Vol 24, No 4 (2024)

In recent decades, the social has acquired a synergistically complex nature (N.I. Lapin), which is caused both by objective determinants of the dynamic development of social, natural and technological realities, potentially increasing the production of various goods and services, and by subjective meanings of the quality of life - in their materialization, an increasing role belongs to the trust factor. Its study is determined by the civilizational crisis of trust, and its underlying causes are rooted in the formation of a qualitatively new “order out of chaos” (I. Prigogine) and in the staging of “mythical narratives” of the desired, “idealized” social well-being (J. Alexander), the false meanings of which destroy traditional values and dehumanize social relations. Under such challenges and scientific approaches to their analysis, the author designs a nationally oriented model of synergistically complex social well-being, based on the system of trust rooted in the genotype of national culture. This model includes the functional basic institutional structures of society, reproduction of traditional values of interpersonal trust, and implementation of humanistically oriented modernization. Under disequilibrium, risks and vulnerabilities, these components ensure the viability and sustainability of this type of well-being. For its sociological diagnostics, humanistically oriented interdisciplinarity is proposed, organically including both new theories of chaos, complexity and nonlinearity, and humanistic concepts of the sovereign national sociology.

The article considers the features of the body functioning in the era of the widespread introduction of digital technologies, primarily artificial intelligence. First, the authors show how body studies developed in social sciences and humanities - from the ancient ideas about the body to the contemporary concepts with a wide range of issues, approaches and theories that address the category of the body from various positions. Then the basic functions of the body are considered: identity formation, communicative, and functions of a cultural model, political control and subjective experience. The authors describe the transformation of these functions under the increasing convergence of the human body with the latest technologies, focusing on the functions of subjective experience, identity formation, and communicative function. The authors analyze the convergence of the body and technical devices, showing how their hybrids arise as the distance between them decreases. The article outlines the main smart technologies (smart watches and fitness bracelets, smart rings, smart clothing, smart implants, sleep monitors, VR and AR technologies) and key aspects of people’s interaction with smart devices in the perspective of physiology, psychology, social interaction and work efficiency. There is a dual question of the relationship between the body and artificial intelligence technologies: transformations of the human body in the era of the latest digital technologies, with the acquisition of new qualities and properties by the body; and the acquisition of corporeality by artificial intelligence technologies, including social consequences of the convergence of the body and technologies - both positive (improved quality of life and medical care, expanded opportunities for some social groups, etc.) and negative (dependence on technologies, growth of social inequality, etc.). The conclusion highlights the need for a more in-depth study of the issues under consideration and outlines more controversial issues within the interaction between man and technology.

Forecasting human behavior is a difficult task due to the differences between declared and actual behavior. The article considers a decision vector model that can be used to approximate actual behavior with some formal rules that allow to construct algorithms for predicting future states. The authors tested the reliability of ex post facto predictions on the example of the unsuccessfully predicted 2013 Moscow mayoral elections. The study is based on the data from four major polling centers that monitored the pre-election situation and provided descriptions of voters’ intentions, which differed significantly and were far from the official results. Three decision vector models were derived to adjust the forecast by changing conversion rates for different answers. To find optimal coefficients for the respondent’s probability of coming to the polls, questions about turnout were used: the identical meaning of questions allowed to reduce their scales to one dimension - a dichotomy of “will go/won’t go to the polls”. The analysis showed that within the decision vector model, surveys conducted with different methods before the 2013 Moscow mayoral elections provided the same values of the probability of voter turnout, which coincide with the actual turnout with a high degree of accuracy. If the corresponding probability coefficients had been known in advance, it would have been possible to provide an accurate forecast of the turnout at the 2013 elections. But for this, we need to calculate the probability of turnout based on other parameters known before the elections. Nevertheless, attempts to integrate social-structural variables into models of mass behavior look promising, since they represent a transition from measuring behavioral intentions to measuring circumstances that shape behavior, and the decision vector model is a promising tool for such a transition.

The article considers the dynamics of Russians’ ideas about social justice and its content, including in the context of various forms of inequality as a derivative of social injustice, based on the empirical data of the Institute of Sociology of the Federal Center for Theoretical and Applied Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The author argues that the “turning point” in the perception of social justice occurred in the mid-2000s, and since then there have been no qualitative leaps. However, there is still a demand for improving the situation with social justice and reducing inequalities, since the share of Russians who often feel social injustice and see deterioration in this area over the past decade has exceeded the share of those who are optimistic and practically do not feel any social injustice. The article describes the relationship between a pessimistic perception of the situation and social justice and ill-being (not only material), noting that social justice in the Russian public consciousness is associated with two demands - for equality of income and living standards and for equality of non-material opportunities, including implementation of meritocratic principles. The first demand is more typical for the most materially disadvantaged groups and the elderly, the second - for economically active groups and the youth. These two interpretations of social justice are also reproduced in the perception of inequality, the key forms of which for Russians are income inequality and inequal access to necessary medical care, good jobs and housing conditions. Those Russians who consider their position in society to be low tend to perceive inequality more acutely, while the most advantaged groups show a rather tolerant attitude towards it. The author insists on the preservation of the request for improving the situation with social justice and reducing illegitimate inequalities, taking into account various interpretations of social justice in the Russian public consciousness. In particular, requests for reducing certain types of inequality are associated with material status and non-material well-being (including their subjective types).

