Vol 30, No 3 (2024)
THEORY AND METHODOLOGY
Three Waves of Civilizational Analysis in Sociology
Abstract
The article provides a comprehensive analytical reconstruction of the formation and evolution of the civilizational approach in the context of the intellectual and institutional history of sociology. Three waves of civilizational analysis are highlighted, coinciding with three stages of sociology’s disciplinary development: pre-disciplinary, disciplinary and post-disciplinary. The first wave includes the development of the unitary-linear concept of civilization in the middle of the 18th century, its reception in early sociology, and its total marginalization in the late 19th century with sociology’s entry into the classical period. The second wave began in the first two decades of the 20th century, marked by the development of pluralistic theory and comparative history of civilizations in the works of M. Weber and E. Durkheim with M. Moss. It continues in the interwar period, when — with the general decline of sociology’s interest in macro-historical topics — N. Elias and P.A. Sorokin created their theories of civilizational dynamics, and culminates in the critical reception of the meta-historical theories of local civilizations during the two and a half decades following the war. The third wave, which continues to the present day, was driven by the civilizational turn in the mid 1970’s, initiated by B. Nelson and S.N. Eisenstadt. It combines the tendency for civilizational analysis to embed itself in the sociological tradition with the intention to renew and consolidate its research program, represented by four main models: processual, configurational, interactive, and relational. J. Arnason carried out the most ambitious project of theoretical integration in the field of civilizational analysis on the basis of the concept of mutual constitution of culture and power. The internal division of the pluralist approach into meta-historical and sociological directions is just as important as its opposition to the unitary approach. The first formulations of both versions of the pluralist approach were made independently of each other during the decade-long period between 1869 and 1879 in Russia by N.Y. Danilevsky and N.I. Khlebnikov.
Sotsiologicheskij Zhurnal. 2024;30(3):8-30
8-30
Reasons for Prematurely Terminating an Interview by Respondents in National Polls Regarding the Russian-Ukrainian Conflict
Abstract
Interrupted interviews reduce respondents’ cooperation and can lead to systematic sample shifts, which calls into question the representativeness of the survey data obtained. Sensitive survey topics, such as the discussion of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, may on more occasions encourage respondents to stop discussing them. Therefore it is especially important to investigate the matter of interrupted interviews in such surveys. The purpose of this article is to identify and describe the reasons for interview interruptions in surveys about military operations in Ukraine. Research methods: content analysis of audio recordings of interviews with respondents and traditional qualitative analysis of documents, namely audio recordings of interviews with respondents who stopped the survey prematurely. Quantitative research (content analysis) allows you to measure the prevalence of reasons for respondents walking out of interviews, and qualitative analysis of audio recordings of interviews provides material to describe the narratives behind these reasons for walking away from a survey. Selection consists of two stages. At the first stage the sample is random, stratified by federal districts. It represents the Russian population by gender, age and federal districts of residence of the respondents. During the first stage, the sample consisted of 2507 interviews, including 888 interviews that were shut down. At the second stage, the sample is solid, formed by the method of the main array: 538 out of 888 interrupted interviews were listened to. Here are the main findings of the study. The reasons for shutting down an interview are divided into avoidable and unavoidable. Each of these groups of causes is classified into specific types of causes of interruptions. The ratio of avoidable and unavoidable causes in the listened to sample of recordings was 68 to 470 or 13% to 87%, that is, the potential to reduce the number of interruptions is quite small. It is worth noting how the length of the questions and the questionnaire as a whole influenced the number of interview interruptions: the longer the questionnaire and its questions, the more interruptions occurred. Therefore, conciseness when it comes to wording questions (reducing their length, avoiding tabular questions in telephone surveys, reducing the number of options in nominal scales), reducing the length of the questionnaire to 10 minutes and working with the emotional burnout of interviewers will reduce the number of shut down interviews. The sensitivity of military-political topics also increases the number of interruptions, but it is not yet possible to find a decent solution to this problem. All that researchers can do so far is minimize the number of military-political questions in the questionnaire, formulate them in the most comfortable way for respondents (hypothetically, with the possibility of refusal to answer, etc.) and “dilute” the questionnaire with less sensitive topics.
Sotsiologicheskij Zhurnal. 2024;30(3):31-60
31-60
Analysis of the Researcher’s Attitudes in the Process of Studying Sensitive Topics: the Experience of Interviewing Participants of Military Conflicts
Abstract
The article is devoted to methodological problems that arise when conducting high-quality interviews on sensitive topics, in particular with participants of military conflicts. The author analyzes the contradiction between the traditional requirement of researcher neutrality and the need to establish trust with an informant. Using the example of our own experience in interviewing people who participated in combat operations in Afghanistan and Ukraine, it is demonstrated that strict adherence to the principle of neutrality can get in the way of obtaining in-depth information. An alternative approach based on honesty, self-reflection and procedural objectivity is proposed. The author argues that the researcher’s open expression of his own position and willingness to engage in dialogue make it possible to overcome the “wall of empathy” and establish productive contact even given significant differences in views. The article contributes to the discussion on the balance between scientific impartiality and researcher’s involvement in qualitative sociology. The proposed methodological recommendations can be useful in conducting research on complex social and political topics.
