Sociology studies society, patterns of social actions and mass behaviour of people, as well as the relationship between the individual and society. Sociology, having a complex of scientific tools, can afford to measure everything, and, having received these measurements, operate with facts, entering into disputes and discussions, explaining the complexity of phenomenon in a simple manner and clarity for everyone. In the article, the author tries to do the same with the concept of “gender", which causes different feelings and comments. Someone is irritating, someone has questions or is confused, someone has a genuine interest. A small word -and so many emotions... Someone says that it is “social gender", and someone simply says - “gender". Why and where these passions, questions, disputes and interest? It seems to me time arrived to bring some clarity to the history of the emergence and development of this concept.

The article contains the results of the all-Russian study of the parameters of critical thinking of young people, performed using the methods of a mass online survey of young users of the Russian Federation and expert interviews. The authors established the basic characteristics of the readiness of the younger generation of Russia to critically interpret the problems of the functioning of the network space. We also present the results of a multivariate analysis that establishes the relationship between the specifics of critical thinking of young people and their belonging to different types of professional culture. The key product of the research is systematised recommendations to the authorities on the creation of conditions for raising the level of critical thinking of Russian youth.

The article is devoted to the analysis of the professional culture of youth. In the beginning, the author presents a description of the concept of professional culture as inherent in the human creative potential, his abilities, talents, level of achievement of social goals and ideals, as well as their implementation in practice. Further, the author defines the difference between professional selection aimed at identifying the most capable people and screening out other candidates and professional orientation, allowing the young person to independently and responsibly choose their future occupation. Also, the author analysed the impact of digital tools in the process of training young professionals for the upcoming activities, while indicating both positive and negative consequences of their use and compared the ways of formation of professional culture in the United States, Finland, China. At the same time, the author paid much attention to the study of the historical experience of instilling a professional culture of the Soviet youth and pointed out characteristics of the pedological and activity stages of development of professional culture in the Soviet Union. In conclusion, the author reveals the features of the development of a professional culture of young people in modern Russia and concludes that it is necessary to introduce young people to the existing traditions and values in the interests of the formation of new intellectual and political elites.

The generation of young people is traditionally “explosive” regarding protest and even extremist activity. At the same time, to neutralise this kind of destructive mood among young people, a whole range of measures is required, which includes not only the use of power and administrative levers but also soft technologies of influence. The article deals with the dynamics of “soft” practices used, and until now using, by the ruling political regime regarding preventive work with generations Y and Z. The author also analysed the effectiveness and creativity of such practices. At the same time, the author posed a problem of activation of ideological work with the Russian youth, especially regarding restoring its understanding with the older generation.

Today, the problem of extremism and radicalism in society becomes increasingly relevant. The practice shows that toughening of the system of punishments does not lead to a decrease in the level of extremist crimes. In the article, in order to counteract radical and extremist sentiments in the student environment, the author offers implementation of the value system and ideological attitudes of youth, which have a direct impact on the perception by youth people of the surrounding reality. The study showed how important is the existence of the unifying idea and the need for a youth’s involvement in any community. Young people who share patriotic sentiments go through a process of social identification, which consists of the awareness that their own well-being and the well-being of the group are linked. Moreover, the confidence of young people in the future, and awareness of their future affects the perception of political reality and the activities of the country leaders. In the context of the above, the author concluded it is important for the state to work on the formation and promotion of patriotic projects among students because various extremist ideologies and trends are more actively manifested in the conditions of the ideological vacuum.

This article analyses the possibility of the use of “soft power" in dealing with the problems of the domestic policy of contemporary Russia. “Soft power" is interpreted as a concept demonstrating constructive ideas or system of ideas aimed at the establishment of a model of stable (non-conflict) societal (socio-political) formations. Such a model should prevent the occurrence of social conflicts, coordinate the interests of different strata of civil society, and the State. The effectiveness of the model is due to the relevance of the legal instruments and institutions of “soft power". In the article, the author presupposed that public formation reflects the socio-political genesis of civil society. Secondly, it is characterised by the role strata of society in providing the foundations of the constitutional order. Thirdly, it warrants the legitimate rights and freedoms of a citizen and a person, and, finally, it provides the effectiveness of monitoring of the legal responsibilities of subjects of law, maintains optimal social cohesion mechanism and political (state) regime.

