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Electronic culture constitutes a new form of social adjustment in the digital era. Our study aims to reveal socio-cultural differentiation in the social group of Russian students whose e-culture is being shaped. Moscow students became our test group. To achieve the research aim we analyzed the concept of “e-culture” focusing on its theoretical and methodological interpretations. The paper provides an overview of current approaches to understanding electronic culture, namely competence- and activity-based approaches, axiological and institutional ones. Cultural studies of classical sociology served as theoretical and methodological basis for our applied research. Sociological approach enables to reveal the position of e-culture in modern society and detect its differentiating action on everyday practices and value system of distinct social groups. Thus, we suggest that we should extend our applied sociological study of students’ e-culture by using a significant indicator, i.e. reflective-axiological attitude towards electronic technologies. We surveyed students of Russian universities and can now conclude that students from different test groups shape their e-culture at their own pace. Reflective-axiological attitude to ICT exerts a significant impact on e-culture formation; due to operational thinking technical students shape their critical reflective attitudes faster than non-technical ones. Most young adults today are common users, which suggests low demand for ICT in educational and professional areas where young people are actively involved. Youth socialization employs traditional forms of information culture, for example, book culture.

The present study results from integration of linguistic and sociological knowledge. Rich database obtained through the sociological survey acts as valuable data for further linguistic investigation. As the study object we took the utterances of respondents who participated in the second part of the sociological survey with university students as target group; the survey was carried out in three Russian regions — Moscow, Volgograd and Astrakhan. One of the questions in the questionnaire was “What literary character would you like to meet in person and why?” The respondents gave 869 detailed answers. Out of the total number the authors selected 224 responses regarding the figure of the desired partner in the imaginary meeting. The priority was given to the literary characters with the highest rates of popularity among the respondents. Cognitive scene “Meeting with a literary character” was modelled on the basis of propositions with focus on their permanent elements which are agent and patient of the situation and the predicate. Predicates performed the role of the semantic center in each utterance. Taking into account predicative relations within propositions, the authors identified main role positions the readers (interpreters) take in a cognitive scene. Those respondents who opt for passive observation fall into three groups — critics, viewers and listeners. The respondents who prefer interaction and even manipulation are seen as dialogue partners and co-workers in the event.

Information and communication technologies, the Internet in particular, have a significant impact on all the aspects of social life. Therefore, it is necessary to study the problems, consequences, and scale of such influence in the sphere of different scientific disciplines (sociology, psychology, and cultural studies) as well as in the sphere of interdisciplinary discourse. There is a need for research adequate to the current situation of transition to a new technological mode, a digital society, which actualizes the demand for the formation of a new type of personality, a new elite. The new elite will be the bearers of the socio-cultural code of deep and systemic information processing, the owners of electronic culture on the basis of critical digital literacy and reflexivity. At the same time, specific empirical studies of recent years abroad and in Russia demonstrate the predominance of competences of information and communication technologies user, which is absolutely insufficient in the digital society. This research aims to analyze the value-reflexive attitude of Russians to the Internet based on the results of a specific sociological survey among the residents of Moscow and the Moscow Region, implemented under the guidance and direct participation of the authors of this article during the period of social restrictions imposed by state authorities in connection with the new coronavirus infection from April to November 2020 by online questionnaire. The research tools included a block of questions on the digitalization of the region, including a number of statements showing the value-reflexive attitude of the respondents to the Internet. The results show that the number of respondents, who regard the Internet as one of the modern civilizational values, exceeds the share of respondents who recognize the dangers of Internet addiction. The authors have revealed that an even smaller percentage of those aware of the relationship of Internet addiction and anonymity on the Internet with the destruction of moral and moral systems, the erasure of the boundaries of personal and public space, psychological problems. A significant proportion of those who exhibit dangerous symptoms of alienation from the real, physical and social world was recorded. It was determined that for the majority of respondents, the Internet space has not become a platform of freedom, creative fulfillment, a friendly environment. The article assumes that economic conditions could become the foundation for bringing people together in the Internet space. Intergenerational differences in the value-reflexive attitude to the Internet space are revealed. The authors draw attention to the fact that the elderly, as the bearers of the deep meanings of traditional cultural forms, reflect the risks and dangers of the Internet space to a greater extent than the young people and adults. The authors link the prospects for further research with the sociological monitoring, which will allow studying the dynamics of digitalization processes in the region, the impact of age characteristics of identity on the attitude to the Internet, and the formation of electronic culture.

