No 1 (2014)

The author proposes a reconstruction of Chalmers Johnson’s processual theory of revolution based on the conception of an unbalanced value-coordinated system. In addition to the structural level Ch. Johnson analyzes revolution on the levels of the rational political choice and revolution strategies and tactics, claiming randomness of the revolutionary process.

The article is devoted to the sociological criteria of explaining the way of thinking and actions of subjects, their spiritual and moral positions and intellectual forces that form the laws of social life. The author seeks to adapt such categories as ‘meaning of life’, ‘human dignity’, ‘rationality’ etc. for the purposes of sociological analysis by methodological construction of some real life dichotomies such as ‘subjective meaning and social function’, ‘the real and the ideal’, ‘the demanded and the excluded’. Thus, the author studies economic, political and technical processes in terms of both positivity and negativity of social interaction and states that given the increasing differentiation of the society and the contradictory trends of social development the reflexive criteria that take into account the socio-cultural nature of the man help to find one’s own model of development.

The article considers the peculiarities of the Russian way to implement the competence-based approach in the higher professional education system. Such an approach is supposed to improve interaction of the higher professional education and the labor market, increase the competitiveness of specialists and lead to the inevitable update of the content, methodology and environment of learning. The authors identify basic methods of definition and application of competencies and competency models in educational and business practices.

Social infrastructure is the foundation for the development of municipality meeting basic needs and interests of population, creating conditions for its subsistence and reproduction. Thus, the study of the conditions and factors of modernization of social infrastructure and the basic problems of its development in contemporary Russia acquires particular relevance. The author evaluates the development of social infrastructure on the basis of the expert survey results (officials and elected representatives of local self-government of the Russian Federation were interviewed) and suggests some ways to support the local authorities in order to modernize the social infrastructure of municipalities.

The article describes the main characteristics of the basic social-structural institute of the contemporary Russian society — communities of employees, which include representatives of different social groups: workers, agricultural workers, specialists and managers. The authors analyze their role positions in various spheres of life using data of a number of sociological surveys and the Federal State Statistics Service.

The authors accept the necessity and validity of the outlined in the article and generally accepted methodological decisions in the analysis of the youth situation in the labor market and the process of professional development of young people as determined by a set of objective and subjective factors. However, they believe it is important to supplement such data by evaluation of the expectations and concerns of students in the professional sphere for many problems in the labor market are brought about by the mismatch of realities and expectations of young professionals and their concerns regarding employment and career. Before considering such expectations and concerns, the authors developed a questionnaire to assess the general level of anxiety of the youth so that to interpret correctly the future survey data focused on professional hopes and fears. The article presents the results of the comparative analysis of anxiety levels among Russian and Chinese students obtained in the surveys of the relevant samples in Moscow and Beijing. In particular, the authors registered a higher level of anxiety and at the same time of optimism and fatalism among Chinese youth, but such an ambivalence is quite ‘normal’ and is typical for Russian students as well although on other grounds.