Vol 20, No 4 (2020)

The article considers the so-called new nationalism that has been developing in the United States and other Western countries since the last decades of the 20th century as a system of ideas about nations, sovereignty, racial and national relations, and also currents of nationalism. Recent forecasts of the ideologists of globalism about the inevitable departure from the political scene of nation-states, nations and nationalism are opposed by the contemporary nationalism which became a real political factor, primarily in the United States. The authors show the variety of concepts of nationalism, which allows its supporters in the United States to follow both openly chauvinistic ideas and liberal ideas of solidarity that makes up the nation. Among the reasons for the rise of nationalism, the authors consider the interaction of two trends in the public-political life - politicization of ethnicity and ethnicization (or nationalization) of politics. The authors believe that the emphasis on ethnic nation and ethnic nationalism (as opposed to civil nation and civil nationalism) reflects the exacerbation of inter-ethnic tensions in the United States and other Western countries. Based on the analysis of the new nationalism, the authors distinguish its right direction, whose supporters nominally renounce Nazism and racism but promote similar ideas, and a moderate liberal direction which often equates nationalism with patriotism. Representatives of both trends appeal to national interests and values of the nation’s historic core, and criticize migration policy and multiculturalism. In addition to ‘white’ racism and its evolution, the article considers the scope of nationalism and patriotism of African-American movements, in particular “Black Lives Matter” and the results of the study of the dual consciousness of African Americans as combining the concept of ‘nation within a nation’ and a new, completely American identity. Despite many American theorists’ idea of the absence of the American nation as such, the authors consider the concept of a new identity of the American nation, which M. Lind defines as a unity of language and culture, regardless of the racial composition, i.e. as an expression of liberal nationalism and a renewed concept of the ‘melting pot’. Lind and his colleagues believe that the factor of the current split of the American nation is not racial or ethnic confrontation (‘Balkanization’) but the social gap between rich and poor. The authors consider the criticism of the policy of the American ruling class as a means for the sociological study of the racial problem and for the development of ways for solving it.

Issues of vicarious, collective and other types of responsibility become more urgent under the growing global interconnectedness and interdependence. Since most actors are collective ones, we need a theoretical study of the grounds for social responsibility and its essential features as represented in diverse manifestations. The article considers social responsibility in terms of the existential-phenomenological approach developed by M.M. Bakhtin, J.-P. Sartre, M.K. Mamardashvili, H. Arendt, H. Blumer, etc. Social responsibility is a type of responsibility; therefore, the author searches for the most fundamental grounds of this phenomenon. This search allows to reveal the paradox of responsibility and to highlight the spatial-temporal boundariness as its most important structure that provides co-being (joint existence) with others. Everyone interplays the ‘inner sociality’ when interpreting acts (deeds) are always performed in front of the Other (including I as the Other for oneself). Thus, the Other plays the key role in making responsible choices. In the existential perspective, individual responsibility serves as a necessary basis for all other forms of responsibility including vicarious, collective and social. The author presents examples of different life situations to explain the choice of such criteria as the internal unity of the group focused on the ‘common purpose’ shared by all participants, and the strive for completeness for the sake of the Other without infringing the being of ‘external’ others.

In the minds of members of society, social norms can exist in various forms. In their most general form, they are logical rules ‘if, then’. The theoretical framework most often used to study social norms is the “focus theory of normative conduct” which divides this logical rule into two types of norms - descriptive (‘the majority does this’) and injunctive (‘I should do this’). It is not known which of these three possible forms prevails (is most common or fundamental) in the minds of members of society, and this question should be answered empirically, for instance, by measuring the time of reaction to different descriptions of a social norm. If the description corresponds to the cognitive form of the norm, the reaction should be faster, since it takes less time and resources to compare and interpret wordings. The article presents the results of an experimental study of the cognitive accessibility of social norms in mass survey based on the method of ‘split-ballot’ which implies the presentation of different versions of the questionnaire to randomly selected subsamples. The survey consisted of 10 questions about attitudes to social norms in a particular situation: half of situations described a common norm, half - a violation of the norm. Each situation was described in three ways: implication (‘if, then’), common behavior, and imperative. The main measured variable was not the answers but the time for providing them. The results showed no statistically significant differences in timing of reactions to different forms of situation descriptions. Thus, the main result of the study is that three possible cognitive forms of social norms turn out to be equal, with no signs of prevalence or greater fundamentality. This can be explained in two ways: first, each cognitive form can use its own independent mechanism of actualization; second, the true cognitive form can differ from all three (for example, a non-verbal representation of actions). The choice between these two explanations requires further research.