The problem of studying the structure of reading preferences of the population is interdisciplinary, as it belongs to the fields of literary studies, teaching, and social studies. There is a need for the research matching the current situation, which a number of authors quite rightfully name the “reading crisis”. At the same time, specific empirical studies of the recent years in Russia show an increase in reader interest (especially among young people). This actualizes the need to diagnose the structure of reader preferences in the vanguard of young people, the future scientific, technical, and managerial elite — the university students. In the world, one may see a reception of the national classical literary heritage as a reaction to globalist projects in the form of Americanization (or rather, McDonaldization). This study aims to analyze the place of Russian literary classics in the structure of reading preferences among the university students based on the results of a specific sociological questionnaire of the student audience in Astrakhan, Volgograd, and Moscow, implemented under the guidance and direct participation of the authors in 2016 and in 2019. As an indicator of familiarity of respondents with the works of Russian and Soviet writers of the 19th and 20th centuries, the authors counted the reading of a full text. The level of familiarity with the texts of the Golden Age of the Russian culture has increased, same goes for the readers’ interest in Soviet authors. Students pay more attention to the works of N. V. Gogol and M. A. Bulgakov nowadays. There is also a growing audience of authors, who write about the Great Patriotic War. The authors of this article associate this phenomenon with the activation of the historical memory of Russians. At the same time, the results show that students prefer the Soviet period of literary classics to a much lesser extent than the works of the Golden Age. The tendency to increase the importance of Russian literary classics in the structure of reader preferences of contemporary students can be associated with the processes of revival of interest in Russian culture, with the strengthening of civil position, and ultimately — the national identity. The prospects for further research are considered by the authors based on qualitative methods involving the theoretical and methodological potential of social and literary studies, which can show the possible transformation of the understanding of the meaning of works of Russian literary classics by modern students.

The purpose of the research is to identify the role of physical culture and sports activities on the practice of students’ self-preservation behavior. The materials: The research was based on an online questionnaire which was held among 2503 students in REU Plekhanov (Moscow) in October 2019 under E. V. Kargapolova leadership. The results: The most common practices of self-preservation behavior are walking outside, physical education classes and regular sports. The most preferable kinds of sports for students were football, basketball and volleyball. The less preferable were Eastern health practices. Nevertheless, only half of students were regularly engaged in physical education activities. Most of respondents consider they are able to make a set of training exercises and a rational diet. Conclusions: There are several contradictions in students’ behavior values of self-preservation and their practices of sport activities. The majority of respondents understand the importance of a healthy lifestyle. Nevertheless, students do not always follow these practices in their daily routine. There is a strong correlation between their health and regular sport assessment, especially. This was due to the presence of a physical education system in higher educational institutions. That’s why universities are the most important platform for sports activities.

Introduction. The study of the causes affecting the formation of the ecological situa- tion in various regions of Russia seems to be of relevance. The purpose of the paper is to identify trends and contradictions in the transformation of the socio-ecological system of a region by means of a case study of the Astrakhan Region. Materials and Methods. The materials used were the pieces of sociological re- search conducted in the Astrakhan Region in 2010-2016. Among the methods used were: questioning, interviewing, and analysis of statistical information. The study was conducted in terms of the systemic approach that combines the ecological and social components. Results. The analysis of the causes of the unfavorable ecological situation in the Astrakhan Region has been carried out. The study has revealed lack of awareness among the residents of the existing level of air and water pollution, which usually characterize the ecological aspects of the quality of life of people, directly affecting their health, work efficiency, and development of the territorial community. Discrep- ancy between the positive assessment of air and water quality and the real state of affairs in the region has been revealed. Discussion and Conclusions. The data obtained allow to draw a conclusion about the imbalance of the socio-ecological system of the Astrakhan Region and its un- stable state. The practical significance of the study is in the possibility of using the results of the research to predict changes in the socio-ecological system of a region and in the development of methodological recommendations on how to manage it.

