The article I show how the Soviet principles of journalism and Soviet propaganda are used in modern discourse in Russia and other countries. The author proves by the examples of modern media texts that the interest in the phenomenon of the Soviet model of journalism among researchers and journalists in the last decade is due to a number of factors. In particular, this is the effectiveness of its mobilization role, powerful feedback from the audience, achievements in the art of the poster. In Soviet times, due to constant party control, it was achieved unprecedented in the history of the press manageability and coverage of the country’s population. The article demonstrates how the visual images of the Soviet campaign propaganda are used today, on the one hand, for their intended purpose in the media and, on the other hand, as the remakes in social life. Through the method of discourse analysis, the author reveals the potential of the Soviet heritage of campaign propaganda in some symbolic social practices and in the symbolic resources of the whole country. The relevance of the study is connected with the transformation of the media space all around the world: technological and communication revolutions of today encourage different countries to look for the best models of information policy. The prospects of the research are connected with the study of the possible use of this resource as a symbolic capital of Russia.

In this article, the author examines the impact of Internet technologies on public administration and regional political process at the present stage. Due to the rapid development of technologies, public administration instruments are also changing, finding new forms of implementation. Thanks to such Internet possibilities as interactivity and efficiency of information presentation, it becomes possible to establish an effective dialogue between representatives of authorities and individuals, interest groups and public organizations in order to conduct a balanced internal policy that meets the realities and actual problems of society. Moreover, political actors at all levels have the opportunity to interact with their key audiences, promote their image and form the necessary information field around their political activities, creating support networks and winning the loyalty of citizens. The use of Internet technologies in politics and public administration opens up radically new opportunities for communication and interaction, creating resources for access to political information for the broad stratum of the population, simplifies feedback and thus creates innovative forms of public participation in the political process, becoming a source of transparency of political institutions’ activity and of particular politicians. This is important both for the purposes of forming and promoting the image of political parties and particular politicians, and for the implementation of the goals of the public administration, the policy of information openness of the state authorities, and the establishment of human-oriented public management. The direction and mechanisms of digitalization of the political system discussed in the article have quite reliable prospects for development within the framework of the transformation of the entire political and administrative model of the state in the circumstances of new technological challenges and revolutions. Also, thanks to the active implementation of social media technologies in the political process and the development of new models of political management, it becomes possible to build effective interaction between the state authorities and society, maximizing the benefits and minimizing expenditure of resources.

The article analyzes the complex of issues related to the participation of K. Sobchak in the presidential elections in 2018. The fundamental feature of the election campaign of 2018 is characterized by the expansion of the possibility of choice in the program and personal relations, which is reflected in the state and content of the electoral discourse. Sobchak’s participation in the elections is considered at the level of the technological project. The ‘Sobchak against all’ project was an integral part of the protest component of the electoral discourse. The impact of the project was directed to the relevant electoral groups. During the analysis of the project “Sobchak against all”, I put the emphasis on three interrelated aspects - the legend of the nomination; the positioning tactics; and the purpose of the project. I analyzed the provisions of the program documents of K. Sobchak as a candidate for the President of the Russian Federation. Taking into account the trends characterizing the current socio-political situation in Russia and the program rhetoric of right-wing liberal parties, I determine the semantic context of the key content elements of the electoral platform “123 difficult steps” and the electoral manifesto “11 reasons to be against”. The possibility of turning the project “Sobchak against all” into a political party I consider from the point of view of the strategic and tactical tasks incorporated in the corresponding process. I would like to prove that the main functional of the project “Sobchak against all” can be reduced to the mobilization of part of the protest electorate identifying itself as sympathizers to the non-system opposition. Also, I emphasized that the integration of the project into the electoral discourse was aimed at ensuring conditions for minimizing spontaneous manifestations of protest by involving the relevant segment of the electorate in the polling stations and counteracting hypothetical attempts to boycott the elections. I critically evaluate the possible prospects of the expediency of prolongation of the studied project for the subsequent electoral cycles.

The article reflects the results of a cybermetrics analysis of dynamic, technological and content markers of social-media information Russian-language threads on inter-ethnic and inter-religious relations in the Crimea and Sevastopol. The study assessed the extent of the spread of Russian-language messages reflecting and forming constructive and non-constructive inter-ethnic and inter-religious attitudes among residents of the Crimea and Sevastopol. The authors identified the relationship between the change of the specific weight of social-media messages about inter-ethnic and inter-religious relations on the Crimean Peninsula and the contexts, reflecting the specific features of the Soviet and Russian state policy, which defined the status of the peoples of the Crimea and Sevastopol. Also, we identified the basic types of competing discourses on inter-ethnic and inter-religious relations in the Crimean and Sevastopol segments of Runet. The main result of the research is the creation of digital markers dictionaries for the implementation of automated downloading of Internet content relevant to the research topic and the subsequent identification of predictors that allows recording the dynamics of risks for large amounts of data from social media. It allowed us marking Ukrainian-lingual and Crimean Tatar-lingual settlements to compare the characteristics of the Russian-language massif with the markers of social media threads about inter-ethnic and inter-religious relations in the Crimea and Sevastopol.

