic problems: such a model was declared in 2007 in the Concept of the State Policy in relation to Young Families (3); in general, the status of the large family has raised and institutionalized (4). The authors assess prospects for applying the program-targeted approach as a basis for developing and improving institutional mechanisms to support various types of families with children, which involves legislative, infrastructural, personnel and information support for the state family-demographic policy. Thus, a model describing institutional mechanisms of effective family-demographic policy in relation to different types of families and based on the authors’ classification becomes an urgent research task. Application of this model would improve efficiency of those measures of the state family-demographic policy that aim at supporting traditional values and families with children. The scientific task of the conducted study was to find efficiency criteria for mechanisms of the authors’ model of family-demographic policy in the context of the current Russian depopulation. The methodological basis of the study consisted of conceptual approaches of sociology of the family in the field of developing the institution of prosperous family with children, comparative-legal and historical-legal approaches.
Copyright (c) 2026 Rostovskaya T.K., Kuchmaeva O.V., Vasileva E.N. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Sociological aspects of political support: Influencers’ impact on the social media users
Political endorsements on social media, involving the support from influential figures, have become commonplace. As a result, political communication, which was originally limited to face-to-face interactions, develops online through social media. The article aims at identifying how effective political support changes in the technological era from the perspective of political sociology. The study is based on the qualitative approach - a review of relevant works and interviews with expert informants. The study shows that influential figures, such as celebrities, influencers, political and religious leaders, with political support ensured mainly by social media, get the ability to shape the image of candidates, increase their visibility, legitimacy and electability, and broaden the spectrum of support for their campaigns. Certainly, the success of such political endorsement depends on several factors, such as the credibility of endorsers, how actively they are involved in the campaign, how the campaign is perceived by the public, and whether the compatibility of values between the endorser and the candidate is achieved. Political endorsement faces several challenges, such as the risk of backlash, potential for public opinion manipulations, black campaigns and misinformation due to changes in the dynamics of social media that can make endorsements easily manipulated. Therefore, political endorsements on social media are not a mere means of promotion - in the digital era, they became part of political communication.
Copyright (c) 2026 Akbar Y.M., Hayati N., Muzykant V.L. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Urban river narratives as mediators of urban practices and normative interactions
This article considers the role of urban legends and narratives centered on rivers in shaping urban practices, social interactions and normative regimes. Moving beyond the conventional view of the river as either an economic resource or a symbol, the authors conceptualize it as a complex mediator, whose agency is enacted through narratives that circulate within the urban fabric. Legends concerning the river - its founding, floods, submerged sacred sites, mythical inhabitants - are not inert folklore but active participants within networks of urban communications, narratives that materially manifest in spatial planning, daily rituals of citizens, and legislative constraints. The theoretical framework synthesizes perspectives from urban anthropology, media theory (in particular the concept of “media as environments”), and sociology of interaction. Based on cases from Russian cities (Saint Petersburg, Voronezh, Ulan-Ude, Perm, Yekaterinburg), the authors identify channels - official cultural discourse, social media, touristic guides, oral histories, through which urban river legends develop and affect urban processes - from protests against waterfront to the formulation of environmental norms and codes for the public space design. Thus, the competition between river narratives - “living history” versus “engineering object”, “sacred source” versus “threat” - lies at the heart of many contemporary urban conflicts. The capacity of municipal authorities and professional communities to interact with river narratives rather than disregard them becomes a critical factor in managing urban development and ensuring public consensus.
Copyright (c) 2026 Markov A.V., Shtayn O.A. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
A typology of “werewolf”-heroes” in the first post-Soviet decades
The article is a brief overview of the scientific-journalistic book by Zh.T. Toshchenko and V.S. Kozhemyako Werewolves in the Fate of Russia. They Destroyed the Soviet Country (Moscow: Rodina, 2025, 444 p.) written as a dialogue between the two authors. Their conversation focuses primarily on social and personal characteristics of the 23 key actors in the destruction of the USSR, conditions and reasons for their emergence, and motivations for their actions. Based on the discussion, the authors identify the following main groups of “werewolves”: organizers of the geopolitical catastrophe, implementers of the ideas for the collapse of the Soviet Union, creators of the economic-financial basis for this destruction, and those who took on the ideological support for the rejection of the Soviet past. The book repeatedly emphasizes the man-made nature of this global catastrophe, referring to both objective social-economic conditions of the country’s development and subjective aspirations of most of its population (76.5 % voted to preserve the USSR in March 1991).
