Publications

"In spite of the significant growth in the number of students over the last 20 years, Russia is still considered to be a country with a low level of civic engagement. Our study aims to respond to this contradictory standing and to explain the causes of student civic engagement. The survey conducted in 10 state HEIs has shown a difference in Civic Engagement Index values among students from four educational programmes. The results of linear regression models have shown that in addition to the ‘pure effect’ of the educational programme, such factors as religiosity and social capital influence student civic engagement."

"In the afterword to the third edition published more than twenty years after the initial publication of The Invisible Religion, Thomas Luckmann seeks to summarize and to clarify his position as described in his book. He argues against the idea of the decreasing importance of religion in modern society, and proposes a renewed understanding of religion that would not be confined to the intuitions of the Western world. Luckmann’s definition of religion is based on the notion of “transcendences”, which he divides into “small”, “middle”, and “great” categories. It is the experience of the “great” transcendence which leads everyday life away to another reality that plays a key role in the emergence of what is meant by religion. There is a certain order of signs that corresponds to the order of transcendences, and makes it possible to transfer the content of subjective experience of transcendence into intersubjective reality. Symbols appear to be a way of “great” transcendence appresentation, and ritual is considered as its implementation in a social action. By way of a specific set of communicative actions and with the use of symbolic and linguistic resources, subjective experience of transcendence is converted into an objective social structure, so that transcendence experiences become intersubjective and can now serve as a subject of discussion, modification and interpretation. In conclusion, Luckmann turns to the modern situation of religion, and characterizes it as the “privatization” of religion."

"Sociological research of parish communities (congregations) indicates the significant role of congregations in the processes of religious and nonreligious life, social policy and civil society. Congregations can be either a direct object for sociological studies, or researchers focus on the social functions of parish communities (their role in social services provision, social capital formation, or their effect on individual well-being, etc.). At the same time, congregation as a specific corporate social actor generally is not considered as a distinct theme for theoretical and methodological reflections in sociological literature. This paper contains an analytical review of the main approaches to the “parish community” conceptualization within key contexts of parish communities’ (congregations) studies in sociology. A classification of research contexts for parish communities studies which is introduced in the article, provides the map of key themes in sociological studies of parish communities and gives an idea on the scope and limits of the parish community conceptualizations, currently used in sociology."

"We approach higher education as a source of not only private good but also public one. An analysis of oeuvres was aimed at differentiating between formal and substantive meanings of the term “university responsibility”. Substantive meaning of responsibility appeals to criteria beyond knowledge, appreciates the crucial importance of education effects in various aspects of life, and derives from the very fact of interdependence between the university and the society. We believe that importance of university as an institution forming the society may specifically be put into question in Russia, where the high level of education coexists weirdly with the high level of social hardship. An online questionnaire was completed by more than one third of graduates of a Russian confessional (Orthodox) university residing in more than 100 localities of Russia, former Soviet Republics, and other foreign countries. The data on graduates’ shared values and attitudes obtained in the survey was compared to results of national and international surveys on family issues, civic engagement, values, employment, social capital, and consumption practices. Based on this comparison, we suggest that philosophies and attitudes of Orthodox university graduates have many common points that set them aside from the other population of Russia: they are committed to family and civic values, have a strong attitude of service, and participate in social activities to help people in need. Standardized indices of social capital in the sample of Orthodox university graduates are three times higher than those in the national sample of all higher education graduates. We propose to raise a critical discussion of the role of religion in higher education and to dwell specifically on issues of validity of theology as a scientific discipline, effects of bringing religion to high school, and the problem of confessional universities."

"Religion contains a set of attitudes, norms and values that are transmitted in the course of socialization. Religious socialization is a process of interaction in which religious norms and values are transmitted from one generation to another, from group members to newcomers. The article discusses the problem of conceptualization of religious socialization and its application in the analysis of sociological data on micro- and macro- level. "

"The article examines the influence of religion on social capital formation in Russia. The study suggests that active involvement of the parishes in the organization of social work, based on the principles of delegation of power and authority from priests to the laity, increases the parish social networks, attaching more lay people to it, including those who are "unchurched". The data for the article come from the research projects conducted in 2011 – 2013 at the "Sociology of Religion" Research Seminar, St. Tikhon’s Orthodox University: a mass survey of parishioners of 12 Russian Orthodox Church parishes, located in different types of settlement and in different regions of Russia (the total sample size is 985 respondents); in-depth interviews with parishioners and priests at 15 Russian Orthodox Church parishes (153 interviews altogether); and the first wave of a nationwide survey "OrthodoxMonitor" (national representative sample of 1500 respondents)"

"The text contains review of the main sociological approaches to the research of faith-based social work in congregational studies. Review refers mainly to American publications, British studies are covered less. The issue of congregational/faith-based social work became especially popular within congregational studies in USA due to certain political and institutional context, which stress the social role of congregations in America. The text consists of two parts and the appendix. The first part contains review of empirical congregational research, which regards congregational social work in some way. The second part covers the research, which studies congregations primarily as welfare providers. The appendix contains some approaches to the faith-based social work classification and typologization. Approaches to the research of congregational social work, classification of social programs and typology of faith-based organizations presented in the text can be regarded as a source for creating methodology for parish communities social work studies in Russia. "