Vol 17, No 1 (2017)

This paper draws on lectures given in recent years at the China Agricultural University, on author’s book Class Dynamics of Agrarian Change [1] and on a recent article [3]. The author supplied as few references as possible to very large literature in English on agrarian change both historical and contemporary; there is an ample bibliography in [1], which is expanded in [2-5]. The paper outlines in schematic fashion some key concepts in the political economy of agrarian change with special reference to capitalism historically and today; some key questions posed by the political economy of agrarian change, and how it seeks to investigate and answer them; two sets of more specific questions about agrarian transition to capitalism and agrarian change within capitalism (internal to the countryside, bringing in rural-urban interconnections, pointing towards the place of agriculture within larger ‘national’ economies, and concerning the character and effects of the capitalist world economy). With the aid of the last group of questions, the author discusses three themes, which they are deployed to investigate: the agrarian origins of capitalism, the distinction between farming and agriculture generated by capitalism, and the fate(s) of peasant farmers in the modern world of capitalism. The author believes that one cannot conceive the emergence and functioning of agriculture in modern capitalism without the centrality and configurations of new sets of dynamics linking agriculture and industry, and the rural and urban, and the local, national and global. The three themes all feed into the fourth and final theme, that of investigating the fate(s) of the peasantry in capitalism today, which resonates longstanding debates of the ‘disappearance’ or ‘persistence’ of the peasantry, albeit now in the conditions of contemporary ‘globalization’. The author does not deny some of the critique of the contemporary globalization, or at least its effects; his problem is the advocacy of ‘solutions’ premised on an unconvincing, pre-given and idealized ‘peasant way’ that lacks the analytical means (and desire) to confront processes of class formation in the countryside.

The article considers Pierre Bourdieu’s approaches to the study of religion: the author analyzes basic concepts of Bourdieu’s sociology of religion and identifies religious spheres and traditions to which his ideas can be applied. The methods developed by Bourdieu, despite their limitations, successfully work in the contemporary studies. Bourdieu’s theory of religion became the starting point for some new approaches, in particular, for the study of ritual practices. His concept of religious habitus allows to analyze the mechanisms by which the religion generates certain practices, conventions, life styles, meanings and values according to its doctrine and experience. Representatives of one denomination usually not only follow the same rules and rituals, but also have a similar taste, life style and perception of religious leaders. The habitus embodies traditions and history of a denomination; it is a means of keeping up practices and their transfer to next generations. At the same time, Bourdieu’s approaches to the study of religion have some weaknesses: his theoretical model is too dependent on the French context and describes mainly the catholic church; his techniques aim to analyze the relationship between the state and the dominant church with its hierarchical structure. Another limitation of Bourdieu’s approach is that he attributes economic logic of supply and demand to the religious activities, and defines religion as determined exclusively to legalize and reproduce unequal and unjust social order. Bourdieu believed that the church was always linked with the mechanisms of social domination, exercise of power and consecration of the ruling classes’ privileges, i.e. with the merits of maintaining social order and legitimizing the power. Thus, Bourdieu credits the producers of religious capital with too much power and capabilities, which they do not really have. In Bourdieu’s theory, religion is an instrument of the struggle for power responsible for social deficiencies and injustices. That is why his theory misses many important aspects of religion.

The article evaluates the level of influence of the Christian Churches in the European Union. In order to identify this influence, the author considers such variables as the degree of the religiosity of the state and the presence of Churches at the supranational (EU) level. Using the parameters of religiosity - belief in God, belonging to a particular denomination, and the confidence in the Church - the author identifies areas of high, medium and low influence of the Churches in the EU. The area of high influence includes Cyprus, Greece, Malta, Romania, Italy, Croatia and Poland; the medium influence area includes Germany, Spain, Finland, Ireland, Slovenia, Portugal, Denmark, Sweden, Luxembourg, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Lithuania and Austria; and the low influence area - Estonia, the Czech Republic, France, the UK, Belgium, Latvia and the Netherlands. Only countries with the homogenous Catholic or Orthodox population are inside the area of the high influence, while the countries with multi-confessional population are mainly in the area of low influence. This is partly due to the historical circumstances, but also to the rivalry between denominations, their ability to work together, and peculiarities of social doctrines. The author believes that all Christian denominations, with the exception of some Free Churches, show readiness to cooperate with the EU institutions on a variety of issues, which is confirmed by the growing number of religious representations in Brussels, where the Catholic Church has managed to establish the most influential and professional bodies, followed by the Orthodox and then by the mainstream Protestants. However, European institutions do not show the same degree of openness and eagerness to interact with the Christian Churches as the latter express about interacting with the EU.

