Nº 2 (2024)

There are analyzed the ‘arrow of time’ effects that generate ‘order out of chaos’ (I. Prigozhin) and the accompanying phenomena that have now arisen in the form of ‘synergistic complexities’ (N. Lapin) – they set trends in the becoming of new Russia and form the image of its future. According to the author, their content and character are determined by the genotype of culture, which can either correspond to the civilizational foundations of the country or be borrowed from other cultures, on that factor the country’s sovereign, stable or, on the contrary, traumatic, crisis development depends. Specifically considered are such types of synergistic complexities as glo-local-enclave spaces, synergistic time, hybrids of social, natural and technical/digital realities, hybrids of human physicality, interference risks, synergistic public consciousness and scientific knowledge of a synergistic type. It is substantiated that their complex nature, non-linear development, respectively, demanded for working out the synergistic interdisciplinary knowledge. Paying tribute to foreign scientists in its development, the author notes that it is dominated by formal and pragmatic methodology, while domestic researchers are dominated by comprehensive, more balanced approaches, including the consideration of national and cultural specifics. The author, taking into account their theoretical and methodological achievements, proposes the contours of the concept of the interdisciplinary paradigm of synergistic complexities with a humanistic core. Conclusions are drawn that on its basis it is possible to develop the political strategy for governing the synergistic complexities, which allows solving the urgent tasks of the country’s sovereign and sustainable development, reproducing the national human capital, preserving the uniqueness of our natural world and developing technological innovations without risks to human existential security.

The article presents the results of empirical study conducted in the Yaroslavl region in April-June 2023. In its content the attitude towards the preparation for retirement is interpreted in the study in accordance with a three-component structure (cognitive, affective and behavioral components) based on the core variable «preparation for retirement». The relevance of the study of attitudes’ content, regarding preparation for retirement in various age groups of the population, is substantiated. The orientation towards the search for age-related shifts in the content of such attitudes determined the design of the study sampling.

Using the logical rectangle method, four generalized attitudes regarding the preparation for retirement were identified. The attitude towards the deferred preparation for retirement, which is shared by the relative majority of the respondents, has become the dominant. The actual attitude towards the preparation for retirement, which implies that its supporters do not only consider it expedient to prepare for retirement in advance, but carry out personal planning in this direction as well, characterizes 13.18% of the respondents. The influence of the age factor and the modalities of representations about life in retirement on the content of the attitudes under this study is revealed. The approaching of the retirement date and the positive modality of life representations after the retirement contribute to the formation of the actualized attitude towards preparation for retirement. At the same time, the remoteness of retirement in the life perspective of the respondent, as well as negative representations about life in retirement, block the formation of such attitude.

The article provides a conjugated analysis of an objectified picture of the living conditions and subjective well-being of the population in the Kaliningrad region as one of the Russian border regions, characterized by the strengthening of the role of the border as a dividing marker against the background of intense cross-border interactions in the recent past. The study is based on a comparison of the socio-economic indicators of the neighboring border regions of Russia, Poland, and Lithuania with quantitative (representative survey) and qualitative sociological data (focus groups and semi-structured interviews) obtained by the authors in Kaliningrad region in 2020–2022. It is shown that subjective well-being and perception of the quality of life, as well as a comparison of one’s own standard of living with that achieved in neighboring Poland and Lithuania, are determined by the socio-economic polarization of the region and the heterogeneity of the Kaliningrad society, including differences in lifestyle, mobility, and activity of residents. An imbalance between the relative material well-being of the inhabitants of the exclave against the background of other Russian regions and their poor social well-being caused by an unfavorable comparison of themselves with neighboring EU countries was revealed. Differences across the border are assessed primarily through the prism of general admiration for Europe, envy of goods and comfort, although most respondents are not familiar with the realities of life on the other side of the border. At the same time, the main referents of unfavorable comparisons are not only neighbors, but also the most wealthy and successful groups of the population.

The paper addresses scientific capital distribution and describes status positions of scientists in the field of modern Russian science. Inequalities in science are associated with a variety of factors including gender, wealth, symbolic and moral authority etc. However, technological development has emphasized the significance of new inequality forms based on digital and networking skills. An important question is how these new inequality factors change the field of science. The theoretical and methodological framework of the paper is based on the ideas of R. Merton on the differentiated allocation of rewards, as well as the provisions of P. Bourdieu on dominance in the field of science and on the types of scientific capital. The authors present the result of an online survey of Russian scientists (N=551), the aim of which was to identify the gaps and contradictions within the field of Russian science. To differentiate between the status positions of scientists the authors constructed an integral index of scientific status, according to which all the scientists were divided into three categories with low, medium and high status positions. Empirical data show that there is a contradiction between the scientific dominance based on formal status, and the one based on the production of advanced scientific knowledge. Formal characteristics of the scientific status do not fully reflect subjective perception of the return on the accumulated scientific capital. It is suggested that the elimination of contradictions by means of science policies may contribute to the development of Russian science.