During the formation of contemporary democracy, its ideologists strived to create a management mechanism that did not resemble monarchy at all, so that to emphasize the radical nature of social-political changes in the transition from pre-industrial to industrial society. The dynastic transfer of power in all its manifestations and at all levels of governance was denounced as outdated, ineffective, and violating the very foundations of the people’s will. The article shows that, despite the initial criticism, dynasties are widespread in contemporary politics. The family is a part of politics and systems of public administration in a truly post-industrial form - as a brand, image, and symbol. The transition to the post-industrial society predetermines a change in the attitude to dynasties and their role not only in politics but also in systems of interaction with the population (electorate). Based on the analysis of other research and authors’ data on political dynasties at different levels of government in 17 countries, the article proves the changing attitude to political dynasties even within democratic systems. Political dynasties increasingly often contribute to the creation and expansion of social networks, establishing sustainable political ties, ensuring gender presentation in government, etc. There are numerous manifestations of dynasties in countries with different levels of social-economic development (developed and developing) and different types of government (authoritarian and democratic) due to the application of marketing thinking and technologies in politics. Dynasties allow to effectively use the family potential to create and promote political brands, to ensure sustainable social choices of political candidates and parties, to facilitate political socialization of new generations and relative predictability of politicians’ behavior, who would follow a ‘family line’ in making important decisions.

The article examines the effects of cultural diversity on social cohesion in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The UAE is an oil-rich country established in 1971 as a federation of seven Emirates. It is a small state with a population of ten million; the citizens account only for 10% of the population. Oil wealth enables the country to achieve advanced levels of human, social and economic development. Recently, the UAE has experienced a massive social change; modernization processes have been impended on highest levels. However, due to the historical demographic structure of the local population, the UAE always depended on external labor forces. Skilled and unskilled male workers immigrate from neighboring countries; as a result, the population structure has changed. After the world economic depression in 2008, the UAE experienced a dramatic increase in the number of population. Professional workers from all over the world flowed to the country, and Dubai became a major center for the regional trade market; today, its free zones are considered the best technical base for service and logistic businesses. Today, more than 200 nationalities live in the country, and the majority of them are migrant male workers. This instable and unbalanced demographic structure created cultural domination - international cultures dominate the local one. The demographic imbalance between citizens and foreigners resulted in a kind of disharmony. Due to their feeling of being a minority, the Emiratis move from the old cities to the suburban areas, which creates many social tensions. All these circumstances affected social cohesion, communal harmony and the direct social interaction of cultural groups. To illustrate the tensions and discomforts in the UAE, the author presents the results of face-to-face interviews and a group discussion - as a critical analysis by those in the center of change.

