Vol 23, No 1 (2023)

In the last decade, all over the world and in Russia, in particular, there has been an active development of the computer games industry and an increase in the gaming audience, while an outstripping growth of the youth audience is recorded every year. The presentation of the realities of the gaming audience of computer games is fruitful, taking into account the gender characteristics accumulated in computer games. Against this background, in the scientifi c discourse, with a few exceptions, the problem of gender characteristics of gaming practices among the youth segment of the Russian audience of computer games is only sporadically objectifi ed. To study the gender characteristics of gaming inclusion and youth participation in gaming practices, an author’s sociological study was conducted using a questionnaire method, for which an author’s survey toolkit was developed. The target sample was 1700 people, the main selection criteria were: age (18–30 years), participation in the practice of computer games, country of residence (the Russian Federation). The survey was conducted anonymously in a digital format. The results of the survey in the youth segment of the Russian audience of computer games are presented. Based on the data of the study, The gender aspects of the gaming practices in the youth segment of the Russian computer games audience were analyzed considering the survey data. The study showed that today there is a tendency towards the feminization of the youth segment of the Russian computer games community, which destroys the stereotypes about the “masculinity” of this type of leisure activity. The data obtained made it possible to identify gender diff erences and similarities in the participation of gamers in gaming practices.

Education is one of the most important institutions of social reproduction, providing both the processes of socialization and the formation of the professional competence of society members. Education as an institution is not static. It changes under the infl uence of various social factors, and, in particular, it is transformed depending on what social demands are. The author, on the basis of the systematic approach, believes that positive transformations in the conditions for the implementation of educational activities initiate the development, not only of the institution of education, but also indirectly aff ect the entire society. In this context, signifi cant social transformations are accompanied by changes in the characteristics of educational activities. The article raises the question of what kind of transformations take place in connection with the development of information technology. The prospects associated with the modern development of information technologies are assessed, as well as the problems and risks associated with the introduction of information and communication technologies in the educational process. In particular, the positive results of the impact of technological progress on the capabilities of teachers, include the increase in the availability of materials, the improvement of illustrative methods, and the simplifi cation of communication channels. The negative consequences shows how easy it is for contemporary students to bypass the forms of monitoring the performance of tasks, which, in turn, aff ects the quality of mastering competencies. Also, the author takes into account the fact that technical progress after the second half of the 20th century is signifi cantly ahead of the needs for the transformation of the education system. The article discusses the experience of using distant forms of educational activity during the pandemic and evaluates the positive and negative aspects of distant education.

The article presents the results of the students’ preferences study when choosing a place to receive higher education. The study was conducted at the Faculty of Philology at Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia, its methodology is based on the principles of a survey implemented online on the RAEX Rating Review portal on June 14–23, 2022; the results are compared. The answers record factors that mark the quality of education and social aspects, noted by enrollees when choosing a university, indicate the actual place of global and national rankings among the channels of information about the activities of universities, as well as other sources of information about universities. The conclusions drawn from the results of the survey consider the importance of the quality of educational services and describe aspects that influenced the choice of students such as well-established relations between the university and employers, a high level of internationalization, the possibility of conducting scientifi c research and internships. The article discusses global and national rankings of institutions of higher education and their role in informing, attitude to the ranking as an assessment tool by enrollees and their parents as the most signifi cant group of stakeholders. It is concluded that a ranking has a teaching function, it is a tool for searching information about the quality of educational services for stakeholders and a tool for creating image for a university; we pay attention to the fact that at present the ranking is not a suffi ciently demanded tool. A new important task for universities and ranking agencies is training in how to work with rankings, developing communication channels between stakeholders and universities and monitoring the results of this activity.