The environmental movement in Russia has been a most institutionalized form of collective action. Originating from the Soviet period and gaining momentum in late 1980s, it survived the 1990s’ dramatic transformations as well as the changes in political opportunity structure in the 2000–2010s. Extant scholarship on environmental activism in Russia has been largely focused on case-studies of regional mass-mobilization, such as environmental campaigns at Shiyes station in Archangelsk. The paper represents the first systematic study of cross-regional variance in environmental collective action in Russia. Drawing on three datasets, we trace the general evolution of environmental protests in the period from 2007 to 2021 and provide a typology of Russian regions. The latter allows us to classify Russian regions by intensity and sustainability of eco-mobilisation. We demonstrate that, despite narrowing opportunities, the intensity of environmental protests during the last decade has been on the rise. The typology allows us to describe the existing variance and suggest new questions on the nature and factors of environmental protest activity in Russian regions.

The article is devoted to the study of social and class contradictions in modern society. The author shows that, despite growing economic inequality in developed countries, the prospect for uniting all the exploited and oppressed in fight for a socialist society, equality and justice is becoming increasingly vague. There are many grounds for asserting the impossibility of socialism (in the foreseeable future) and the inevitability of a new antagonistic stage in the development of society. The second part substantiates the last two theses of the article: 1) the richer the cultural diversity of society, the more prerequisites for intergroup value conflicts; 2) new post-capitalist social relations do not contribute to solidarity and creative dialogue of everyone with everyone in the format of “knowledge communism”, but to the deepening of individualism. It is concluded that in the era of the “impossibility of socialism” any political struggle conducted under leftist slogans is inevitably waged in favor of some social groups to the detriment of the interests of other social groups.

The ontological interpretation of the phenomenon of “changing generations” is fundamentally different from the current understanding of “change of generations”. The ontological approach presupposes an answer to the most important question: to what extent does the “generation” represented in reality correspond to its “nature”, its “essence”, its “definition”. Hence, until recently, we observed precisely the “qualitative”, “essential” classification of generations – “lost generation”, “great generation”, “silent generation”, “baby boomers”, “Buddenbroks dynamics”, “Jefferson formula”. Today’s anonymous numbering of generations is X, Y, Z, Alfa, Beta, Gamma etc. – does not imply such a goal. Today’s (postmodern) vision is focused rather on the “digital-centricity” and “computer competence/familiarity” of new generations. From an ontological point of view, it is important to see to what extent in reality this or that generation reflects not so much itself as the “spirit of the times”, to what extent it is a “significant generation”, expresses a “needed future”, to what extent it contains the social pathos of “solidarism”, “humanitarian” and “civilizational” characteristics of human society. The “mental crisis” may be that the acquisition of “digital virtues” will be purchased at the price of an unacceptable ontological loss. “Homo non vult esse nisi homo.” – A person does not want to be anything other than a person (Nikolai Kuzansky). Ontological “definition” in this sense seems to hold every social “thing” in its “essential”, “programmatic” certainty. The conclusion suggests itself. An ontological view of the phenomenon of “new generations” can play the role of “methodological resistance” to the “digital reductionism” into which the human existence of “new” generations can easily plunge.

The paper provides author’s considerations and content analysis of the collective monograph titled ‘Human Capital of Russian Professionals: Current State, Evolution, Factors.’ Conventional tools of sociological research methodology have been used to interpret and provide an understanding of the content of this comprehensive diagnostic research. By referencing the monograph, the author attempted to identify the purpose and objectives of the research and its hypotheses and to determine the benchmarks and the standard type of professional. Focus is given to providing theoretical grounds and distinguishing empirically a group of professionals. Heterogeneity in sociodemographic and employment characteristics is assumed to be most vulnerable when using a figured-out group of professionals in the analysis and for conclusions. The heterogeneity manifestations become even more noticeable considering the professional composition of the group. Analysis of the quality of professionals’ human capital provided abundant results that were further used to highlight the attributes that indicate self-sufficiency (or self-non-sufficiency) in achieving success. Due to secondary role that the authors revealed as a contrast to institutional factors (primarily, place of residence), human capital cannot be asserted to be autonomous and sufficient to solve the tasks within the modernization of economy and society.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict that started in 2022 has not changed the good development momentum of China-Russia relations. However, discussions about a large-scale confrontation between the West and Russia over Ukraine have also appeared in Chinese society. The choice between pro-Russia or pro-Ukraine positions has become a matter of debate. This article analyzes how Chinese Internet users react to news reports about the Russia-Ukraine conflict on two main video platforms – Douyin (Chinese version of TikTok) and Bilibili (Chinese video hosting similar to YouTube), which are the most popular in modern Chinese cyberspace. The number of views, likes and comments under popular videos on the topic of the Russia-Ukraine conflict is analyzed, and their thematic analysis is carried out. The conclusion is that since Chinese people generally support Russia as China’s strategic ally, pro-Russia views related to the Ukraine incident are absolutely dominant in China’s Internet space. Although there are also pro-Ukraine comments in online comments, they account for a small proportion.