Responsibility (social) is one of the most important value bases for consolidation of communities of different levels. Only if it is established in the mass consciousness as a personal essential quality, consolidation can become real. Despite the long-standing tradition of discussing responsibility, it still seems undeveloped in social-humanitarian knowledge. In addition, insufficient individual and collective responsibility often determines the life of communities of different levels and hinders unification. The article aims at assessing the role of personal responsibility in the consolidation of the urban population in the border region. This aim is determined not only by the significance of the responsibility pattern for consolidation but also by the special situation in the frontier region, which is influenced by the special military operation in Ukraine, i.e., responsibility acquires existential significance. The article is based on the results of the authors’ sociological study conducted in 2022-2023 using the survey of urban residents in the Belgorod, Kursk and Voronezh Regions, expert survey and focus groups. The study showed the ambiguity and even paradoxical nature of common judgments regarding the extent of responsibility for oneself and society. The first paradox is the contradiction between the relatively high symbolic significance of the attitude towards socially responsible behavior and the inability to realize it. The second paradox is manifested in the conflict between individualistic and collectively oriented behavioral models: most urban residents worry about the situation in their “location”, about others and loved ones, but at the same time almost two-thirds agree that a person is responsible only for oneself and one’s actions. The third paradox is that contrary to widespread stereotypes about the predominantly individualistic orientation of the youth the share of young people who believe that a person is responsible only for oneself turned out to be lower than in other age groups.

The last decade in Russia is characterized by the formation of the institutional public activism, which is expressed in the emergence of its new, legislative form - socially oriented noncommercial activity. The article aims at examining the foundations of the group identity of the youth in such socially oriented non-commercial (non-governmental) organizations (SONGOs) and at identifying those significant social ideas that underlie the identity of the Russian youth. The study is based on the concept of identity, interpreting the ideas of youth movements, and on the resource mobilization model which allows us to study the collective “I” of the youth SONGOs. This methodological framework presents the Russian youth’s activism as a multi-level system of collective action. The empirical base of the study consisted of the following: a list of applications submitted by SONGOs to the Presidential Grant Foundation for financial support in 2017-2023; interviews with leaders of youth organizations in the Republic of Tatarstan; participant observation at the opening and closing ceremonies of summer camps of two youth associations; the authors’ survey of the youth in the Republic of Tatarstan and surveys of the Russian youth conducted by WCIOM and Levada Center (1). As the results of the study showed, the agenda of SONGOs focuses on social (in terms of socialization), local and national-civil identity of the younger generation. Thus, despite different tasks of youth organizations, a clear association with Russia is traced in all their significant events through state symbols and leaders’ speeches. Social activists are ready to improve their competencies in certain professions and participate in the formation of a pool of young activists as a separate professional group with the relevant knowledge and skills. The basis of the group identity of youth SONGOs is their self-perception as an intermediary between the authorities and the younger generation, capable of identifying, actualizing and developing diverse interests of the youth. The further influence of SONGOs on the youth socialization and identity will be largely determined by the attitude of the Russian population to the new type of social activism.

The progressive process of automobilization providing a comfortable life entails many negative consequences such as safety risks for the environment and people, limited space for physical movement in the city and traffic jams, the scale of which is constantly increasing. This range of problems determines the growing interest of social sciences and humanities in the culture of automobilization as an important element of contemporary social realities. Accordingly, there is a need for sociological tools to identify the problems of road users, their subjective assessments of the possibilities of minimizing the negative consequences of growing automobilization and of increasing the efficiency of practical solutions for improving the functioning of the urban environment. The authors’ study aimed at analyzing the attitudes of the population of a large Russian city (Krasnodar) to the risks of automobilization and at identifying the dependence of such social risks on a kind of “irrational” components of stable social representations of road users. In particular, the article presents an attempt to classify the actors of automobile traffic in the urban environment of a large regional center according to their subjective and objective features. The authors argue that today the automobile, being in essence a material part of social-economic relations, significantly influences the culture of society as a whole, contributing to the formation of certain values and norms, meanings and symbols and acting as a means of demonstrating social status and selfexpression through consumer behavior.