The article considers the issues concerning the inclusion of modern Russian youth in the processes of modernization; the study is based on the analysis of the results of a sociological research carried out using questionnaires. Modernization in the broadest theoretical terms is understood as a comprehensive and manageable process of renewal of the social system, its approximation to a qualitatively new state on the basis of deep civilizational changes with the aim of improving living conditions. In this case the specific and long-established features of the value system of specific regions are investigated as the most important resource of modernization projects. It is shown that there exists a system lag in the pace and quality of modernization processes in the regions of the Southern Federal District of Russia, as recorded in the statistics and responses of the representatives of the young generation of the macro region. The reason for this situation lies in the scale of alienation from the results of labor activity that are more clearly seen in the Southern Federal District than in Russia as a whole, and this is largely caused by the artificial (institutional) pumping of surplus value produced in its territory to other regions of the country. A large part of the added value obtained from the products and services produced in the district is not allocated to the development of its social infrastructure (in particular, education) and people’s welfare. Under certain conditions, the project called “Modernization” could become a program image of the future of modern Russia; this idea is registered in the answers of modern students. But in reality, in many regions, modernization projects on the indicators vital for the population acquire a character of quasi-modernization or even de-modernization. This is reflected in the high migration request of students, which in the Southern Federal District is higher than that in the amount of respondents in Russia as a whole. Thus, there exist two phenomena, the social value of which consists largely in their focus on the future – youth and modernization. But the vectors of this orientation among modern Russian youth and modernization projects of the country are different, which requires adjustment of youth policy

Modern world is dynamic, variable and full of risks, which requires the development of flexible and dynamic mechanisms to modernize regional social systems. For modern Russian regions, different in pace of development and people’s quality of life, it is important to develop such theoretical and methodological approaches to based to identify resources and problem areas of modernization. The research novelty lies in the analysis of modernization in a region using the theoretical and methodological capabilities of the system approach, the concepts of heterarchy and modernization. We emphasize the overlap of subject fields of terms “heterarchy”, “region”, and “modernization” in matters of principles (value basis) of modernization process management in the region using the heterarchy resources. Based on the results of the monitoring sociological study conducted during 2010–2016 in the Astrakhan Oblast sing the interview method at the place of residence according to the Standard Methodology of the all-Russian program “Socio-Cultural Evolution of Russia and its Regions”, we revealed the strengthening of the vertical of power, that is, hierarchical relations in the institutional and regulatory sphere. The growing institutional heterarchy, whose purpose is to complicate and imitate social institutions, is manifested in predominant non-market motivation among the residents of Astrakhan, as well as in fluctuations in values of market and non-market motivation, depending not only on the socio-economic, but also political situation. The imitation of socio-economic institutions demonstrates the dysfunction of life-supporting sphere of the region’s socio-cultural space and is a problem area of modernization of the region. Intellectual heterarchy (“the war for standards”) is fixed in reducing support for basic values simultaneously with the strengthening of primary social networks in the structure of the background knowledge of the region’s population. Moreover, the changed system of values is manifested in the reduced standard of social claims regarding the perception of the standard in assessing own health and the environment. Intellectual heterarchy in the region is complemented by geographical one as migration substitution of the population in a region with higher social demands by the carriers of nomadic mentality with low social claims. The existing heterarchies may indicate that the Astrakhan Oblast as a system is close to the reorganization phase which means the transition of the region’s system to a more sustainable state due to its simplification. With appropriate organizational design, low social claims of the region’s population may become the modernization resource of the region

This work is aimed at detection of factors promoting improvement of efficient teacher-audience interaction upon distance learning. This work discusses such issues as efficiency of presentation and absorption of material in the taught disciplines, characteristics of organization conditions of audience work. The attention is paid to advantages and disadvantages of distance learning for programs of vocational retraining. This article also analyzes the necessity to upgrade engineering and methodological support of education, which agrees with the trends of progress in implementation of University 4.0 model. The research was based on sociological surveying, which provided sufficiently complete pattern of attitudes of students in vocational retraining programs to distance learning during the pandemic. On the basis of this research, it has been concluded that most students positively assessed the distance learning platforms provided by the university. At the same time, it is sufficiently difficult to concentrate attention during 1.5 hours, which forced the teacher to search for mixed forms of education, alternating practical assignments or video clips with theoretical material. It has been concluded that the distance learning is an efficient measure of protection against coronavirus, though, under usual conditions, the students prefer resident course.

This paper based on the social surveys considers the problems of effective management in regional sector of housing and communal services. The author concludes that the sector of housing and communal services requires social replication by means of reconstruction and renewal of state-owned building enterprises.

This paper based on the concept of socio-cultural potential of the region considers the theoretical and practical aspects of sustainable development of the modern region.