Abstract: Virtual social environments as an instrument for motivating youth to sociopolitical activity. The development of information and communication technologies in the Internet encourages the emergence of new virtual environments that affect civic mobilization of the youth. The authors analyze the participation of youth in sociopolitical events, as well as identify the factors that may obstruct their desire for participation. The article determines the political parties that enjoy most popularity among youth alongside the favored sources for acquiring the sociopolitical information. The objectivity of the online coverage of events is assessed from the youth perspective. The empirical foundation of this study is the author’s sociological online survey, which involved 412 respondents ages 18 to 29. The results demonstrate the overall positive attitude to sociopolitical segment of our society. The basis of youth motivation towards sociopolitical activity lies in their interest in politics, as well as assurance in the ability to affect the political events. However, assessing the activeness of the youth, the authors underline the clear passive position, associated with the distrust in political segment. Young people actively use Internet as the source for receiving sociopolitical information; the majority notes the high degree of objectivity of the information acquired from Internet.

Keywords: socio-political information, information and communication technologies, Internet, social network, the virtual social environment, social and political activity, social group, youth, social research, sociology of the Internet

Abstract: The subject of this research is the functioning of the nonprofit sector, peculiarities and problems of cooperation of the nonprofit organizations with the government authorities of the Russian Federation. At the present stage, there is contradiction between the need for development of the nonprofit sector, as the key compensator of dysfunctions within the system of social services, and escalation of the risks and threats that limit its effectiveness. The goal of this work consists in the analysis of the fundamental problems of functioning of the nonprofit organizations under the current Russian circumstances, search for the methods of increasing its sustainability and adaptiveness, as well as provision of constructive cooperation with the government. The scientific novelty lies in determination of limitations and factors for development of the nonprofit sector in Russia. The key berries in development of the nonprofit sector in Russia imply the following: low level of financial, infrastructure and human resource security; weakness of state support; lack of the volunteering resources. The strategic directions of development of the nonprofit sector in the Russian Federation are: ensuring various approaches towards cooperation with the nonprofit organizations in terms of the territorial differentiation; legal, information, and strategic support of its initiatives; professional training of personnel; popularization of volunteering activity among population, including highly qualified individuals for realization of the auxiliary functions (legal, accounting, marketing); and increasing the efficiency of state aid.

Keywords: social services, government bodies, social partnership, government services, social services register, non-commercial organizations, non-profit sector, resources, volunteering, activity

Abstract: The subject of this research is the attitude of modern youth towards extremism and its various manifestations within the youth environment. The article provides a theoretical analysis of the content, factors and peculiarities of youth extremism, as well as the forms of its occurrences. Based on the data acquired in the course of sociological survey, the author makes conclusions on representation of the modern youth of Moscow regarding the essence of extremism, most dangerous of its manifestations, possible causes of its dissemination, and countermeasures. The author presents the data from sociological survey conducted among young people (predominantly between 18 and 25 years old) on the topic “Extremism in Evaluations of Modern Youth of Moscow”. A conclusion is made that youth extremism is perceived by the young people of Moscow as a fairly common phenomenon that is prone to escalation. The author also notes the necessity of using the most diverse forms of countermeasures that suggests the cooperation of the state with nongovernmental organizations aimed at increasing the level of legal culture among the youth.  

Keywords: combating extremism, manifestation of extremism, form of extremism, the causes of extremism, state, counteracting extremism, youth extremism, youth, public organization, interaction

Abstract: The goal of this work is the empirical proof of the author’s sociological hypothesis on the potential desire of over 2/3 of the modern university graduates to receive employment abroad. The author determined more than twenty motives of the potential graduates of Moscow higher educational facilities that reflects the problem at hand using the package of application software IBM SPSS Statistics Version 20; as well as reveals the key empirical regularities that display the objective reality with accuracy to a maximum of 5%. The article suggests the directions for future sociological surveys on the problem of “brain drain”. The author applies interdisciplinary approach; the key positions are analyzed based on the empirical material on the topic; the data is acquired through face-to-face sociological inquiry. The alternative based on using the factor analysis on the topic is also proposed. The potential outflow of the trained specialists carries certain socioeconomic risks. Therefore, the results of the conducted research must be used in the sphere of higher education management, as well as government control over the social sphere in Russia.  

Keywords: Pearson's chi-squared test, Empirical regularity, Empirical portrait , Empirical data, Socio-psychological portrait, Motive, Brain drain, Moscow student, Sample frame, Employment abroad

Abstract: Information society is an important factor that affects the transformation of political values and orientations. In terms of the convergence of classical ideologies and emergence of the new ideological directions, gains relevance the problem of ideological identification. Thus, the object of this research is the ideological identification of the Internet users. The subject of this research is the ideological predisposition of the residents of Saint Petersburg towards using the online information political resources. The authors focus on examination of the socio-demographic aspects of the problem of digital inequality, analysis of the factors of ideological segregation of media resources, study of the specificity of network political orientations of the users. Particular attention is given to the question of correlation of the political orientations with the claimed ideology. The scientific novelty lies in comprehensive analysis of the ideological orientations of Internet users in accordance with the models of identification of the political ideologies. The main conclusion consists in determination of the ideological groups that to a greater or lesser degree are prone to use the Internet and distinguish the values characteristic co the cyberculture.

Keywords: Digital inequality, Ideological identification, Cyberpolitics, Online media, Internet, Ideological segregation, Political ideology, Identity, Ideology, Echo chamber

Abstract:   This article analyzes the peculiarities of implementation of the ideas of socialism in practice. Transformation of the philosophical-political and socioeconomic foundations of the state is revealed through the interdependent phenomena of economic “assumption” and freedom. Such subject angle of research is explained by the fact that any political regime strives for self-preservation, and any society assesses the efficiency of its functionality in accordance with the parameters of the quality of life, primarily the level of welfare and civic freedoms. Thus, the goal of the article is to examine the key directions of practical implementation of the fundamental ideas of freedom and property during the period of the establishment of socialism and after it. The peculiarities of civic self-fulfillment and economic “assumption” are analyzed with the help of dialectical method, systemic and comparative-historical approaches, using the statistical and sociological data. A conclusion is made on the differences in interpreting the concept of social property and individual freedom in the theory of Karl Marx, as well as practice of real socialism. The author determines a common feature in the processes of redistribution of property of the early and late XX century, which is the confluence of government and property, and thus the alienation of citizens not only from the results of their work, but also the sphere of public policy. The author concludes on prolongation of the period of “real utopianism” in development of the Russian society as a result of presence of the relevant dystopic tendencies. In political-administrative sphere – this is the fluctuations between the bureaucratic authoritarianism and authoritarian bureaucracy; while in economic sphere – the consolidation of the government-monopolistic, bureaucratic-speculative (pseudo) capitalism.  

Keywords: Ideology, Capitalism, Socialism, Private property, Public property , Government, Freedom, Alienation, Dystopia, Utopia