The article deals with the problems associated with the events and their role in the formation of the concept of reality. The issue of event-driven construction of reality requires a new ontological understanding in connection with the transition to the information society, in which most of the events that affect the concept sphere, is not casual, but human-made. During the formation of the post-industrial society, the event was not just an event, but a “special” event, an occasion for news. In the context of dynamically developing digital technologies, special events go beyond a convenient marketing tool and become unique elements of creating a range of new and hybrid realities, being in an interdisciplinary field. The purpose of the study is to consider the little-studied evolution of the event into a special event on the example of its role in the formation of the modern socio-political space. Also, there was a need to determine the role of events as a function of managing the generation of realities, functions able to overcome interdisciplinary barriers and link different levels of stratified social reality on the example of the study of the level of power. For the study, the author used the traditional methods of philosophical analysis and reflection, logical-dialectical analysis of the subject, the post-classical principle of complementarity of descriptions. As a result of consideration of the problem, it was possible to determine the main functions of special political events in the construction of socio-political reality, to determine their ability to integrate reality, divided by subcultural barriers. Special political events, as communication channels of a new type, can help to solve the crisis that has arisen as a result of the mutual isolation of the Humanities and Natural Sciences, can promote integration, joint institutionalisation and development in the information society.

Subject. In the article, based on a certain set of indicators, comprehensively reflecting the socio-economic situation of individual territories of the Republic of Belarus, we constructed integral characteristics, according to which the territories are located in the space of latent factors, and analysed their socio-economic differentiation. The subject of the study is a system of socio-economic indicators that comprehensively reflect the socio-economic development of the regions of the Republic of Belarus.

Goal. Construction based on the application of factor analysis of the integral characteristic, which includes the entire set of initial socio-economic characteristics, for the subsequent study of the differentiation of the regions of the Republic of Belarus in the process under study.

Methods. We based our study on the multidimensional statistical methods, namely, factor analysis.

Results. The practical importance of the study consists of the expansion of the possibility of comparing the territories by socio-economic development parameters.

Conclusions. The proposed aspects of constructing integral characteristics of assessing the state of socio-economic development will allow us to determine the directions for improving social policy to solve the identified problems of differentiation in individual territories.

Despite the growing interest and urgency of the problem of anti-corruption training and retraining of state and municipal employees, as a preventive measure of counteraction to this phenomenon in government bodies and local self-government, certain basic directions remain insufficiently studied in domestic science. For example, the need and specificity of the establishment of dedicated units within the universities that carry out this type of training for this category on an ongoing basis. The scientific article analyses perspective directions of the modern state anti-corruption policy in Russia. The author considered the existing problems and justified the necessity of introducing anti-corruption education for the full training of state and municipal employees. Also, the author emphasised the urgency of the development of methodological and methodological bases for the preparation of this category and gave some recommendations are for improving the existing system. Undoubtedly, the list of directions of state anti-corruption policy is far from exhaustive, since each of these directions requires consistent and detailed scientific development, which implies the prospects for further research.

The article reveals both theoretical foundations of internet entrepreneurship and practical ones. Here we present the results of the author’s research of students of Moscow universities on the subject of entrepreneurship in the network. The article reflects the degree of integration of young people in the internet space, the willingness of students to become entrepreneurs in the network, as well as an assessment of the current tax situation in the country. As a result of the analysis of the empirical data, we calculated normalised indexes such as the experience index of income on the internet, the planning index of the beginning of entrepreneurship on the internet in the coming year, the planning index officially registered in case of the start of the internet entrepreneurship. Besides the analysis of the associations of students with entrepreneurial activity on the internet we also describe the level of tax literacy of young people. The results of the empirical research allowed estimating the level of social expectations of potential internet entrepreneurs as concerns the tax system of the Russian Federation. The authors note the importance of the educational aspect of doing business on the internet. It emphasises the necessity of comprehensive interpretation of the phenomenon under consideration, which will provide top management with reliable information for making objective and balanced decisions to develop the entrepreneur sector in the country and improve the tax orientations of young people.

The article is devoted to the study of modern national responses of the Russian economic policy to the challenges of digital technology. Based on the system analysis, the conceptual apparatus of the subject under study is designated. The article focuses on such concepts as: “Internet of Things" (IoT); “Digital Single Market"; “electronic goods". The author considered possible scenarios of Russia’s digitalisation are on the basis of possible geopolitical realities and noted that under any circumstances it is necessary to bridge the “digital divide". First of all, it is necessary to focus on the domestic market, ensuring the information security of stakeholders, as well as independence from global information failures. Also, it is necessary to create a sustainable legal framework, improve ICT-literacy of the Russian population and form the motivation and needs for the use of digital technologies at the household level. The author also defined the role of bridging the gap between the national economy and the requirements of the international information market. The paper analyses the key approaches of the state elite in solving issues of innovative development of the Russian economy. As a result, the author concluded that the speed of spread of innovations of the sixth technological order on the territory of the Russian Federation is becoming the main relevant competitive advantage of the country on the global information market.