Participatory governance as an opportunity for citizens to take part in public management can be realized in different forms. The article considers the potential of social media in the development of participatory management. The authors conducted a survey in Moscow to estimate the possibilities of social networks in establishing dialogue and partnership for solving urgent social problems, in particular, the people’s readiness to participate in social-network interaction, approaches of networks to its organization, and efficiency of the current forms of such interaction. The study of online and offline activity showed that despite the general satisfaction with the possibilities of personal initiative in solving socially significant problems, the respondents are not ready to be socially active; their activity in social networks consists of obtaining information, sometimes - in its use for socially significant activities, and very rarely - in ‘organizing’ such activities. The comparison of social networks from the standpoint of the convenience for discussing socially significant issues and interaction with authorities showed that VKontakte and Instagram are promising platforms for participatory governance. In most cases, Muscovites participate in the network communities of the mass media, public organizations or public opinion leaders, very rarely - in the network communities of the authorities. According to the majority, in interaction with the authorities, social media perform an informative function by drawing attention to socially significant issues; however, it is also important to involve citizens in solving these problems. The low efficiency of the social-network interaction between the authorities and the population is obvious. The survey results indicate the general dissatisfaction with the organization of dialogue between the population and authorities in social networks. Respondents admit both the importance of developing dialogue-partner forms of Internet communications and the low level of their implementation. Thus, the portal ‘Active Citizen’ receives contradictory assessments as a platform for electronic voting, i.e., the potential of social media in the development of participatory governance is not used efficiently.

Based on the review of the research on the relationship between cooperation and self-organization in the rural development of Russia and other countries, and also taking into account the recent trends in the international cooperative movement, the authors present the results of the sociological research conducted in 2005-2008, and then in 2018-2019 in nine rural areas of five subjects of the Russian Federation: Leningrad, Vologda, Novgorod, Arkhangelsk and Tver Regions of the Northern Non-Black-Earth Region. These empirical studies were comparative case studies based on a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches. The authors consider the historical and contemporary specifics of cooperation and self-organization of the Non-Black-Earth Region as compared to other Russian regions; identify theoretical and practical differences between the concepts ‘cooperation’, ‘self-organization’, ‘mutual assistance’; propose to use the concept ‘symbiosis’ for the analytical explanation of paradoxes of the interaction of traditions and innovations in practices of rural cooperation and mutual assistance. In the final part of the article, the authors provide empirical examples from their sociological studies in the Northern Non-Black-Earth Region, which prove the efficiency of cooperation between local entrepreneurs and rural communities, especially provided measures and programs of the state support to cooperation. The authors emphasize the importance of the symbiosis of formal and informal local cooperative practices, which requires an extremely flexible cooperative policy in order to overcome the legacy of the Soviet bureaucratic overregulation and to revive the historical legacy of the local self-organization of rural communities.

Based on the data of the survey conducted in 2018, the authors present the Russian students social ideas on possible life trajectories, including relations between young people, marriage, creating a family, birth of children, responsibility for actions in the interpersonal space, interaction with parents, education and career. The authors chose the vignettes technique based on five factors-values describing the student life trajectory. The use of the vignette technique and logistic regression allowed to prove the most significant values of students (independent variables) based on their approval of the actions of the vignette actors (a dependent variable). During the undergraduate period, getting a higher education is a priority compared to starting a family life, having a child, employment and parental support. The value of education is 2.3 times more important than the value of creating a family, and 3.1 times more important than having a child. When evaluating the vignette actions, the priority of education over family creation is more typical for boys. Marrying and creating a family during the student years are approved primarily for girls. The probability of the approval of a young man marrying or starting a family is 29%, while the approval of a girl in the same situation - 96%; childbirth is supported for both girls (30%) and boys (19%), employment - rather for girls (21%), parental support - rather for boys. Education is an absolute priority for all respondents; however, for girls during their student years a more intense life trajectory is approved - getting a higher education, starting a family life, having a child and a job or a part-time job. In the traditional perspective, family and children are an important component of women’s life; however, the girl should have a modernist choice too - with a focus on career and employment.

