Vol 18, No 1 (2018)

The article considers the genesis, essence and perspectives of the sociological study of historical memory. The authors aim to reveal the principles of organization and development of historical memory and to define the methodological grounds for its study. To achieve this aim the article solves the following interrelated tasks: to reveal the essence of historical memory as the main component of so-cial consciousness; to explicate the prerequisites for formation of historical memory, and to identify factors of its today’s development; to define theoretical and methodological bases of the sociological study of historical memory. The article is based on the works of the researchers of historical memory: on the ideas of famous western scholars (J. Assmann, J. Rusen) and Russian researchers (Zh.T. Toschenko, L.P. Repina, V.E. Boykov). The article shows that the contemporary processes of globalization that determine the de-velopment of multiculturalism in the majority of the regions of the world require reliable grounds for preservation and development of peoples’ and individuals’ cultural identity. One of such grounds is his-torical memory as the historical experience reflected in individual and social consciousness, which deter-mined the key features of social dynamics. The authors identify the sources of formation and substantial transformation of historical memory: while in the 19 - early 20th centuries science and education where the main sources of historical memory, in the second half of the 20th century the influence of media tech-nologies and mass culture has significantly grown, which leads to the complexity of historical memory structure and growth of its variability, contributes to the destruction of its integrity and to the development of its various alternatives. The article claims that historical memory is an essential condition for preserva-tion and development of state and cultural sovereignty, a basis for the mature civil consciousness and patriot-ism. The authors point to the necessity of interdisciplinary studies that integrate methodological principles and theoretical findings of different social sciences and humanities.

Alexander V. Chayanov (1888-1937) is a famous Russian economist, theorist of the organization of economy, a brilliant representative of the generation of the “golden age” of the economic science in Russia. One of the key elements of his scientific legacy is the theory of non-capitalist forms of economy, and one of its aspects - international agrarian studies of the features of the organization of agriculture in different countries. The organizational-production school developed a theory of labor economy and came close to the general theory of non-capitalist forms of economy; however, its studies were inter-rupted by the repressions of the 1920s. The article considers the international studies of A.V. Chayanov to clarify and develop some findings of the today’s scholars (I.A. Kuznetsov, A.M. Nikulin, T.A. Savinova). The author proposes a new interpretation of the organizational-production school as having a dualistic character. The works of Alexander N. Chelintsev (1874-1962), Nicholay P. Makarov (1886-1980) and other colleagues of A.V. Chayanov from the organizational-production school focused on both theoretical issues such as the fundamental laws of functioning and development of agriculture, and practical issues of scientific management of an individual farm and agriculture in general. The author considers the orga-nizational-production school as dualistic: it studies both theory and management of peasant economy at micro- and macro-levels proceeding from the analysis of the individual farm structure to the issues of the optimal production location and optimal management of ‘a mass of peasant farms’. The system approach to the organization of economy, cooperation, zoning and economic policy developed by the organizational-production school is still relevant for the contemporary use.

The authors consider the concept of Russian identity and review some key social and philo-sophical approaches to the definitions of identity focusing on the contemporary Russian sociological in-terpretations of the structure and content of national identity. The authors acknowledge the complexity and multidimensional nature of national identity, and believe that it develops in history and proves a certain level of national consciousness. The article considers the today’s Russians’ self-identification under the macro-social processes in the Russian society in the crisis period of 2014-2016. Based on the results of the national sociological monitoring surveys conducted by the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Acade-my of Sciences the authors identify the Russians’ priorities in the sphere of inter-ethnic and confessional relations in the form of sociological diagnostics. The data of the sociological surveys prove that the identity issues are still among the key problems of the Russian society considering the resources for national con-solidation as determined by the status of the Russian identity and by its structure as depending on the stability of civil and ethnic components combination. Today, Russia has to preserve and to renew its self-identification, to construct the Russian national-civil identity as a synthesis of ethnic and civil components. Thus, the state has to develop the so-called “identity policy” as one of the most important ways to strengthen its key political decisions and legislation and to support the spiritual-psychological climate of the society.

The tasks of modernization and development of education and science are of a key im-portance for the Russian Federation. Despite a number of significant changes in the Russian system of education and science over the last 10-15 years, the best Russian universities still cannot compete with the world leading universities. In 2013, to change this situation the state started one of its most ambitious projects to increase the international competitiveness of Russian universities, which is the project “5-100”. Though the need for such projects for the development of science and education is widely acknowledged, the “5-100” has received contradictory estimates of different stakeholders and experts. By 2017, the project approached its half-time line and spent a significant part of its resources, thus, it is time to consider its interim results. Moreover, the today’s close attention to the project determined numerous speculations not only in the media but also in scientific articles aiming to assess the project’s impact on the Russian system of education and science based on ideological and political judgments. The authors understand and accept all informed judgments but emphasize the importance of evaluating both reasons for such large-scale projects and factors affecting their implementations. A superficial estimate of the project “5-100” leads to the em-phasis on its minor disadvantages, which usually hides its less obvious positive sides. Thus, the article focuses on the role of the project “5-100” in the modernization of the Russian system of education and science, considers its different aspects, and identifies possible approaches to assess its efficiency at the final stages of its implementation (or to develop new projects to increase the international competitiveness of Russian universities).

The article presents the results of a three-year study conducted by the Sociology Chair of the RUDN University in cooperation with foreign colleagues to compare the worldview priorities of the today’s student youth. Due to the article size limitations the authors divided the data into two parts: in the first part, they focus on the identification of the values that serve as reference points specifying the so-cial action limits and criteria for assessing events and situations. The data does not allow for broad gen-eralizations due to the non-equivalence of the questionnaires used in three countries, but points to a number of characteristics that make the Russian youth look more similar to their Czech or Kazakhstan peers than to themselves a decade ago. Such a conclusion is based on the analysis conducted according to the thematic structure of the questionnaire. Thus, the article presents the educational values of students (prag-matic-instrumental perception of the higher education), labor values (a mixture of optimism and pessimism when assessing chances to find a job after graduation, and different attitudes to the combination of study and work), interpersonal interaction features (a high credit of trust in parents, especially in a difficult situation, does not depend on the self-perception and the circle of personal responsibility), political values (the ratio of the lack of political activity and interest in politics, and the level of social trust differ despite the same leaders of national pride), general value priorities (attitudes towards religion, interpretations of the life success and qualities necessary for achieving it, the horizons of planning) and problems (assessing one’s genera-tion in terms of actual threats).

The article considers the always-actual issue of charity. The author notes that in Russia the charity has not reached its mature forms, therefore, for the realization of its socially significant goals the charity organizations need to improve the system of their marketing communications. The article con-siders the forms of marketing depending on the marketing context; shows the importance of volunteer activities; summarizes all components of marketing; explains the need to use the whole complex of inte-grated marketing communications by charity organizations; points to the specific economic and social goals of charity organizations and the non-price essence of charity; reveals the close connection of charity with the institutional context of society and the need to develop new formal and informal institutions to regulate charity activities and contribute to the development of a new system of values in the mass con-sciousness. Throughout the article, the author repeatedly emphasizes that the marketing of charity organiza-tions is a set of interrelated measures and methods aimed at both meeting the needs of consumers and receiving external support. All directions and subsystems of marketing of charity organizations are not only closely interrelated but also interdependent. For example, close cooperation with the media contributes to the formation of a positive image of a charity organization, which is necessary not only to improve its social reputation but also to get financial support of the state and commercial organizations including different corporations.