Copyright (c) 2026 Kozyrev G.I. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
The article is a review of the book Village as a Value. Ideologies and Practices of New Rurality (editors-compilers E. Melnikova, P. Kupriyanov, M. Lurye. Moscow: Khamovniki Foundation for the Support of Social Research; Common Place, 2025. 512 p.). The book considers the phenomenon of the so-called new rurality based on anthropological studies conducted in various rural settlements, mainly in the Russian Northern Non-Black Earth Region, but also mentions rural cases from Slovakia, Kyrgyzstan and Latvia. The book is a collection of articles by participants of the long-term research project “New Rurality”, focusing on contemporary Russian rural institutions, practices and social interactions, and this project has a rather dramatic history. The editors’ preface describes the main stages of the research project interrupted by unexpected epidemiological and political events of the 2020s.
Copyright (c) 2026 Nikulin A.M. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Independence and growing up in school and social contexts
The article is a review of the book Independence: Blessing or Burden? (edited by K.N. Polivanova. Moscow: HSE, 2025. 416 p.) presented in the annotation as the result of its authors’ search for answers to the question of the essence, features, and relevance of schoolchildren’s independence for contemporary society. The authors rightly note a significant change in the perception of children’s independence: previously, it was considered as developing naturally, in the course of everyday life and typical interaction practices; therefore, the school literally relied on this “natural” independence formed during adolescence, without setting the task of specifically developing it with the support of educational and family-upbringing practices. Today the situation has changed radically, and the book presents a comprehensive panorama of practices for developing schoolchildren’ independence, relying on an interdisciplinary approach and the concept of self-regulated learning, reconstructing schoolchildren’s ideas about independence and assessing the external contexts of growing up (the city as a space for developing autonomy and the media’s influence on public opinion).
Copyright (c) 2026 Ishmukhametov R.R. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Experiencing the space of the nocturnal city: Night as a source of sociological imagination
The article is a review of Nick Dunn’s Dark Matters: A Manifesto for the Nocturnal City (Perm: Gile Press, 2024. 128 p.) as a sociological reflection on urban space. The review attempts to relate Dunn’s work to a wide range of research traditions that have variously described the relationship between the physical, social and semantic dimensions of urban space. Particular attention is paid to those forms of urban experience that are poorly articulated in studies of the everyday, functionally organized and predictable urban space. The focus on the nocturnal city allows to shift the analytical perspective from stable modes of spatial use to the bodily and affective dimensions of spatial experience. The author notes the essayistic nature of the book and the tension between the description of experience of night walks in the format of autoethnography and its subsequent reflection. For researchers of urban space, the significance of Dark Matters lies not so much in the development of theoretical-methodological principles for analyzing the nocturnal city as in the development of sociological imagination and the rethinking of possibilities of scientific description of urban space.
Copyright (c) 2026 Polyakov F.D. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Sociological aspects in the history of public health
The article is a brief review-recommendation of a non-sociological book that will be useful to any researcher in the field of sociology of medicine - for broadening general horizons by reading related and interdisciplinary sources and for developing sociological imagination through understanding a complex combination of objective, historical, (geo) political and discursive factors that determined organization of medicine and healthcare as key social institutions in contemporary society. The book Public Health and Modernization: History of Public Health in Europe and Asia in the 19th and 20th Centuries (authors - D.V. Mikhel and I.V. Mikhel; Moscow: INION RAS, 2025. 501 p.) reconstructs just a part of the history of public health as “one of the exciting areas in contemporary historiography” and is intended for “historians, specialists in the field of healthcare history and everyone interested in the issues of general history” (p. 2), but it can also be recommended to sociologists for the reasons outlined in the review.
Copyright (c) 2026 Pashigorova L.V. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0