Russia’s Society in Sociological Dimension

Abstract

The article by the head of Institute of Sociology (RAS) and the corresponding member of Russian Academy of Sciences focuses on the problem of reestablishing the scientific and civil status of sociology in Russia, which has previously been discussed in his paper at all-Russian Sociological Congress, Moscow, October 21st, 2008. In analyzing the dynamics of all-national self-consciousness the author highlights that a post-reform Russia is not just ‘raising from its knees’, but it is reaffirming and self-defining. In the last 7-8 years it has gained a unique subjectivity in foreign scene as well as a country with an autonomous fate and autonomous plans for the future. Russians evaluate the current period as the most successful period in the newest history of their country. And they regard it as far more quiet and stable Brezhnev’s epoch. The gradual and evolutional reform is favored by most of the population. All of this speaks in the favor of accumulation of a tremendous socio-psychological resource along with vast financial and economic capabilities to make the required leap in modernization, which is so necessary for the contemporary Russia. And if those from the government, who are responsible for making the appropriate decisions, have absolutely no right to miss this historical chance, it is the matter of professional prestige and civil responsibility for current sociologists to monitor and report on the effective use of resources for modernization in reforming Russia.

E-mail: M_Gorshkov@isras.ru

Key words: society, civil status, science, sociological community, sociology, modernization, state