The article considers the perception of peacekeeping activities by the local population in Africa on the example of Mali. In recent years, peacekeepers have been increasingly criticized by the civilian population, despite reforms of the UN and regional organizations. The main reasons, as a rule, are as follows: lack of fi support, inability of peacekeepers to achieve the goals of the mandate, and their abuse of authority. However, sociological surveys show deeper reasons for criticism of peacekeeping missions. In Mali, the public dissatisfaction with the activities of the UN peacekeeping mission led to protests and the government’s demand to withdraw the peacekeeping contingent from Mali. This precedent actualizes the issues of the reasons for the current situation and of the perception of peacekeepers by the local population. This study aims at examining the dynamics of public trust in peacekeepers and the reasons for distrust in peacekeeping missions. Based on the comparative analysis of sociological surveys (questionnaires, focus groups and interviews) conducted among the local population by two international research centers - the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) from 2012 to 2024 and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) from 2019 to 2022, the authors argue that the majority of Malians are satisfi with the government’s decision to stop the peacekeeping operation of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), since they trust the national army and police much more. The research for this attitude are both objective (for example, the privileges and immunity enjoyed by peacekeepers on the territory of Mali; participation of peacekeepers in corruption schemes; their unauthorized use of force) and subjective (MINUSMA’s ignorance of local problems and of the mission’s mandate).

The concept of “emotional health” is actively discussed in the scientific community and is subject to various interpretations; the lack of its clear definition leads to the use of synonyms such as “emotional well-being” or “mental health” which do not fully reflect the features of the phenomenon. The difficulty in defining emotional health is determined by its connection with the individual mental, psychological and social well-being. Thus, emotional health is assessed with such indicators as stress levels, depression, life satisfaction, happiness indices, etc. The authors emphasize the importance of emotional competence for achieving stable emotional-positive well-being and successful functioning in society. The article presents the results of the qualitative study of various aspects of emotional health as interpreted by representatives of different social-demographic groups: respondents expressed their understanding of emotional health through other types of health, often linking it to psychological, mental or physical health. Emotional health reflects the general emotional state and is related to the ability to experience and manage various emotions, to correctly respond to current events. Emotional health is determined by subjective value perception of one’s condition, is interpreted as a state or a process, activity or passivity, and can be extrapolated to oneself or others. Emotional health is complexly organized and associated with feelings, mood, emotions, experiences; it is not a single fleeting state but rather a combination of one’s states in the past, present and future. Studies of emotional health indicate its complexity and multi-faceted nature, which means the need for an integrative approach for its thorough empirical study and full understanding of its role in human life.

The concept of a multipolar world is based on the idea of balance and equal rights for every country in the international world, and this concept was outlined in the Russian Foreign Policy Concept already in 2000. On several occasions, the President of Russia campaigned for a multipolar world order, which can be seen in some news reports in the Indonesian media. The sociological interpretation of the image is based on the descriptive qualitative framing analysis aimed at identifying how an event is understood and framed by the media. The authors collected the media data and conducted an analysis that allowed to make the following conclusions: first, a multipolar world is a concept that based on the idea of balance and equality; thereby, the geopolitical model of a multipolar world order is to replace the existing paradigm dominated by one civilization which extends throughout the world under the slogans of globalization, Westernization, Americanization, universalization, standardization and liberalization. Second, the image of Russia in the Indonesian media in relation to the multipolar world order creates the representation of the country as the one that encourages other states experiencing rapid growth to assert their sovereignty and defend their national interests, traditions and culture. Another image of Russia implies the same accent on the presence of countries experiencing free rapid development as confirming that the contemporary world is no longer under the influence of just one country or one pole, because every country has the same sovereign rights. Thus, Russia’s position as presented in the Indonesian media certainly finds the approval and support of the Indonesian society.

The article presents an overview of the VI International Scientific-Practical Conference “Social dynamics of population and human potential” held on June 20-21 by the Institute of Socio-Economic Studies of Population of the FCTAS RAS with the support of the Department of Social Sciences of the RAS, Research Institute for Healthcare Organization and Medical Management, Research Institute on Issues of Socio-Economic Statistics of the Federal State Statistics Service, Vologda Scientific Centre of the RAS, and the Department of Sociology of Family and Demography of the Moscow State University. The plenary session covered a wide range of issues and various aspects of human potential and social problems, including mobility in different types of cities, national development goals, poverty, population decline and stratification, and the impact of state support on childbirth. Students and teachers of the RUDN University made presentations at the conference: at the thematic sections, they considered religious values in the contemporary Russian society and issues of national identity; the role of gentrification and its different aspects, and healthy lifestyle components; the urgent issues of sociology of management such as the role of Mendelian manager in organizational adaptation. The round table focused on the potential of artificial intelligence and its risks, especially in education, and some conclusions were made, including the low level of commitment to healthy lifestyles, the need to create equal conditions for all city dwellers, and negative effects of artificial intelligence on critical thinking.