No 3 (2014)

This paper pretends to demonstrate the complementary relations between three relatively recent sociological theories, each one of which explains a different aspect of the same social object: the origin, diffusion and change of social and cultural values, aiming at demonstrating that there is not such a thing as a sociological theory that explains all, but rather diverse theories that offer partial explanations of social reality. To that effect, and on the basis of the necessary relationship between theory and research, three different theories are evaluated separately: Hawley’s and Duncan’s theory of the social ecosystem, Galtung’s centre-periphery theory, and Inglehart’s theory of values’ change in modern-industrial societies, offering theoretical and empirical evidence of their complementary relations, based on Spanish and international data. Social ecosystem and centre-periphery theories show a high level of generalization (through space and time) and a high level of abstraction, though both can easily operationalize their main concepts through valid and reliable indicators. The theory of values’ change, however, though showing a high level of generalization, is limited in time to the historical period after World War II, and also shows a high level of abstraction. Centre-periphery theory and values’ change theory use individual and collective units of analysis, but social ecosystem theory only uses collective units, by definition. The three theories lead to the conclusion that ‘security’ values will gain a growing importance in present societies.

The article examines the theme of madness and creativity in the works of one of the most famous scientists of the XX century - Michel Foucault. The author emphasizes the interpretation of the irrational side of the human consciousness, the relationship of madness and creativity and the way the society treats the insane. Foucault does not only describe these social phenomena, but as a historian of social thought criticizes the ideas and concepts they are socially embodied in. The article focuses on Foucault’s idea that madness is created by the society, constituted by the social practices and cannot be separated from creativity.

The article presents an analytical overview of the theoretical and empirical studies devoted to the interpretation of place names and place-(re)naming practices in social sciences. The author suggests a classification based on the distinction of two key approaches to the place-(re)naming practices - cultural and critical. The article focuses on the critical approach formed under the influence of such trends in the contemporary sociology as: 1) the surge of interest to the collective memory and practices of commemoration; 2) the expansion of sociological theory into geographical disciplines and the emergence of ‘social production of space’ theories; 3) the domination of critical research orientation. Finally, the author discusses some limitations of the critical approach and the ways to overcome them with the help of theoretical and methodological resources of neopragmatic sociology.

The article is devoted to the problem of consumers’ cognitive biases in sociological surveys. The author believes that despite respondent’s willingness to give true and objective answers his perception is biased by different factors. There is no way to get rid of such biases in sociological surveys for respondents do not know that their perception is affected at a very deep, unconscious level of cognition. The article offers a number of examples of such cognitive biases caused by social factors as well as non-social.

The central problem of the modern financial system is finding a mechanism for its stabilization and overcoming its imbalance and constant commitment to systemic risks. The author believes the solution of this problem lies in the fundamental change of the generating matrix of the modern financial system based on debt and multiple levels of debt derivative liquidity. The article shows that the restoration of the monetary status of gold can become the most powerful stabilizing factor for financial system and lead to productive solution of the problem of progressive and balanced economic development.

The article summarizes the results of the survey conducted on a sample of students of the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia to test the questionnaire developed for the operationalization of the youth expectations and concerns in the professional sphere. Previously (1) we described the general features of students’ worldview considering labor market and career plans, in particular the striking combination of quite diverse reasons such as evaluation of the PFUR prestige and image together with very thoughtful and idealistic considerations. This time we focused on factors determining differences in students’ estimates of the situation on the labor market, their commitment to the ideals of personal achievements, perception of studying and requirements of employers, the confidence that they can find a job easily and quickly and fears to become an unemployed, lonely and poor person. The data of national surveys in recent decades show that the Russian society manifests itself as a stereotypical and traditional one in gender questions, especially when it comes to the positions of men and women in the labor market, thus the authors focus on gender differences in students’ responses to the survey questions, but mention other significant distinctions as well.

The article emphasizes the continuing relevance of the sociological study of the relationship between concepts of family, marriage and love for the family is one of the oldest types of social interaction and the basic social institution in the foreseeable future. The authors reconstruct the key themes of the sociological discussion on the key trends in the transformation of family models and the main features of the Russian research tradition in the field. At first the authors summarize contexts and accents in the studies evaluating the role of the family in the contemporary society and the main factors determining the ‘normality’ of the ‘families’ that previously were considered unacceptable forms of relations. In the second part of the article, the authors discuss the results of the senior students’ survey conducted in the PFUR to characterize the youth perception of family, marriage and love. In particular, the article presents the dominant interpretations of love, marriage and family, the features of an ‘ideal partner’ and ways to find him/her, the basic components of an ‘ideal family/marriage’, the conditions for legal marriage, its negative aspects and reasons not to divorce. The sphere of family and marriage relations in Russia is full of gender stereotypes, thus we focused on the differences between boys and girls that revealed the youth continuing commitment to the traditional role models - a man as a ‘money-maker’ and a woman as a ‘homemaker’.

The article examines the problem of interpreting and studying the feedback in interpersonal interaction as a result of some reflective position. A scientist interested in the feedback has to study the reflective positions as well and to consider their ‘second order’, i. e. to identify the object of his research as a certain number of direct and reverse processes together with their possible subjective representation. Considering the interaction of the sociologist with his customer, this means the necessity to correctly understand and reflect the goals, interests and negotiating tools of the other party that determine the success of negotiations.