The study clarifi es the current content and structure of the military personnel communication culture. To achieve this goal, the relevance of the analysis of military personnel communication culture and its functional role were concretized at the fi rst stage of the study. At the second stage, the study of the military personnel communication culture is theoretically justifi ed, its essential manifestation is revealed. At the third stage, the presented theoretical developments are correlated with the practical understanding of the problem by the servicemen themselves and the structural components of the culture of communication of servicemen are revealed. It is proposed to consider the culture of communication as a form of social culture – a narrower cultural complex of values, principles and norms accepted and shared by members of military collectives and defi ning the style of interaction and communication of military actors. In modern conditions, the military personnel communication culture is conditionally classifi ed into the culture of confl ict-free and confl ict-free communication. The characteristic of these forms is presented. At the same time, the culture of confl ict communication is studied in the context of the implementation of motivation for the confl ict solution of service and work tasks. It is proved that the culture of confl ict-free communication is based on the values, principles, traditions and norms that presuppose and orient the serviceman to resolve and prevent confl ict situations. The military personnel confl ictfree communication culture is characterized not only by knowledge and understanding of the need for confl ict-free professional interaction, the desire for a compromise solution of service issues, but also by the practical skills of actors to assess, prevent, and in some cases resolve confl icts in the course of their own offi cial activities. The presence of a culture of confl ict-free communication, on the one hand, determines the competence of confl ict-free communications, on the other hand, it is the practice of tolerant respect for colleagues. This culture allows a serviceman not to create conditions for transferring confl ict situations to service and labor interaction, to understand the meaning, motivation of the behavior of colleagues and opponents, constantly reduce, and in some cases completely eliminate excessive social tension, overcome emotional outbursts in the process of solving professional tasks.

The article is devoted to the analysis of the concept of apparent time used by modern sociolinguistics to identify the social features of the use of language by various socio-demographic groups. There are a number of problems that can be solved by using this empirical method. The fi rst problem is the “constraints”: which language changes are possible and which are not. Historical data can only show what changes have already occurred, but not what changes are possible/impossible. The second is the problem of “embedding”: how a language changes reach all (or almost all) the community members. The third problem is “assessment”: how community members react to language changes and what impact their assessments have on the course or nature of changes. The fourth is a “transitional” problem: how does the language change from one state at the moment A to another state at the moment B. Finally, the fi fth problem is “actualization”: why there is a change in a particular language, when and where it occurs. The founders of the method, Weinreich, Labov and Herzog, argued that these important problems can only be solved by observing the change of language as it arises and from different social points of view, including a wide range of ages, social statuses and places of residence. The diffi culties of applying this concept are considered: there are few comparable real-time data on earlier periods; methods of early work and socio-demographic characteristics do not correspond to modern research needs. The ways to overcome these diffi culties are proposed: research should be of a longitudinal nature with the unifi cation of the methodology for obtaining empirical data.

The publication presents the author’s explanation of the reason why the picture of the value political orientations of young people, created by the eff orts of many domestic researchers, does not look holistic and convincing enough to be used as an indisputable argument when choosing directions and methods for implementing state youth policy. The problem is not that diff erent researchers build a hierarchy of values in diff erent ways, to which the minds of young people are oriented. In a specifi c study, the greater signifi cance of some values and the lesser signifi cance of others is often determined, naturally, by its objectives, methodology, and conditions. The materials and conclusions presented in them convince the reader that the value orientations of young people for modern and future Russian politics contain as many threats as there are prerequisites for the state and society to be able to counter these threats. Such a “balanced” result of scientifi c research does not allow us to identify a trend towards changes in the value orientations of young people and, accordingly, to choose the most important direction for the implementation of state youth policy. The source of contradictions in the opinions of researchers about the state of value orientations of young people, the author considers the commitment of researchers to the social myth about youth, according to which the younger generation is both a risk factor for basic social practices and the main resource for their development. 

