Vol 26, No 2 (2026)

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.

Vladimir Fedorovich Odoevsky (1804-1869) and Alexander Vasilyevich Chayanov (1888-1937) are remarkable thinkers of the romantic school, like Ernst Theodor Hoffmann (with whom they are often compared), and wrote mystical-fantastical works in the spirit of a disturbingly ironic absurdity. As many romantics (Hoffmann was not only a brilliant writer but also a talented musician and a professional lawyer), Odoevsky and Chayanov had a surprisingly diverse range of interests: the writer Odoevsky professionally studied many social and natural science areas of his time [25], while the professor Chayanov was not only an agrarian economist but also a sociologist, political scientist and historian [18]. Although romantics are considered impractical and otherworldly, the Privy Councilor and Senator Odoevsky, like Chayanov, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture in the Provisional Government and later a key expert at the State Planning Committee and the People’s Commissariat of Land, actively and effectively participated in state-bureaucratic and public-cooperative projects. The article characterizes the utopian works of Odoevsky and Chayanov, which are stylized in the spirit of Hoffmann’s fantasies and raise questions of the romantic unity of man, society and nature in the face of unexpected natural and social catastrophes. To understand unknown future dangers and ways to overcome them, both utopias pay special attention to the paradoxes of studying and rethinking historical experience. Both authors aimed at projecting variants of progressive, sustainable future development of Russia based primarily on the improved selection of ruling and intellectual elites as a factor of public prosperity and scientific and cultural development. The fundamental difference between the historical-futurological worldviews of two utopias is the continuously conservative-monarchical system proposed by Odoevsky and the discontinuously revolutionary-democratic renewal of the future Russian society advocated by Chayanov.

Today survey methods for assessing patient satisfaction with medical services are supplemented by the analysis of unstructured online reviews, which expands the empirical research base. Such data sources have complementary functions: surveys provide standardized data, while text reviews reflect the context of patients’ interaction with the healthcare organization, emotional and organizational aspects of care. Thus, we need methodologically sound approaches that integrate sociological theories of patient satisfaction with natural language analysis in the assessment of medical services and provide data comparable to survey methods. The study aims at developing and testing an integrative methodology for assessing the quality of healthcare services through the analysis of online patient reviews based on an appropriate theoretical model. The authors conducted an analysis of 26,000 online public reviews of 120 healthcare organizations in Saint Petersburg: texts underwent preprocessing; contextual embeddings from ruRoBERTa were used together with the BERTopic algorithm for topic modeling. For external validation, integrated rankings of healthcare organizations were compared with indicators derived from the survey data. The proposed theoretical model integrated the following key approaches to the healthcare quality assessment: “structure-process-outcome” concept; expectation-disconfirmation theory; “zone of tolerance” model; service quality model; SERVQUAL and HEALTHQUAL models. The analysis revealed moderate but statistically significant consistency between aggregated indicators based on textual reviews and healthcare quality assessments based on survey data, and thematic analysis allowed to identify the most frequent sources of patient dissatisfaction (organizational, communicational, and infrastructural). Positive reviews most frequently focus on the medical staff professionalism, latest clinic equipment, comfortable waiting conditions, and transparency of organizational processes.

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.

Today schools go through a period of continuous reforms affecting management and pedagogical practices. In this context, the perception of change by school principals as key agents of educational policy is particularly significant. Researchers consider school principal leadership as a multidimensional phenomenon combining strategic thinking, pedagogical focus, social sensitivity, and a willingness to engage in collective reflection. Research on managerial leadership shows that principal’s effectiveness is determined by a combination of professional competencies and institutional context. The authors aimed at identifying types of managerial perception of reforms in education and factors influencing differences in principals’ assessments (N = 183 of Saint Petersburg school principals). The methodological basis of the study is the theory of resource conditions and managerial constraints, and approaches to educational policy sensemaking and enactment at the school level. Data analysis allowed to identify two typological groups of principals: “optimists” (48 %) and “skeptics” (52 %), who differ in their models of interpreting the reform agenda. Skeptics assess most changes in education as little or moderately significant, while optimists - as clearly significant. This perception of reforms is determined by the assessment of the principal’s professional tasks: skeptics more critically assess all tasks, emphasizing resource constraints. The most significant differences are observed in the areas of management and evaluation, primarily in the “independent assessment of education quality”: optimists see the greatest positive changes, while skeptics are more reserved. The study results show heterogeneity in managerial perception of reforms, pointing to two dominant managerial frames: “deficit-oriented management” and “development-oriented management”.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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 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 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).

The article is a brief review of the book that can be a useful reference for sociologists researching topics at the intersection of the subject areas of sociology of medicine and sociology of management. The book Organization and Financing of Healthcare in Russia and the World: Trends and Prospects (S.V. Shishkin, I.M. Sheiman, A.A. Almazov et al; ed. by S.V. Shishkin, I.M. Sheiman. Moscow: HSE Publishing House, 2025. 520 p.), as rightly stated in the annotation, “presents a comprehensive picture of the development of healthcare in our country and the world in recent decades” (p. 2). The book provides readers with diverse professional backgrounds, competencies and interests with important historical, institutional, managerial and cross-cultural perspectives on public health, based on conceptual reviews and significant statistical and sociological datasets, including those collected by the authors as part of their multi-year research project.