Ideas and Ideals

The article presents a socio-philosophical analysis of such a phenomenon as a falsehood. The analysis of falsehood is based on the study of inverse relations in a hierarchical system. Since the lie itself can be considered as a hierarchical system, and in addition, it is implemented in a hierarchical social system, this approach is reasonable. Inversion is a form of system relations in which some lower element takes on a dominant value. This situation is observed, in particular, when a falsehood occurs. The ability of the system to form inversions depends on the organizational principles that determine the hierarchical subordination of elements in the system. System inversions occur when one organizational principle contradicts another. Inversion, which has developed in a hierarchical system, is an increase in internal contradictions that can destroy this system from the inside. The very fact of falsehood is generated primarily by the peculiarities of human thinking. A verbal thought is significantly different from a verbal utterance in the process of communication. What matters, however, is the strength and direction of these differences. The falsehood itself can be considered as a hierarchical system in which at least four organizational principles can be identified. The first such principle distributes statements according to the degree of their inconsistency with the real state of affairs. The second principle places statements in a hierarchy according to their degree of plausibility. The third principle is based on the degree of anti-sociality of the falsehood. Finally, according to the fourth principle, the hierarchical relationship between statements depends on whether the statement affects the reflection of facts or opinions. As a result of the interaction of these statements, inverse relations are formed in the system of falsehood.

The article deals with investigating into the conditions of the critical attitude spread among scientists and academicians during the period of 1960s–1990s towards some aspects of domestic and foreign state policy of that time. At the same time, the motives for such a criticism seem not to be obvious, since the social status and well-being of the scientific and academic intelligentsia, as well as its public prestige, was one of the highest among the socio-professional groups of Soviet society. To perceive criticism of Soviet scientists as a form of struggle against the regime does not seem entirely correct, since the critically thinking Soviet scientists did not seek to popularize their socio-political ideas and attract supporters from other social groups. On the contrary, the discussion on “complex” political and socio-economic aspects of the Soviet society took place within closed communities. In addition, the Soviet scientific intelligentsia of that time, unlike the pre-revolutionary intellectuals, did not idealize people; they did not have a sense of “guilt” towards it, as well as the idea of selfless “serving the people”. Soviet scientists perceived themselves as an elite, even aristocratic group, and this idea found expression in the science-fiction novel “Hard to Be a God” by the Soviet writers Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. The main character of the novel is the historian Anton, who was sent to the Arkanar Kingdom on an alien planet and assumed the role of an aristocrat named Don Rumata. He masterfully uses a sword, enjoys phenomenal success with women and contributes to the progress of local humanity. The Soviet intellectuals of that time constructed their own elite professional and social identity using the practices of prestigious consumption and behavior and pursuing specific socialization strategies that were alternative to the official Soviet norms and rules of behavior. The self-identification of scientists as an elite group within the Soviet society was based on the social conditions for the development of science in the USSR in the 1950s–1960s such as a high level of prestige of scientific and academic activities, high expectations from science as well as creating relatively autonomous scientific centers (“Academic Town” or ZATO (‘closed administrative-territorial formation’) – closed towns with secret research installations). Such settlements were quite independent from the local and regional authorities being subordinated directly to Moscow. Besides, secrecy of closed cities or facilities limited the possibilities of the direct control and interference from regional party and state authorities in the activities of scientific institutions and scientists.

The article deals with a scientific substantiation of the possibility to solve an essential methodological goal — social diagnosis of human capital on some concrete social practice, taken as an indicator. A humorous genre ‘stand-up comedy’ is suggested to be chosen as the indicator. Arguments: 1) It is one of the most energetically developing areas with a youth audience in Russian mass culture. 2) The economic side of the project, its capitalization in the literal sense of the word, is also actively developing. 3) High level of the individual success, which allowed for the consideration of a stand-up comedian as a local ‘growth point’. 4) The last argument allows involving the arsenal of the passion theory, reconsidering the problem from a social energetic point of view. 5) It, therefore, allows considering irregular distribution of stand-up communities localization as an effect of passion theory erosion in a particular region (The Republic of Khakasia). Stand-up was analyzed from different points of view: philosophical, historical, aesthetic, economical, political and micro-sociological.

As a result of the analysis a number of provisions were put forward which allow designing empirical research programmes. For instance, by using an idea that laughter is alienated aggression, one may clarify the perspective of social tension studies. Historical analysis showed that stand-up metamorphosed from a Protestant sermon and may be the indicator of westernization of both society and its regional localizations. Political studies of the problem allowed formulating relativity of the social and aesthetic resonance of comedy. Micro-sociological analysis helped to define the mechanism and distribution tendency of passion theory tension in an audience.

As a result of the study certain thematic clusters and an algorithm of their logical interdependence were defined, aimed at empirical research, which will make it possible, in short term, to implement methodologically valid study of human capital by using a stand-up comedy as an indicator.

