2017. N 8

Introduction

 

Social Inequality, Mobility and Labor Relations

Modernization potential of Belarusian students: survey evidence

Modernization potential of the students of the Republic of Belarus in the contemporary society is discussed. The author states that in order to be successfully included into the process of modernization of Belarusian society the students should have the values that correspond to the objectives of modernization. The empirical data show that only a part of the students really obtain these values and can be viewed as modernization resource. The other part of the students are committed to the traditional values that do not allow to become the forefront of the modernization.

 

Belarusian labor market under conditions of structural changes in economy: effectiveness of mechanisms for adjustment

In this article the mechanisms for labor market adjustment to structural changes in the economy are analyzed. It is revealed, that the mechanisms for quantitative adjustment are connected with preservation of unnecessary labor, weaken competition for workplaces; the mechanisms for qualitative adjustment don’t provide reaction of educational services market to structural changes in economy; the mechanisms for wages don’t stimulate labor transition into new spheres in economy; the mechanisms for institutional adjustment don’t promote coordination of the named mechanisms action. For successful adaptation of labor market to structural changes in economy is necessary: reduction of inefficient workplaces; socially responsible restructuring (including over retraining and modern methods of personnel work); coordination of educational services market and labor market; realization by wages of the function stimulating workers to productive and qualitative work; increase of labor market institutional flexibility.

 

Professional competences of head of municipal self-government institutions

Municipal authorities are the most important institute of the Russian administrative system. The state exercises control of the economic and social sphere of society at the local level through these authorities. The identity and professional competence of heads of local authorities is treated as one of the main factors of maintaining society, creating the conditions for its preservation, and sometimes even development. Studying of professional competences was carried out on the basis of allocation of three criteria of competence: personal, cognitive and organizational within the analysis of daily practices of professional activity of heads of rural municipal services.

 

The city as a territory of inequality: contestation of garage spots demolition in St. Petersburg

The article discusses the opportunities of civic participation for city dwellers in the urban decision making. The theoretical background of the article are L. Thevenot’s pragmatic sociology and S. Arstein’s “ladder of citizen participation”. The empirical base of the study is a series of semistructured interviews with members of garage spots owners in St. Petersburg involved in urban contestation against massive garage demolition. I conclude that the owners of garage spots resort to a large range of instruments of urban space contestation in view of low efficacy oflegal actions. Strong advocacy groups (city authorities and buildings developers) appeal largely to laws, but they employ a variety of other instruments for legitimating their actions as well. As a result, the interaction among urban activists and city authorities occurs on the level of “therapy”, “informing” and “manipulation”, according to Arstein’s terminology.

 

Influence of demographic processes on the number of homeless animals in Russian cities

The article deals with the connection between the demographic consequences of globalization and the growing number of homeless animals. The review of publications on this subject allows us to conclude that there is no data on the number of homeless animals in most regions, and, consequently, the unjustified costs are not measures to regulate it. It is necessary to develop a unified methodology for the registration of homeless animals in populated areas and to monitor its application to certain indicators. A method of indirect estimation of the number of neglected animals by demographic indicators is proposed. A correlation was found between the relative number of neglected dogs in the cities of the Russian Federation with the relative number of young children and persons older than the able-bodied, as well as with the birth and death rates of the population.

 

The social dimension of religiosity: the experience of empirical research

The article presents the results of an empirical study of Orthodox and Protestant believers. Connection of religious behavior with such indicators of the social dimension of religiosity as acquaintances in the church community, dynamics of social contacts ofbelievers, social attitudes toward representatives of other religions and denominations is considered. An interconfessional analysis of the features of church life was conducted. The results demonstrate significant differences in the social dimension of religiosity concerning the confessional belonging of believers and the degree of enchurchment.

 

Children, Family and Society

Social policy for orphans and children left without parental care in post-Soviet countries

The article reviews the theoretical approaches to the study of family policies and child protection systems. Based on the literature analysis and theory of path-dependency, as well as the on the approach proposed by V. Schmidt, a theoretical model of social policy for orphans and children left without parental care was developed. The expert survey method was used to obtain the data on the current state of social policy for orphans in post-Soviet countries. The empirical study demonstrated that the general basis of social policy in the post-Soviet countries is the deinstitutionalization of orphans and children left without parental care. Also, a number of problems in the sphere of child rights observance typical for the post-Soviet countries were revealed.

 

Modern approaches to the study of energy drinks

Problems related to the use of energy drinks are widely discussed both in scientific community and among decision makers. Nowadays use of energy drinks has a marginal position between the use of drugs which is relatively well regulated by the government and the use of soft drinks which is regarded as a normative behavior. The article contains the review of scientific publications describing modern approaches to the study of determination and consequences of energy drinks use. 30 empirical scientific publications issued in the period from 2015 to 2017 are analyzed. One of the important conclusions is that researches are mainly quantitative and are not based on specific theoretical models. Use of energy drinks is considered in the scientific community mostly within the contexts of addictive behavior, public health, risky behavior and microsocial influences.

 

Intergenerational family contract: the views of young generation

The article presents an empirical analysis of the intergenerational family contract, which is a set of norms, expectations and obligations regulating relations between generations and age groups. As a theoretical design, the “solidarity model” was used. The views of young people on mutual kinship obligations of adult children and their parents, as well as behavior in a specific situation, were studied. Empirical analysis has shown that student’s views on mutual obligations of generations retain their traditional features and at the same time have their own characteristics that allow us to identify possible vectors for changes in the intergenerational contract.

 

Student youth gender ideals (1999—2014)

The article describes different aspects on gender ideals transformation among student youth. Based on research results from 1999, 2007 and 2014, the paper demonstrates that from 1999 to 2007 the vector of changes was directed towards the development of egalitarianism with a slight fall in the value of traditional features. During the second analyzed period (2007-2014) the trajectory of these transformations became fundamentally different — there is a “reverse wave” of movement towards a fall in the attractiveness of the modern egalitarian ideal with the consistently high or even more increasing value of traditional features. The revealed processes of retraditionalization firstly concern the ideal of a woman. Moreover, the young women’s views change more than the men’s in the direction of traditionalism. Based on the indicators proposed by the author, it was found that the degree of coherence of gender ideals in the eyes of student youth has increased by 2014 and is at a high level.

 

Interaction of Households of Direct Relatives of Defferent Generations: Methodological Aspect

Noting the shortage of modern applied sociological research of the All-Russian scale on family problems and intergenerational relations, the author concentrates his attention on the methodological aspects of such projects. Such issues as determination of the object, sampling, survey program, methods of analysis and modeling are discussed. It is made the attempt to compare the contents of definitions: “extended family” and “family group”. The problem of family groups is considered in the context of the life line as a sequential chain of events: a) the individual is separated from the parent family; b) union with a partner. There is a possible violation of this sequence, especially in the Russian conditions. The importance of constructing logit-models in connection with the widening of the range of choice in the behavior ofindividuals with regard to marriage, registration of marriage, the birth of a child or abandonment of children, etc. are underlined.

 

Scientific Life

What is actual for Russia? (About some sociological conferences 2017)

 

In Memoriam

The list of our plans grew faster than we could implement them. In Memoriam Svetlana N. Ignatova