No 4 (2008)

Approaches to class analysis raise a lot of discussions and debates among representatives of different sociological schools and perspectives. Transitional periods change views on forming class structure in the society. The article reviews the theory of neo-Marxist sociologist Erik Olin Wright. In his work Wright paid particular attention to the class analysis of modern societies, namely to the research into controversial class stands and the phenomenon of exploitation.

The studies of aloneness carried out in recent decades in Russia and abroad are scrutinized in the article. The majority of the research involved is essentially psychological. The research procedure is analyzed. The complexity of the empirical research of aloneness is emphasized. The alternative challenging approaches to the study of the most complicated phenomenon in the framework of sociology are enlisted as well.

The author focuses his attention on the peculiar features of migration processes in the modern Ukranian society. The article analyzes trends as well as economic, socio-cultural and social-psychological risks of outer labour migration. The author emphasizes both quantitative and qualitative consequences of labour migration including intellectual migration.

The article analyses values of the intellectuals (intelligentsia) in Russia in regard to democracy basing on the data of sociologic research of 1992-2007.The article is based on the secondary analysis of such surveys as «True Russia: Social Stratification in Modern Russian Society»; «Elites and Future of Russia: Regional Perception» and public opinion monitoring in Volgograd Region.

Russia and China today are going through the period of transformations. The students in both states live in transitional societies which interfere with their lifestyles and systems of values. That is why the research into the system of values of both Chinese and Russian students is of vital importance today - it does not only help to understand the modern youth, their motivation and culture better; but also enables us to define their world-view, main trends of their development; help them deal with their problems. Youth values give an idea of present and upcoming values of a nation as a whole.

The article considers basic principles of socially-oriented economy according to L. Erhard's model applied in Germany after World War II. It provides the analysis of their advantages and disadvantages, outlines the main subjects of economic relations and specifies the ways to implement the principles of socially-oriented market economy.