Sotsiologicheskij Zhurnal. 2024;30(3):61-75
61-75
SOCIOLOGY OF EDUCATION
Evaluating the Effectiveness of Engaging School Children in Science (STEM) in the Context of Engagement and Motivational Theories: A Review of Research Strategies
Abstract
The discussion on the effectiveness of educational programs for engaging schoolchildren in science is necessary because there is a lack of development in Russia when it comes to describing the framework of such interventions and conducting empirical research on their effectiveness. The first part of the article gives an overview of key aspects of engagement concepts and popular motivational theories in education research. The second part examines 10 specific cases that demonstrate how research evaluates the effectiveness of educational interventions within these theoretical frameworks, focusing on tools and measurable concepts. Exploring foreign applied research in this area can contribute to popularizing the evidence-based approach and current concepts and research strategies for assessing specialized educational programs.
Sotsiologicheskij Zhurnal. 2024;30(3):76-97
76-97
SOCIOLOGY OF LABOR
Job Satisfaction of the Teaching Staff in Russian Universities: From a Retrospective Analysis of Approaches to Modern Conceptualizaton
Abstract
The article is devoted to the reception and rethinking of the concept of job satisfaction developed by Soviet sociologists in the late 1960’s. It criticizes the currently accepted approach, which puts forward wages as the main factor of job satisfaction (N.V. Rudakov, 2021; O. Rotar, B.E. Sarmiento, 2022). Other approaches that consider a broader set of satisfaction factors remain significantly dependent on the dominant financial-pragmatic framework (E.B. Mikhalkina, et. al, 2020; G.Z. Efimova, A.S. Latyshev, 2023).Based on a retrospective analysis, the authors propose an updated concept of job satisfaction. It is tested on the data of a long-term monitoring study of the teaching staff of Russian universities, conducted by the Presidential Academy. The data from the sixth wave of this monitoring (the survey was conducted online by the authors of the article from April 18 up to and including June 10, 2023, 16,581 complete questionnaires were collected) are analyzed. A higher education teacher’s total family income and teacher’s wage are considered as significant factors in overall job satisfaction, but the most important conceptual attributes of satisfaction are the creative capacity and the content of a job. The first attribute is determined by a set of operational definitions that reflect perceptions of the world and confidence in one’s own professional position. The second is determined by the perceptions of the educational system and whether a person is seeking freedom of creativity.
Sotsiologicheskij Zhurnal. 2024;30(3):98-123
98-123
SOCIOLOGY OF FAMILY
Intermarriages: Factors, Characteristics and their Impact on Family and Society (Foreign Research Review)
Abstract
Intermarriage is one of the striking examples of extreme diversity as a key characteristic of the modern world. The most common and the most actively studied form of intermarriage are interracial, interethnic and interfaith marriages, as evidenced by the situations in different countries, primarily those that are actively accepting migrants. Studying intermarriages requires a complex approach that primarily includes an understanding of their place and role in migration, socio-economic, demographic and socio-cultural processes both in each country individually and globally. Based on this premise the author focuses on foreign studies of intermarriages in countries that actively accept migrants, such as the United States, Canada, Australia and Western European countries. The narrative logic consists of systematizing the recurring themes and problems of this social phenomenon which are united by the goal of identifying and describing the features of intermarriages, often from the perspective of comparison with monogamous marriages.The review is divided into two parts. The first one briefly examines the conceptual basis of intermarriage studies which consists of theories united by the concept of exchange: the theory of social exchange, the theory of the marriage market and the transaction model — in sociology; theory of interdependence, investment model and theory of resource exchange — in social psychology. The second part focuses on three topics that most vividly reveal the features of any type of intermarriage. Firstly, the external factors determining physical and socio-cultural accessibility that create either opportunities or restrictions for mixed marriages are considered. Among the individual factors are age, gender, education, and socioeconomic status, religious, ethnic or racial affiliation which are considered both as personal qualities of participants in the marriage market and as exchanged resources. The review is concluded by analyzing how intermarriage influences the partners in marriage, as well as the communities to which the partners belong, and society as a whole. From the partners’ perspective the psychological and socio-psychological qualities that determine the stability of intra-family relations of mixed unions, conflicts and their resolution are considered. The long-term influence is determined through the place and role of children born in mixed marriages, as well as through the place and role of intermarriages in the mutual social integration of different groups in general.