The aim of the paper is to analyse anthropological integrity as a subject of philosophical anthropology and to develop a new methodological approach. The methodology of human research as anthropological integrity proposed by the author is a unity and complementarity of three components: categorical modelling, system approach, and hermeneutic procedures. Categorical modelling through fundamental anthropological constants creates a problem field of the study of man. The systematic approach concretizes anthropological integrity through the identification of the main forms of human existence. The hermeneutic procedures create opportunities for understanding the initially undifferentiated holistic experience, manifesting itself in its ontological difference. Considering fundamental anthropological constants in connection with the system approach and hermeneutics as a methodological basis for the study of anthropological integrity is coherent with the problems of human self-determination in contemporary circumstances.

The article presents and describes the values of young people and the older generation, which in the process of modernization of society and economy have undergone a deep transformation. Value orientations of the older generation are already finally formed and, as a rule, represent a continuation of those worldview attitudes that were formed in the Soviet era. The attitudes of young people, related to various spheres of social life (political, social, economic, spiritual and moral), are in the process of active formation. This process is influenced by many factors (both external and internal). For this reason, the younger generation is not always successfully adapted to the rapidly changing social reality. Using the model of parameters of Dutch cultural expert Geert Hofstede, and implementing our own tools based on the results of our sociological research, we characterize the state of the Armenian national culture in a generalized form. Special attention is paid to the characteristic of such parameter as individualism-collectivism.

The article looks at the history and the role of families of financiers in the Netherlands in the XV-XX centuries. Financial dynasties had an important role in the early development of capitalism and the creation of Dutch Golden Age. I analyze the movement of the capitals from the Iberian Peninsula to the Netherlands and from the Netherlands to England. Several major international banks were started by financiers from the Netherlands. The article emphases the history of less known families of the financiers (Bischoffsheim, Borski, Van Lanschot, Van Loon, Goldsmid, Clifford, Cohan, Lopes Suasso, Mocatta, Pereire, de Pinto, Pierson, Raphael, Salomon, Sillem, Hope and others). Some of these families retain an important role in the world of finance until the present. The information contained in the article shows also the close family connection between the mentioned families of financiers.

In this article, the author attempts to consider the consequences of critical events in the history of the state through the category of capital. Such an event in the Russian history was the Great Russian revolution of 1917-1921. In the updated concept, it combined the February revolution, which led to the fall of the monarchy, the October revolution, which ended with a Bolshevik coup, and the Civil war, which solved the question of state power. The modern content of the concept of “capital” allows us to assess the Russian revolution from the standpoint of costs and growth of national potential. The author considers the consequences of the revolution in political, economic, social and cultural dimensions. The author substantiates the ambiguous nature of the effects of the capitalization of the revolution, which led to the waste of the inherent opportunities for development.

The relevance of the topic of political activity of students has acquired in recent years increased in importance. Since the spring of 2017, it is increasingly involved in the political processes taking place in the country, often under the influence of populist politicians. The department of political science of the Financial University within the framework of the state task conducts a large-scale study of students’ activity and their social and political orientations. One of the main elements in this study is a large-scale sociological survey of the target group. The results allow us to conclude that students do not have a positive image of the future. This, however, is typical for most social groups in modern Russia and in conjunction with some features of the psychological perception of reality makes this group very susceptible to the influence of manipulative techniques, including populists’ ones. This is also due to the fact that the student youth is mainly concentrated in large cities. In addition, young people, including students, are much more exposed to manipulative methods, as they have not yet signed a social contract with the society. As case studies for verification of the proposed theoretical structures, we used the analysis of mass protest activity in the major cities of Russia in 2017. We analyze both the actions of the protesters and the dynamics of the government’s actions aimed at neutralization of protest. The analysis is based on sociological research conducted by specialists of the Financial University and third-party researchers. As a result of the article, we propose, as recommendations, two ways of neutralizing the destructive aspects of the political activity of students. The first is derived from theoretical findings; the second from the analysis of sociological indicators.

The state crisis on the territory of Ukraine contributed to the sovereignty of the Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics and the formation of armed confrontation in the Donbas. The destabilization of the situation in the region has led to a political, economic and ideological crisis, which, in view of the existing interrelationships, has partly spread to the border regions of the Russian Federation. For a long period, the system of Euro-regional cooperation aimed at the development of economic and socio-cultural relations has been created in the Russian-Ukrainian cross-border area. Despite their “freezing”, the current Ukrainian authorities consider Russian territories, such as the Rostov region, the Krasnodar territory, the Republic of Crimea, the city of Sevastopol as “disputed territories” and make appropriate political claims. They are also working on the organization of subversive actions, an intelligence network and support of extremist organizations in these territories. The author applies institutional and comparative methods aimed at examining the problem of the study, and concludes on the need to strengthen the processes of integration of the unrecognized republics of Donbass into the Eurasian economic space, control of the “demarcation line” and the activities of marginal and extremist organizations in the territory of border regions of the Russian Federation, capable of acting as representatives of the interests of the Ukrainian authorities.