The article discusses the energy security of the Russian Federation in the context of aspects of national security. The transnational level of energy security is investigated, where global risks are taken into account. Attention is drawn to the unfriendly actions of actors who are unfriendly to the Russian Federation (on the example of the construction of the Nord Stream). Moreover, the blocking of certain sections of the Nord Stream is no longer correlated with economic expediency, the prevention of Moscow’s hegemony in the energy sector by the EU. The article concludes about reputational, economic and economic losses for Russia after the explosions on the Nord Stream-1 and Nord Stream-2 in September 2022. There is also a threat to Russia’s security from Turkey’s dependence in the event of the full implementation of the Turkish Stream, which will play a key role in the supply of resources between the Russian Federation and the EU. A possible change in the political course of the Turkish authorities in favor of Russia may aff ect the general background of contacts between Moscow and Brussels. The paper examines the regulatory framework for energy security (the Energy Security Strategy of the Russian Federation until 2030 and 2035). Among the key areas of energy security, it can be noted: the guarantee of energy security, satisfaction of domestic energy demand; rational use of natural resources; gradual transition to resource-saving energy. At the same time, the analysis of internal risks allows us to draw conclusions about signifi cant equipment wear, a sharp reduction in the volume of geological exploration, high energy intensity, and a decrease in investments in the fuel and energy sector. Russia demonstrates long-term plans both to expand energy contacts and to deepen dialogue in the energy sector. Based on these problems and risks, the prospects for energy security should be built in accordance with such directions as: economic effi ciency and political stabilization.

The article is devoted to the theoretical understanding of the issues of improvement and development of local self-government in the context of transformation of the local self-government status in modern Russia, which occurred during the adoption of amendments and additions to the Constitution of the Russian Federation in 2020. The adopted amendments were the result of the work of the working group formed by the initiative of the President of Russia V. V. Putin. A working group has been formed for the preparation of proposals for amendments to the Constitution. An important aspect regarding the organization of local authorities is the fact of inclusion of local self-government bodies along with state authorities in the unifi ed system of public authority. This process defi nitely increases the prestige of the municipal level of government and makes the issue of fi nancial support and economic independence of local governments more relevant, given the potential expansion of their powers and the range of tasks entrusted to them. At the same time, an important question is how responsibilities will be distributed between state authorities and local governments in a unifi ed system of public authorities in the course of implementation of their functions, in particular, provision of resources for normal functioning of municipalities and in terms of autonomous decision-making of local governments in the interests of the population living on the relevant territory. The process of actualization of the status of local government allows to optimize the institutional structure and improve the relations between the elements of the system of public authority. Theoretical understanding of these issues can be of great help in the practical implementation of the normative provisions enshrined in the updated Constitution of the Russian Federation.

The article examines the role of European left parties in the politics of their countries and the European Union. The author of the article examines the main types of European left parties, their program goals and the electorate. Modern left-wing European parties in terms of ideological orientation are mostly representatives of social democrats, the Greens, democratic socialists and communists, which roughly corresponds to the left-wing party coalitions existing in the European Parliament, with the exception of communists of the Marxist-Leninist type popular mainly outside the EU. Based on the analysis of successes and defeats in elections in diff erent countries, the author examines the reasons for the popularity or unpopularity of left-wing parties and their specifi c types among certain categories of the electorate, taking into account their age or membership in a particular social group, as well as their regional affi liation. It is noted that the Social Democrats are most popular in Western Europe, the Greens in Northern and Central Europe, and the Democratic Socialists in Southern Europe. In turn, in Eastern Europe, left-wing parties continue to be associated with communist ones. These regional political preferences of the leftist electorate largely refl ect the diff erences in the perception of leftist ideas among residents of diff erent regions of Europe. In this regard, the author also emphasizes diff erent role of the left parties in the political process of diff erent regions, whether it is the promotion of globalist ideas by the Greens in Western and Central Europe, or the reaction to economic crises in Southern Europe by democratic socialists. The author also notes the borrowing of elements of the programs of the left parties from each other in order to preserve the electorate. The impetus for this process, as a rule, is various political and economic crises, when the inability of the left parties in the ruling position to cope with the situation forces them to move to qualitatively new ideological positions, which the author of the article shows by the example of the radicalization of the Social Democrats in Western Europe or the socialist democratization of communists in Eastern Europe after the defeat in the Cold War.