Research in Russia on the opinions of guardians and experts of the department of guardianship examines the motives that people have for taking orphan children into their homes. The data indicate that about 80 percent of the guardians are grandmothers taking care of their grandchildren, whose parents have been stripped of their parental rights.…

The subcultures that develop among military students have a powerful influence on their values and behavior, and in some situations are more influential than the official, military culture. Any attempt to improve levels of discipline in the military cannot afford to ignore these subcultures. [This article was translated by Kim Braithwaite.]

In presenting the basic data of the article the authors note that the topic itself, the sociology of the school grade, is determined by the overall context of timely and relevant issues that have to do with rating the success of the educational process. In the past few years the array of problems relating to educational evaluation has been studied…

These days politicians and scientists refer to the importance of consensus for understanding society's new ideological need, but the path to consensus is difficult. Political differences account for the wide variety of approaches to the problem. The United Russia Party supports a "conservative European" ideology, while the Communist…

The great variety of interests and opinions in present-day society carries a priori the potential for conflict and tension, and this imparts timely relevance to the value of "tolerance" in political interactions among social groups and individuals. As a component of the social group of young people, college students are characterized by…

Russian society can benefit from the kind of simplified, packaged education that has developed in many countries, since it is a quick way to bring a mass of students to a certain level of competency. But it is not a good basis for creating the kind of specialists and creative thinkers that Russia will need to succeed in the coming years. [This…

There is a great need to improve rural life in Russia, and this must involve the development of the agricultural economy. This will require improving life for rural families, making it easier for them to obtain land to farm, and providing adequate housing and cultural facilities in the Russian village. (Contains 1 table.) [This article was…

The formulation of a national educational policy in Russia has to be conducted taking account of the characteristics of its sociocultural and spiritual components and go hand in hand with the problem of Russia's acquisition of a sense of its identity. Russian education must also take account of world tendencies in the development of civilization,…

Conflicts between younger and older generations can take on a character that goes beyond personal experience to become a narrative of more general social conditions. In times of change, this phenomenon may play an important role in defining new social realities. This seems to be occurring in Russia today. Available studies of intergenerational…

An insufficient number of affordable places in Russia's preschool system is affecting the educational development of many young children and reducing the number of mothers who could be working in the economy.

There can be no doubt that gender attitudes and the gender stereotypes formed on their basis have a deep-rooted social character. This stems unequivocally from the parallels of development of social processes and gender models. The ideology of gender began to flourish in Russia along with perestroika, an ideology that in the past quarter-century…

Under the conditions of the market, the development of the economy must be of priority to the state, for the state cannot exist and be dynamic without such an economy and, consequently, there can be no question of any transformation of marriage, family relations, and the birthrate. A vital task in the development of the state has to do with…

Research on the reproduction of cultural capital in Russia shows that it requires not only appropriate motivation on the part of parents, close association between parents and children, but also institutional and material support. Inadequate financial resources, breakdowns in the functioning of the system of education and culture, and conflicts in…

In Lithuania, suicide is among the top three causes of death; between twenty and thirty-three school-age children take their own lives every year, and the overwhelming majority of adolescents do not seek help in connection with situations that prompt them to engage in self-mutilation. Research indicates adolescents think that if more attention is…

From the eighteenth through the early twentieth centuries, home education (home schooling) by tutors and governesses in Russia was a customary form of schooling for an overwhelming majority of members of the nobility. Social and political transformations of the twentieth century led to substantial changes as the state got actively involved with…