Towards the Methodology of Interdisciplinary Research on the Biography of a Social Community

The purpose of the article is to develop a methodology for the interdisciplinary study of the biography of a social community based on the synthesis of sociology and history. This issue is rarely considered in sociological literature. The authors used sociological and historical interpretations both of individual-personal and community (collective) biography as the basis of interdisciplinarity. The peculiarities of sociological and historical approaches to the study of the biography of a social community are revealed. The main methodological problems of the study include the concept of the biography of a social community, its structure, the characteristics of a biographical approach, and the biography of a social community as a phenomenon. On the one hand the general aspects are shown, on the other hand the differences in the interpretation of the biography of an individual and the biography of a social community, the possibility of using both in the analysis of the biographical characteristics of both subjects. The essence of the prebiographical, biographical, and post-biographical stages of a social community is revealed. In the finalsection of the article, the authors partially apply the described methodology to the definition of the concept of a biography of a social community of scientific and pedagogical workers of Russian universities, briefly considering the main stages of its formation and development.

social community, biography of a social community, research and pedagogical staff (RPS), biographical approach, prosopography, pre-biography, post-biography