The article considers the educational level, needs and activities of the ‘third age’, and the readiness of the Sverdlovsk Region to develop practices of ‘silver’ education. The object of research - practices of ‘silver’ education in the region and the readiness of pensioners and pre-retirees to participate in them. The research is based on the authors’ concept of ‘silver’ education as a resource for preserving and developing the social community of the ‘third age’. The theoretical framework of the study combines the key ideas of the theories of adult education, continuing education, human capital and resource capacity. Main research methods are analysis of educational and demographic statistics, regulations and government programs, secondary analysis of sociological data, a survey in the Sverdlovsk Region (respondents older than 45 years), and an expert survey. According to the authors’ hypothesis, today the regional system of ‘silver’ education cannot serve as a resource for its development, since neither the ‘third age’ community nor the region is ready for it. The authors present the following main results of the research: interpretation of the ‘third age’ social community and estimates of its educational level; educational needs and activities of the ‘third age’ in the Sverdlovsk Region; the readiness of the region to develop practices of ‘silver’ education. The results of the research can be useful for the public policy in the interests of the older generation and the regional development. The authors conclude that it is necessary to develop a concept of the regional ‘silver’ education system and a corresponding policy for improving the quality of the ‘third age’ educational capital.

The article considers an urgent scientific issue with a clear practical orientation and related to the anti-corruption education of the youth, which is defined as an important factor of social (public) security as an integral part of national security. The authors define anti-corruption education as a specific type of social activity of the authorities and civil society institutions, which aims at raising public awareness of the nature of corruption as a negative social phenomenon, of legal and social mechanisms to combat it, and at developing the anti-corruption worldview as an element of ‘social immunity’. There is a significant number of publications on the anti-corruption education, especially of the youth. They consider various aspects of this type of social activity, analyze its implementation, assess its efficiency, show the role of law enforcement agencies in the anti-corruption education of the youth, etc. However, representatives of the scientific-expert community have not yet considered the anti-corruption education in the perspective that the authors suggest. The authors, as members of the National Committee for Public Control, an interregional public organization promoting the implementation of anti-corruption programs, interpret anti-corruption education as a serious factor of social security, as an important tool for preventing radicalization of the youth consciousness. It is the radicalization that nourishes extremism and terrorism which are real threats to social (public) security. The article provides some recommendations for developing legislation of anti-corruption education. The authors believe that public authorities and civil society institutions should more actively (and not formally) involve the student youth in anti-corruption education and use the scientific-creative potential of the younger generation.

The article is a review of the book by Deborah Lupton Data Selves: More-Than-Human Perspectives (New York: Polity Press, 2019), which continues the author’s analysis of the same issues of changes in daily life under the impact of information digital technologies due to producing an increasing amount of various data including personal. This is an urgent issue due to the growing importance of digital technologies in the life of contemporary society, which became even more obvious under the current pandemic. Fast digitalization changes our everyday world, new technologies expand our capabilities; however, in addition to obvious benefits and advantages, new technologies also bring new risks. Lupton develops an original interpretation of the symbiosis of man and his digital data - she considers this symbiosis in the framework of the theory of neomaterialism and concludes that our personal ‘living’ data is ‘more-than-personal’ and ‘more-than-human’. Therefore, life in the digital world constructed by data becomes our new social reality.

The article is a review of the book Another Country. Everyday Social Restitution by Charlene Schwartz (Cape Town; 2016). The author believes that the history of South Africa is complex and contradictory, and the problem of equality, justice and regulation of race relations is actual under overcoming the apartheid - when passions ran high, and black South Africans want to put an end to the shameful past, when their human dignity was violated, their children did not have a decent future, because they could not get education and profession, and the cherished dream of the black child was to become white. Schwartz shows that the life of the black majority has improved in both financial and educational terms, and all changes were enshrined in law; however, in the psychological perspective, there is still a feeling of inferiority, which determines not only pain and shame, but also anger and aggression, especially among young people, and leads to calls for violence against the white minority. On the other hand, the white minority is stressed due to the transition from the privileged position to the outcasts, is often removed from prestigious jobs and elite residential areas, and the very survival of the white population often demands self-isolation. Several generations of Afrikaners consider South Africa their homeland and do not want to leave it despite all threats. Thus, the question is how to reconcile two opposing groups and ensure racial peace. This difficult situation is studied by Schwartz with trainings at the University of Cape Town - together with her students she searches for a decision urgently needed for survival and a civilized society.