The article considers the state as a social institution, historical formation and political system. The crisis of modern states that have to deal with the problem of the pandemic, building up a new system of social relations between the state and the society is a starting point for the current analysis. The authors focus on Russia before and after the pandemic. Social and political processes of the post-Soviet state are in the center of investigation too. The authors also touch upon the question of a political entity created on the territory of post-Soviet Russia, which is the state nominally but not objectively. The authors use a comparative-historical analysis appealing to the history of the West European states of the period of the Roman Empire disintegration as well as barbarian kingdoms creation. Analyzing post-Soviet Russia the authors draw some parallels with Kiev Russ. They also suggest a structural and industrial model of the state formation in order to analyze the modern Russian state: one of the social structures of the former state became a determinant and dominating factor, and that is not territory, though it is more customary to think so. The super union appeared on the post-Soviet territory as the result of some political processes. One more aspect of the analysis is the investigation of the elite, i. e. clientele, its purposes and opportunities, as well as the correlation of the elite and bureaucracy in the Russian society. The investigation of the state management mechanisms is completed with the social reaction analysis, feedback on the social changes performed. The authors present the results of sociological investigations of the Khabarovskiy Kray population. In the conclusion, the authors say that the pandemic revealed and made stronger some social tendencies in building a structural and industrial state manifesting social conflicts between power and society.

From the end of 2019 to the present day, the world lives in a constant confrontation with the epidemic caused by coronavirus infection. The first country to experience COVID-19 attack was China. The data on the number of cases and deaths from this disease are tens, and sometimes hundreds of times less than in most developed countries, especially if we take into account the huge population of the PRC. During 2021, mortality caused by coronavirus remains practically zero, and the number of cases per day varies from a few persons to two dozen, and they always came from abroad. To achieve this, it required mobilization of all medical and administrative resources on the part of the authorities, as well as the observance of discipline and complete loyalty to the activities carried out on the part of the population. Many observers – journalists and then scientists – suggested that moral values articulated within the framework of Confucian ideology should be singled out among the factors that contributed to the establishment of control over the epidemic. Not all specialists agree with this approach. But it seems to us quite justified, since a similar picture can be observed in those countries of East and Southeast Asia, whose civilization was formed under the strong influence of Confucianism. Among the socio-cultural factors contributing to the successful fight against COVID-19 and its consequences, one can also name the active use of the methods of traditional Chinese medicine, especially Qigong and Taijiquan complexes. We suppose the Chinese experience in this sphere could be useful for other nations.

Participants in the shadow 2020 presidential campaign openly admitted to forming a secret conspiracy alliance against candidate Trump and funding actions that violate existing electoral laws. The author analyzes the term «shadow campaign«, as well as the real goals of the shadow campaign of 2020. The article shows that the Democratic Party is gradually losing significant segments of its social base and is taking extraordinary measures to win the support of new population groups, in particular «the new American majority«. A third political force, distinct from the two leading parties, has realized that the Democrats can win elections only by seizing control over the electoral process and reformatting their electorate. A third political force has assumed a mandate to correct the electoral system under the pretext of saving democracy. In the context of the epidemic, the shadow campaign of 2020 with money from private business has imposed new rules and methods of work in the election campaign with money from private capital. There was actually an act of privatization of elections by big business. The article analyzes, using the example of the state of Wisconsin, a number of actions of the shadow campaign that went beyond the framework of the current electoral laws. The Wisconsin case study shows that left-wing organizations have carried out a historically unprecedented takeover of county election commissions by activists from nominally non-partisan but overtly ideological organizations in key counties amid the chaos caused by the abrupt shift to absentee voting. The mechanism of the destructive influence of oligarchs and activists on the institution of elections in Wisconsin is described: the issuance of grants under the conditions of changing the rules of elections, party bias in the issuance of private grants, the weakening of the system of control over the quality of voting, the infiltration of election commissions by political activists, the admission to vote of persons who do not have the right to vote. The shadow campaign was operating to seize control over the elections, but this has nothing to do with saving democracy.

This article is devoted to solving the problem of epistemological and ontological insufficiency of traditional scientific approaches applied to the comprehension of social phenomena presented in their disordered, chaotic multidisciplinary theoretical images (interpretations). A comprehensive and in-depth analysis of disciplinary strategies / programs for comprehending social phenomena that serve as the object of scientific views of a number of scientific fields has shown that they demonstrate a pronounced methodological approach, lack of clarity of which description language describes / is able to fully describe their object of scientific knowledge.

The key specificity of the problematization of the article is determined by the fact that the focus is on the process / result of reconstructing / constructing theoretical interpretations of a social phenomenon taken in the coordinates of space and time. It is proposed to correlate the following processes with the process of understanding the theoretical interpretations of the studied social phenomenon: reconstruction (past, present) and scenario construction (present, future). The author's analytical position is determined by the fact that theoretical interpretations of the perceived social phenomenon will always belong exclusively to the past and future of its plans, but not to the present. This implicit, but very important facet, unfortunately, escapes in the dominant and well-established theoretical reflection of social phenomena today.

