Contents and abstracts

The Ukrainian Junction

Viacheslav V. Viflyantsev. Ukraine between the East and the West (Comments to Vitalyi Darenskiy’s paper “The regional mental types in the Ukraine as a source of conflicts”) (рр. 5–12).

Commenting on the article published in the previous issue, the author recognizes mental differences between regions in Ukraine including some various types in linguistic, religious, social and ethnic identities. Yet, these differences are not the real reason for confrontation in the Ukrainian society. All the varieties might well combine with its political unity and conciliarism.

Keywords: social conflict, Ukraine, ethnos, historicism, empire.

Vitalyi Yu. Darenskiy. Ukraine as a “methodological problem” (Responding to my opponent) (рр. 13–24).

Responding to his opponent, the author discusses some important concepts of cultural anthropology and political theory. Particularly, he brings calculations, which prove that the theses about genocide of the ethnical Ukrainians by the Soviet power have been strongly exaggerated.

Keywords: ethnos, mega-ethnos, conflict, historicism, genocide, deporation.

Social-Psychological Scans of History

Yuri V. Liubimov. World creation: The comparative linguistic analysis of the early translations of the Bible (рр. 25–39).

Early translations of the first chapters of the Book of Genesis are compared. Having abstracted from theological and textual studies, the author registers cultural varieties in the key parameters of worldview.

Keywords: sacral views, text, Bible, translations, creation, Man, Name, God.

Mikhail A. Savinov. The mirror of history: On the source study of specific chronographs (рр. 40–45).

The 17^th century Russian historical writings are considered. Although those writings almost do not contain new facts, the specificity of their genre consists in that they link the Russian history to the universal history “since the world creation”. Thus those artifacts are relevant for studying the historical thinking in the 17^th century as a mirror, which reflects the peculiar historical worldview of the educated individuals of the époque.

Keywords: chronographs, Russian history, 17^th century, sources, perception of history, historical legends.

Natalia N. Zarubina. Practices of alimentation as marker and factor of social inequality in traditional and modern Russia (рр. 46–62).

Food practices are always socially stratified and reflect social inequalities and socio-cultural differences. The article analyzes the influence of economic inequality and differences in the history of formation of social groups with respect to inherent power of practice. The research is based on Pierre Bourdieu’s methodology. The choice of food depends on the group practice formed by the strategy of adaptation to the conditions of its social life, economic and cultural resources. In the field of social differences, food habits make markers of status and group identity that remain stable over time.

Keywords: social inequality, stratification, habitués, food practices, social transformations.

Valery A. Nekhamkin. Delation as a social-psychological phenomenon: Russian experience in the 1930s (рр. 63–79).

The article considers a delation within general historical context and its specific manifestation in the 1930s Soviet reality. The author investigates informational and psychological essences of delation and suggest a typology with respect to the 1930s: “professional”, “home” and “open” types. The motivations of snitching in the USSR, in modern Russia and in Western countries are compared.

Keywords: snitching, “professional”, “home”, “open” delation, totalitarian society, democratic society.

Leonid M. Smirnov. Dynamism & stability: On the changes in value choices of modern Russians (рр. 80–92).

The value domain as a nucleus of any culture is usually considered in terms of individual or public consciousness; yet, value choices as the basis for human aims and behavior include also the unconscious components. A complete consideration of basic values and their dynamism and stability requires the analysis of both the declared choices and the unconscious ones, which can be discovered by mass questioning. The paper investigates the stable cultural potential, which is preserving on the unconscious layer of Russian population. Common trends in the declared value preferences are demonstrated as well.

Keywords: value choice, social unconsciousness, preferences, culture, basic values, dynamism, stability.

Ivan I. Krott. “Strangers” in alien ethnical environment: The entrepreneurial activity of the Siberian resettlement community in the second half of the 19^th – early 20^th centuries (рр. 93–108).

By investigating the West-Siberian German population in the late 19^th – early 20^th centuries, the author considers the specificity of adaptation and economic behavior of ethnical migrants in terms of “entrepreneurial minorities” conception. The fundamental mechanisms and ways of adaptation, the structure of market space and its ethnical segmentation, variants of intra- and interethnic relations and peculiarities of economical specialization in that period are studied.