The article examines the phenomenon of corporatism, which under the adverse external environment can be used by the professional community to improve the effectiveness of organization. The authors define corporatism of the professional society as a combination of homogenous interests, attitudes, traditions and values; and provide a sociological interpretation of the corporate unity through its organizational and behavioral parameters. The former consists of the perception of the organization reliability, the staff’s confidence in the future, satisfaction with the financial situation (static features), estimates of the innovative capabilities of the company, and the willingness to develop (dynamic features). The behavioral parameters include staff’s values and patterns of behavior that can contribute to the consolidation of the professional community. The authors believe that for corporate management vertical social ties are less important that the horizontal ones, such as the rule of law and honesty, and the team unity under the unstable external environment. The sample of the study conducted by the authors in 2015 consisted of various types of settlements typical for the Sverdlovsk Region: mono-towns and mono-settlements (Nizhny Tagil, Serov), towns and villages with the differentiated economic activities (Ekaterinburg, Irbit). The results of the empirical study of corporatism among different professional societies - industrial workers, social services’ and business organizations’ staff, individual entrepreneurs and authorities - revealed the internal resources that can reduce tensions on the labor market. The research data can be useful for the comparative analysis of corporatism in different regions of Russia (not only industrial and similar to the Ural Region, but differing from it by significant social and economic parameters).

The author asserts the need for the methodological reflection on the logic and basic approaches to the construction of sociological indices under the growing interest to mathematical modeling in sociology in the nowadays context of information saturation. Due to the constant increase of information flows, there is an evident need for methodological improvements in some areas of data analysis and modeling in sociology. The author believes that indices as generalized (integrated) indicators can represent complex social phenomena adequately and comprehensively. Despite the current widest usage of sociological indices in empirical research (both by international organizations and in small research projects), there is not enough methodological reflection to ‘regulate’ the procedure of indices development and verification. Thus, the author defines the category ‘sociological index’; introduces different groups of indices - sociometric, universal, and ‘classic’; and considers the specifics of constructing logical and analytical indices. The article focuses on methods for constructing sociological indices (substantive and mathematical logic), and on the potential and limitations of such methodological experience. For instance, it allows to apply the existing indices for solving quite new tasks and for studying various social phenomena. The author suggests a general algorithm for constructing sociological indices as a mathematical model based on three sequential steps: methodological, technical and empirical-analytical.

The authors examine functions and activities of public councils as subjects of public control, and provide data on the legal regulation of public control and activities of its subjects in the Russian Federation. The article underlines the following main problems in the work of public councils: the fragmented legal regulation, and the low public involvement in solving socially significant problems that require active participation of citizens. The article is based on the empirical study conducted in 2015-2016 by the Committee of Public Relations of the Government of Moscow in cooperation with the Public Chamber of Moscow according to the orders of the Russian President given at the plenary session of the Public Chamber on 23.06.2015 in the framework of monitoring the effectiveness of public councils under the executive branch of the Federation subjects. The study of the activities of public councils under the state and local authorities was conducted in the form of a survey, which revealed that the public councils under the executive bodies of Moscow do not pursue a coordinated policy in respect of personnel, functions and regulations, and often perform different and incomparable in scale functions. Based on the research findings, the authors suggest some measures to enhance the effectiveness of public councils, such as unification of legal regulations and working formats, which would improve public awareness of the public councils’ activities and of the opportunities of personal involvement in such. However, the raising awareness and increasing interest in the public control should be accompanied by the development of effective mechanisms of involvement in the public control practices.