The main purpose of this publication is to overcome the above-mentioned difficulties, relying on the proposed universal concept of comprehension of multidisciplinary social phenomena. The author's approach proposed in the publication, based on the idea of understanding the theoretical interpretations of the social phenomenon under study belonging to the world of the past (reconstruction - for understanding the theorizations of its past events) and the future (scenario construction - for reflection on the theoretical pictures of its future events), is designed to overcome the discovered problem. Summarizing, the paper formulated the principles for determining the optimal way to comprehend social phenomena and the key prohibitions dictated by the author's concept of comprehending social phenomena revealed to the researcher in their multidisciplinary interpretations /theorizations.

The article is devoted to the analysis of imagination as a philosophical and sociological concept that played a significant role in the development of social theory in the middle of the 20th century. Exploring the premises of the contradictory relationship between science and society, it is easy to find a connection between the development of science and social change. Currently, it is generally accepted that scientific, including social theories, through the transfer of ideas, transform the social order and, on the contrary, social practices transform knowledge about the world. The article proves that imagination plays a key role in this process. An excursion into the theory of ideas reveals the connection between imagination and irrational and experiential knowledge. The author of the article refers to the works of P. Berger and T. Luckmann, C. Castoriadis and C. Taylor, who showed a direct connection between theoretical ideas and the world of "social imaginary", collective imaginary and social changes. For the first time in the history of mankind, thanks to imagination, society does not see the social order as something immutable. Methodological cases are presented that illustrate the specific role of the concept of imagination as a source of the formation of new research strategies that allow for a new look at the problem of nationalism (social constructivism) and the study of public expectations from the implementation of technological innovations (STS). For decades, Benedict Anderson's work “Imagined Communities” predetermined the interest of researchers of nationalism in social imagination and the collective ideas based on it about the national identity of modern societies, their history and geography. The research of Sheila Jasanoff and Sang-Hyun Kim has formed a new track for the study of science as a collective product of public expectations of an imaginary social order, embodied in technological projects. The conclusion is made about the contradictory nature of social expectations based on collective imagination: on the one hand, they strengthen the authority of science in society, on the other hand, they provoke the growth of negative expectations from the introduction of scientific discoveries. The article substantiates the opinion that imagination is an effective tool for assessing the risks of introducing innovations.

Digital technologies, ubiquitous in our daily life, have radically changed the way we work, communicate, and consume in a short period of time. They affect all components of quality of life: well-being, work, health, education, social connections, environmental quality, the ability to participate and govern civil society, and so on.

Digital transformation creates both opportunities and serious risks to the well-being of people. Researchers and statistical agencies around the world are facing a major challenge to develop new tools to analyze the impact of digital transformation on the well-being of the population.

The risks are very diverse in nature and it is very difficult to identify the key factor. All researchers conclude that secure digital technologies significantly improve the lives of those who have the skills to use them and pose a serious risk of inequality for society, as they introduce a digital divide between those who have the skills to use them and those who do not.

In the article, the author examines the risks created by digital technologies for some components of the quality of life (digital component of the quality of life), which are six main components: the digital quality of the population, providing the population with digital benefits, the labor market in the digital economy, the impact of digitalization on the social sphere, state electronic services for the population and the security of information activities. The study was carried out on the basis of the available statistical base and the results of research by scientists from different countries of the world.

The risks of the digital economy cannot be ignored when pursuing state social policy. Attention is paid to government regulation aimed at reducing the negative consequences of digitalization through the prism of national, federal projects and other events.

The collective monograph, along with the classical themes of V.A. Kutyrev, contains new themes of his co-authors V.V. Slyusarev and T.M. Khusyainov: transformation of social structures, problems of interaction with virtual assistants, personal self-identification in the information society, labor resources in the context of globalization, opposition to humanism and efficiency in the market. The second theme is the increasing complexity of the information society through speed, data volumes, convergence, and dialogue. Religious differences that have fundamentally differentiated ethnic groups for so many centuries are a thing of the past. Differentiation of consumption styles, the ecological load on the biosphere and the capacity of the habitat; these are the current antinomies of man and technology. The paper deals with the effects of current social dynamics, in particular, the increasing processes of precarization, the accelerating pace of life and population growth. Stable employment, sustainable development, wisdom, conservative values; all of this is offered as a sacrifice to civilization, gamification, informatization and together constitutes a society of risk. Can we talk about human consumption by Technos? Isn't this black slug on the cover of the monograph yet another philosophical hypostatized metaphor? It would be correct to say that in conditions of overproduction of people, we need equipment for more efficient production. Without it, we cannot remain human. Technology helped us to leave a purely biological state and become sapient, civilized. Artificial intelligence, neural networks, robotics, blockchain (data processing distribution), 5G standard, big data, internet of things, cloud computing, 3D printing, augmented reality; these are not monster technologies, transhumanist actors, but something that can provide promising employment to millions of people. The problem of unemployment in post-industrial society is already becoming global, because humanity has reached the limits of development. The rapid precarization of the population is proof of this. The mass of people on the planet cannot find normal employment with social guarantees. So maybe we need to thank tech? The review ends with such an ambiguous conclusion.