Keywords: interdisciplinary synthesis, entrepreneurs, minority, ethnical migrants, “strangers”, marginality, strategies of adaptation, Siberian resettlement community, receiving community, social and economical mobility.

Mikhail K. Churkin. The “uncomfortable class”: Peasants in the resettling movement to Siberia (late 19^th – early 20^th centuries) (рр. 109–116).

The peasants’ position, role and social self-consciousness in the époque of resettling movement to Siberia is investigated as an important component in the imperial project of agrarian colonization of eastern Russia’s outlying territories. Applying modern approaches and researching practices, the author singles out the peasants’ social and cultural features, which influenced the results of the resettling process.

Keywords: “uncomfortable class”, peasantry, reflexive peasants’ research, colonization, social mobility, identity.

Eugenia N. Menshikova and Mikhail Yu. Semionov. The “New type” townswomen in the late 19^th – early 20^th centuries Russia: A representative image (рр. 117–131).

The authors use diverse historical sources to specify and conceptualize the notion of “New type woman”, which emerged in Russia. The article reveals cultural premises promoting the new women’s gender identity in Russian provincial towns. A representative image of a “new type” woman is designed in respect to some Central Black Soil towns. Hypothetical signs to identify the townswoman as a new type personality are offered.

Keywords: woman of a “new type”, cultural life, provincial town, The Central Black Soil Region, modernization, the border of the 19^th – 20^th centuries.

Edward S. Kulpin. The conflict of mentalities in the framework of the 19^th – early 20^th century Russian reforms (рр. 132–148).

Usually, aspects related to the earth, new technologies, general initial education etc. have been singled out in the analysis of the Russian reforms in the 19^th – early 20^th centuries, while the changes in the collective unconscious remained in the shade. In contrast, in the author’s view, just this is the basis for the transition from the traditional to the European value system. Such transition could have resulted from the whole complex transformations, uppermost, the two interrelated values: private property and the law.

Keywords: social-natural history, technologies, modernization, civilization, integral values, power, property, law, middle class.

Conceptions of History

Nikolai I. Gubanov and Nikolai N. Gubanov. Mentality as a factor in social development (рр. 149–163).

The concept of mentality gives the historical sociologist additional heuristic facilities compared to the traditional concepts. The authors substantiate this observation and discuss methodology of relevant researches.

Keywords: mentality, function, culture, contradiction, self-determination.

Dmitri M. Bondarenko. State as a phenomenon of social history: Its nature and distinctive features (рр. 164–188).

In most of modern theories, the state is considered as a specialized and centralized institution for governing a society, which has a legal right to exercise coercive authority. Contrariwise, the author’s approach stems from the presumption that the state should be viewed not only as a specific set of political institutions but, first and foremost, as a type of society to which this set of institutions is appropriate. This approach implies a relevant version of the historical dynamic of kindred and territorial links and some other conceptual conclusions.

Keywords: social history, state, society, social ties, kinship, territoriality, political institutions, political centralization, administrative specialization, bureaucracy, legitimized violence, Eurocentrism.

Aleksey A. Romanchuk. The Indian Path to the State, or some new questions to the causes of politogenesis: Reflection on а new monograph (рр. 189–199).

The new monograph by Yuri E. Berezkin represents a comparative analysis of the emergence of first civilization in Sothern America and the Old World. It involves the recent data discovered by the archeologists, which help reconsider some traditional views.

Keywords: Nuclear America, first Indian civilizations, politogenesis.

Histories of the Future

Julia V. Zinkina. Is education able to prevent the demographic collapses in Tropical Africa? (рр. 200–219).

The UN forecasts suggest an explosive population growth in most of Tropical African countries during the next decades, which exigently demands a considerable decrease in birth rate. The author investigates probable effects of initial and higher education spread on the dynamics fertility in the region.

Keywords: Tropical Africa, forecast, population number, initial education, higher education, demography, fertility.

Contents and abstracts (pp. 220–222)

Authors of the issue (p. 223)