The article deals with the controversial nature of the contemporary production process: the growing share of certain activities that require highly skilled workers, opposed by many labour functions performed by low-skilled workers. Thus, we found there are the objective conditions for the needs of the modern economy in the low-skilled labour force. The paper explains the reason for the demand for such jobs in the local labour market, even if there is some level of unemployment. Further, the author reveals the conditionality of the labour immigration mechanism, the simultaneous functioning of several separate labour markets, as well as their characteristic features. The article substantiates the need for a wide involvement of foreign labour force as a characteristic phenomenon of the contemporary Russian economy. We pointed to the economic benefits of using foreign workers for private and public sectors, including through illegal forms of employment. The paper also reveals the socio-political benefits of attracting foreign labour. We described the perception of foreign workers of their position and the situation in which they find themselves. Also, we showed the reasons for the weak integration of labour migrants into Russian society and their marginalization. The paper analyzes the social consequences of attracting foreign labour, the emergence of a number of serious problems: in particular, as a result of the increase in the share of the foreign population in some large cities, the internal structure of those cities changes. There is a tendency of ethnic concentration, which results in a parallel existence of some social subsystem with its specific needs.

To realize transformation and sustainable development for single-industrial cities is a worldwide problem. It is also a development problem faced by China and Russia that transitioned from the planned economy to the market economy. Russia has a more prominent problem in this regard as it has a greater portion of company towns which poses a prudent impact on the country’s overall economic development. A company town (or mono-profile city) is a place where practically exists one big plant or factory (as a rule industrial one) owned by the single employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, churches, schools, markets and recreation facilities. In the face of Western economic sanctions as well as plummeting oil prices, the Russian economy has fallen back into a development dilemma: its company town development situation more severe and its transformation and sustainable development more urgent. Under this context, the Russian government has introduced a series of policies to stabilize and stimulate company towns, combined with the import substitution strategy, with a view to making the economies of company towns more diverse and market-oriented. As China and Russia are similar in terms of institutional background and development stage, having an in-depth understanding of Russia’s governance experience and lessons in company towns has important practical implications for China.

The article considers the possibilities of the game-discussion “Employee’s salary” for the diagnosis and actualization of the problems of remuneration in the views of civil servants. We noted the uncertainty and diversity of the principle of justice in different systems of motivation. As a basis for game-discussion, we applied the ideas used in modern professiography. These ideas assume not only taking into account the full psychological structure of work, but also the ability to compare the complexity and laboriousness of different professions and positions. Further, we considered perspective variants of adaptation of the game-discussion “Employee’s salary” for work with civil servants and their principals.

The author analyzed several precedents for the promotion of unpopular political decisions in 2018 and assessed the use of communication technologies in order to achieve trust in the government and make these decisions as a necessary and well-grounded. I analyzed the cases related to the blocking and further unblocking of the popular messenger Telegram, the increase in the value-added tax, the increase in the retirement age, the increase in tariffs for housing and communal services. These cases I chose due to the need to cover the interests of the widest possible segments of the population in order to be able to describe the reactions of both older and younger generations. As an empirical base of the research, I explored the results of relevant surveys conducted by the “Public Opinion Foundation” and the “Russian Public Opinion Research Center” (JSC “VCIOM”). Finally, the author presented the current technologies of manipulation of mass consciousness used in the contemporary Russian society related to socio-political transformations that are negatively perceived by the population due to the historically established features of political and psychological perception of social and political reality by the Russian citizens.

The relevance of studying the processes of mass self-communication can be explained by its growing importance, as it influences all spheres of the society’s life. The Spanish sociologist Manuel Castells developed the concept of “mass communication”, according to which everyone can create and broadcast information for the broad public. The development of mass self-communication was stimulated by the Internet, mobile phone, Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 technologies. In the first quarter of 2018, the percentage of the Internet users in Russia was 80%. For 52% of people, a mobile phone is the most popular device for communication. At the same time, computer social networks are extremely significant for users aged 18-24 and 25-34. The article deals with the process of mass self-communication development in the context of the Web-technology approach. The author views the Web not only as the aggregate of technical characteristics but as technical possibilities in the field of people communication and their self-presentation. The paper analyzes the principles of Web 2.0 and Web 3.0: their features and differences. Further, the author disclosed the role of these principles in the development of mass self-communication. The author comes to the conclusion that these technologies have directly impacted the processes of self-communication and on the mechanisms of emergence and development of Internet communities.