Vol 27, No 2 (2024)
Sociological Theory
Modernizing Sociological Identity: A Theoretical Exploration
Abstract
The crisis, fragmentation and "letdown" of modern Sociology are analyzed with the main goal — to outline a strategy for overcoming the crisis of the internal development of modern Sociology as a Science, as a Profession and as a Vocation. It is very important to establish methodological monism to restore the Sociological Identity within the complete system of Sociological Knowledge. The main epistemological tools for creating the unified system of Sociology are based on the assertion of the principle of complementarity, overcoming the fragmentation of scientific isolationism and even mutual hostility of sociological paradigms are considered. Staying on this principle, the new theoretical and empirical wholistic strategies for the basic concepts in Sociology can be formulated: the Social, Social Institutions, Social Structures that maintain harmonious Unity and Interaction in the Social Life, symbolic-objective, structural-functional actor-independent conditions, rules, and symbolic-subjective as manifestation of phenomenological-constructive activity, everyday life experience of Social Actor.
The Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology. 2024;27(2):7-37
7-37
Sociology of Labor
Strategies for Maintaining Employment and Professionalism among Russian Workers
Abstract
The Fourth Industrial Revolution and technological development contribute to shortening the service life of the competencies accumulated by employees and encourages them to acquire new or improve previously mastered knowledge, skills and abilities. The article deals with the problem of the involvement of the population in employment and its maintenance in the long term. In particular, the perception of modern workers of the current requirements in the labor market and their actions on self-management by professionalism are analyzed. The first part examines the concept of "new professionalism", which emphasizes the role of workers' competencies in achieving individual labor results. The second part of the article presents the results of a sociological survey of the working population in Russia. They showed that in the last decade, employment in Russia has been associated with a high degree of worker mobility, including significant breaks in work experience and frequent job changes. Breaks are more common for people starting and ending their working career. If breaks in work are more typical for women, then a change of place of work is for Russian men. The revealed specifics of employment obviously affect the perception and self-management of professionalism by employees. Both actions (breaks and job changes) are combined with a change of profession. If people voluntarily give up their current job, then, as a rule, the leading reasons are dissatisfaction with its professional aspects. On the contrary, excessive passivity is characteristic of those workers who are not going to change it. The existing system of vocational education in the country does not cover all employees who want to improve their competencies. There remains a significant resource that is covered by informal content. Professionalism in the perception of employees is more related to the need to master such competencies as handling information, stress tolerance, specialized knowledge and sociability. Employees also have an excess of knowledge and skills that are not involved in the current work. In general, employees are confident that the content of labor is currently being transformed in the employment system, unlike, for example, from the previous time, when the organization of labor, which now exists unchanged, was significant for the growth of labor productivity.
The Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology. 2024;27(2):38-62
38-62
Working hours and creativity: practical research experience
Abstract
The history of studying working time is directly related to the development of working relationships. Strict industrial accounting of every minute is increasingly receding into the background, due to the development of new post-industrial relations. The new economy is called in different ways, one of its names is "creative". The name emphasizes the special non-material contribution of a person to the development of the economy. The same "human", personal or anthropological focus, acquires consideration of working time. Problems arise when considering government organizations whose working hours are more subject to administrative and bureaucratic rules than others. This article is devoted to the consideration of such organizations, using the example of libraries, cultural centers, and institutions of additional education. The research is aimed at studying employees as carriers of the creative principle we are interested in, rather than organizations. In this regard, an interview was chosen as the main research method. The work is based on 8 interviews conducted by the author in June 2020 in the cities of Kemerovo and Polysaevo and 12 interviews in 2021 in St. Petersburg. The projective techniques “Lifeline” and “Workplace image” were used as auxiliary methods. The findings indicate the relationship between the amount of creative work in an organization and the amount of freedom that its employees have, the special importance of self-control among employees, which is transformed taking into account the specifics of creative work. The interrelation of the social life of the city and biorhythms is demonstrated.
The Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology. 2024;27(2):63-85
63-85
Urban Studies
Place Attachment in the Context of a Shrinking City: Analysis of the Discourse of Residents in an Urban Online Group
Abstract
Despite the already existing scholarship on place attachment, this topic remains in many ways not fully studied in relation to the application of the concept to various types of territories. The focus of this paper is the concept of “place attachment” in the context of a shrinking city. Based on this, in the theoretical framework we use two concepts: shrinking city and place attachment. Both concepts are widely used in the scientific literature, but remain ambiguous and are rarely used together in research. In this study, we propose an operationalization of the concept of place attachment, in which we substantiate its 4 main components: positive emotional connection of people with a place, significance of the place for people in particular life circumstances, dependence on place, and place identity. The scientific novelty of the study also lies in its methodological approach. We analyze place attachment through as verbalized in the public discourse, constructed by the residents of a shrinking city in an online community operating in social media. Data from residents' discussions provide rich empirical material that allows one to identify components of place attachment and interpret them in relation to the specific environmental context. Grounded theory as an approach based on detailed coding of discursive data and constructed explanatory interpretations of this coding, allows to identify aspects of place attachment in shrinking cities, understudied in literature and conditioned by the particular context in which relationships between the residents and places evolve.
The Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology. 2024;27(2):86-115
86-115
Anthropology of Infrastructure
The “Pattern of Remoteness” and Life on the Ruins: Everyday Life and Tourism in Tomsk Oblast
Abstract
In examining non-obvious mosaic of everyday life and tourism practices in remote areas of Tomsk region, I propose a revision of “pattern of remoteness” notion as interpreted by Caroline Humphrey (2015), which is formed precisely in the “provincial” postsocialist context in opposition to spatial forms dictated by the metropoly. A series of paradoxes surrounds the specific tourism industry: denying connectivity, easy access to territory and transparency, locals and entrepreneurs create a complex network in which ruins and memorialization of historical trauma are particularly attractive, and key experience offered to the traveler is one's own authenticity through trial. Another paradox is that the more destruction of infrastructural elements occurs, the brighter the potential of nature tourism in the region. This observation calls for a reconsideration of ethnographic studies of tourism practices beyond the concept of heritage conservation and sustainability of communities. In my article, based on a series of case studies, I offer an alternative perspective on the concept of 'resource' in the context of tourism and ask: What does the fact that the wildness of landscape and ruins come to the fore and turn out to be an attraction tell us? How can the ruinization and landscape wilderness' revitalization call into question the view of remoteness as inequality and infrastructural violence? This critical step offers a different way of looking at ruptures and inequalities of socio-political space, showing how autonomy is gained through what is usually considered as 'scarcity'. I also examine the relationship of remoteness to time and temporalities — firstly, by linking tourism and local forms of life to the tragic history of exile and resettlement, secondly, by challenging the view that remoteness means marginalization through exclusion from processes of modernity.
The Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology. 2024;27(2):116-151
116-151
Sociology of the Body
Forms of bodily capital: analysis of sociological concepts
Abstract
The review article is devoted to the analysis of the position of corporeality in the concepts interpreting and developing the classification of forms of capital by P. Bourdieu, who considered corporeal capital only as a kind of cultural capital. The work of researchers is analyzed (K. Hakim, D. Hutson), who propose to consider corporeality (in its various manifestations) as the fourth form of capital along with the three already established forms. New concepts related to corporeality, created in line with the Bourdieusian theory of capital, and designed to describe additional grounds for the emergence of hierarchies in modern societies, are considered. The author associates himself with those researchers who believe that today physicality can be considered as an independent form of capital, since it itself affects the position of an individual within various social fields. According to the author, such concepts as physical, sexual/erotic capital, gender and aesthetic capital can take the place of independent forms of bodily capital. The two most important aspects of the functioning of bodily capital are its accumulation and conversion. The latter is carried out on two levels, firstly, the innate and acquired properties of the body are transformed into other forms of capital — economic, cultural, social. Secondly, the conversion processes take place between the forms of the bodily capital itself. Bodily capital, like any form of capital, cannot be completely devoid of the potential for alienation, however, attention to various aspects of corporeality, even from the point of view of their capitalization, becomes in the era of digitalization a form of spontaneous resistance to the dictates of algorithmic rationality.
The Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology. 2024;27(2):152-178
152-178
Social Practices of Psychological Assistance
Factors of trust in digital mental health platforms: literature review
Abstract
During recent decades, there has been a steady increase of interest in services and products aimed at providing psychological assistance, especially through digital services and devices. Therefore, there is a need for a sociological analysis of the effects exerted on the dynamics of social life by such a rapid increase in the popularity of digitalized psychological assistance services among the population. At the moment, there are English-language and Russian-language reviews of the scientific literature devoted to the study of consumer experience in the use of digital applications for the provision of psychological assistance and social impact programs with digital elements. However, there are practically no review papers that reveal such experiences in connection with the use of digital platforms for the provision of psychological assistance (DPPP) such as “Yasno”, “Zigmund.Online”. This literature review focuses on the factors that determine trust in these platforms. Based on the analysis of 60 most recent and cited scientific publications on the topic of customer experience using the DPPP for 2020–2023 it was found that the level of trust (that is, experience of use, current use or willingness to use if necessary) is affected by the client: 1) personality traits, 2) age, 3) economic status, 4) attitude towards the provision of professional psychological assistance, including through technical means, 5) digital literacy; from the side of the platform: 6) the quality of software, customer service and algorithms for selecting specialists. The influence of other factors has a mixed, not fully clarified character. Due to the fact that there are practically no comprehensive multivariate studies with moderation and mediation, it is difficult to assume how trust factors correlate with each other. Despite the extensive representation in scientific publications of studies related to the trust of users from vulnerable groups of the population, still not all groups were covered by the studies. Thus, future studies of the DPPP will likely focus on building multivariate models to explain customer trust in the DPPP, as well as cover more users from vulnerable social groups. It should also be considered that the market for digital services on mental health issues is in development, and, accordingly, in the future, the number of forms of providing psychological assistance using technological means may increase, the latter will lead to the emergence of new questions about trust in newly invented and traditional forms of online counseling.
The Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology. 2024;27(2):179-210
179-210
Factors and predictors of seeking psychological help from religious organizations
Abstract
The article describes the impact of different components on seeking for mental help from agents of official religions. Among the components considered were conviction in enchantment, soothsaying, involvement of seeking for mental help from agents of conventional psychotherapy, the state of mind of familiar people towards treatment, and socio-demographic components. The hypothetical premise of the work is the multicomponent show of cognitive constellation theory and R. Collins’ hypothesis of the numerous faces of Christianity. The research object is inhabitants of St. Petersburg, the subject of the research is the variables affecting their looking for seeking for mental help from agents of official religions. The sample comprised of 1200 respondents, representative for St. Petersburg in sex and age. The purpose of the study was to establish how belief in magic, astrology, experience of seeking psychological help from representatives of traditional psychotherapy, the attitude of acquaintances towards therapy, and socio-demographic factors influencing the fact of seeking psychological help from representatives of official religions. Data obtained from the questionnaire survey were analyzed using at least squares regression model. The dependent variable was the rank scale of seeking psychological help from religious organizations. According to the results, one can note the relationship between positive experience of contacting psychotherapists and the tendency to turn to religious organizations. The findings have renewed the debate about the religious or mystical nature of psychotherapy. Our results do not affect the scientific/parascientific nature of the very foundations of psychotherapy, but they reveal a connection about public perceptions of this issue. The nature of the connection in the minds of Russians between psychotherapy and religious practices is seen by the authors as a direction for further research. Also, the results obtained can serve as recommendations for the development of psychotherapeutic programs and methods that take into account the factor of religiosity in work.
The Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology. 2024;27(2):211-232
211-232
Sociology of Crime
Convicted women staying in the correctional facility: socio-demographic structure and problems of social adaptation
Abstract
The work examines the dynamics of female crime in Russia for 2011–2022, discusses the socio-demographic structure of convicted women serving sentences in correctional colonies and problems of social adaptation. The relevance of the study is determined by the practical problems of introducing and implementing probation technologies in modern Russia, as well as theoretical problems caused by insufficient knowledge of everyday practices and problems of social adaptation of women in the Russian penitentiary system. As a result, Russian sociology has not formed ideas about the behavioral strategies of convicted women while serving their sentences and after leaving correctional colonies. Object of study: everyday practices of social adaptation of convicted women. Subject of the study: the influence of the status position of a convicted woman in the socio-demographic structure on the everyday practices of her social adaptation. Purpose of the study: to identify problems of social adaptation of convicted women depending on their socio-demographic status. In the first part of the work: the socio-demographic structure of women convicted and committed crimes is analyzed based on Russian statistics for 2011–2021. The second part of the work: the problems of adaptation of convicted women after leaving correctional institutions are systematized on the basis of data from an expert interview with psychologists of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia (n=4) and specialists from socially oriented non-profit organizations (SO NPO) working with women after their release from a correctional facility (n=4). As a result of the study, the following data were obtained. Social status determines social practices and the effectiveness of social adaptation of convicted women. When implementing the probation law, it is necessary to consider the most vulnerable categories of women who have been released (women with minor children, dependent women, people of retirement age, women without stable social ties, and those who do not have the opportunity to find a job due to restrictions in the regional labor market).
The Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology. 2024;27(2):233-265
233-265
Book Review
Book review: Sociocultural space of St. Petersburg: representations and interpretations. To the 350th anniversary of Peter I and the 320th anniversary of St. Petersburg. Kozlovsky V.V., Mazalova N.E. (eds.) M.: FCTAS RAS, 2023. — 388 p.
Abstract
Book review: Sociocultural space of St. Petersburg:representations and interpretations. To the 350th anniversaryof Peter I and the 320th anniversary of St. Petersburg.Kozlovsky V.V., Mazalova N.E. (eds.)M.: FCTAS RAS, 2023. — 388 p. ISBN 978-5-89697-425-3.
The Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology. 2024;27(2):266-273
266-273