Sotsiologicheskij Zhurnal. 2024;30(3):124-144
124-144
SOCIOLOGISTS ABOUT SOCIOLOGISTS
A.N. Alekseev’s Personal Knowledge of Sociology and Society as Described in the Author’s Self-Reflection
Abstract
The aim of this article is to identify the methodological and moral-ideological underpinnings of the project by Andrei Nikolaevich Alekseev (1934–2017), and to show how he conceptualized, developed and advocated for it, working outside the generally accepted epistemological and institutional framework of sociology. With this goal in mind, the author of this article cites Alekseev’s own reflections on his contribution to the discipline that were inspired by his colleagues’ critiques, while avoiding making any judgments of her own. The original social knowledge developed by Alekseev can be described as personal (in the words of M. Polanyi), but while containing elements of self-reflexivity and reflexivity, as well as actionism.The initial portion of the text gives a brief summary on the making of a “working sociologist”. Also Alekseev’s key ideas and methods are touched upon, those contained within two segments of the field that he established — within “dramatized sociology” and “sociological autoreflection”, also the specifics of these concepts and genres are described. The second part of the article includes excerpts from discussions between the star of this article and his scientific opponents. Typically the article would refer to reviews and letters addressed to Alekseev in which his colleagues would express their doubt or criticize “dramatized sociology” and “sociological autoreflection”. Shown are Alekseev’s self-reflective responses to his opponents — L.G. Grigoryev, V.A. Yadov, D.N. Shalin, D.M. Rogozin, particularly on the topic of methodology and research ethics. It also outlines Alekseev’s perspective when it comes to how his project fits into the established system of social-humanitarian knowledge, what are the methodical and substantive similarities and differences when comparing to existing directions in this field — auto-ethnography, biographics, public sociology, as well as the connection to literature and journalism.
Sotsiologicheskij Zhurnal. 2024;30(3):145-164
145-164
REVIEWS, SUMMARIES
A Re-reading of Pitirim Sorokin’s Sociology: To Commemorate The Publication of Thirteen Volumes of his Collected Works
Abstract
This 30-volume edition of the Collected Works of Russian-American sociologist Pitirim Aleksandrovich Sorokin (1889–1968), the publication of which is ongoing with support from the Komi Republic Government (Russian Federation), is unique and the most extensive in Russian sociology. The review article critically assesses the preparation for publication of 13 volumes that cover almost the entire Russian period of the sociologist’s work. The introductory articles to the volumes not only introduce him to the reader, but also collectively provide an overview of the classic sociologist’s scientific program and the stages of its implementation. Carefully selected by the publishers, reviews of P.A. Sorokin’s books by his contemporaries, attached to the volumes of the Collected Works, and an excellent scientific and reference apparatus (indexes of names and cited literature) allow us to reconstruct the historical and scientific context of P.A. Sorokin’s theoretical and methodological thought, with a few exceptions regarding the racial theories that penetrated sociology in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Controversial terminological solutions in translating the conceptual apparatus from English into Russian were examined. Today P.A. Sorokin’s landmark studies need to be reconsidered through a new lens and reevaluated given how much time has passed and that the current historical situation in our country and in the world is no less complicated than the period during which his work was created. As such, the points of accession to P.A. Sorokin’s ideas, primarily in the theory and methodology of sociology, have been identified: his underestimated contribution to the development of the General Theory of Social Systems and the Methodology of the Study of Value Systems in the dynamics of society.
Sotsiologicheskij Zhurnal. 2024;30(3):165-181
165-181
ACADEMIC LIFE
Faculty of Sociology Science Session at the St Petersburg State University as part of the VIII St Petersburg International Labor Forum (February 20–22, 2024). Commemorating the 300th Anniversary of the Founding of St Petersburg State University
Abstract
The article provides an analytical overview of the main thematic reports and discussions of the Faculty of Sociology scientific session at St. Petersburg State University held during the International Scientific and Practical Conference “Human Capital: Education, Labor, Employment in Modern Society”, which was part of the VIII St. Petersburg International Labor Forum (February 20–22, 2024), dedicated to the 300th anniversary of the founding of St. Petersburg State University. The article presents three main reports given during that session, which presented the directions of labor research at the Faculty of Sociology of St. Petersburg State University. As part of these reports, the problems of developing creative competencies in students, in particular analytical competencies, problems of informal employment, particularly in relation to the self-employed, as well as issues associated with research into the labor sector of China were raised.
Sotsiologicheskij Zhurnal. 2024;30(3):182-191
182-191