Vasilenko Lydmila

The article is an adaptation of the collective monograph «Reforming the power-administration vertical in the context of the implementation of national projects and activation of processes for spontaneous group formation» and based on the results of a large-scale sociological study. Scientific research was financially supported by the Russian Science Foundation Grant No. 19-18-00345 «Academic project: managing the processes of social group formation in regions with different levels of social and cultural modernization and public support of the strategy for development of the Russian Federation until 2024», under the guidance of honored scientist Alexander V. Tikhonov. In the monograph, the issues of the influence of the power-administrative vertical on the processes of group formation in the regions with different levels of civilizational development are considered through the study of group formation in the world and domestic sociology. The authors also applied several experimental sociological methods to the available research materials in the regions of Russia, selected by the Center of Sociology of Management and Social Technologies of the Institute of Sociology of the Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The results obtained by the research team will serve as the basis for further development of the sociology of management.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, important qualitative institutional, structural, and functional changes emerged in the post-Soviet space. Each of the countries of the region was at the crossroads of possible ways of development, conditioned by the interests of various external and internal social groups. These groups sought to meet their own needs at the expense of the new state entities and did not realize at that time the measures of their responsibility for the acquisition of the independence and sovereignty that had suddenly «fallen off» on them. The external social environment and the nature of the relations between states have been changing; the market relations have gradually been regulated, not without external repercussion, the influence of the initially weak but gradually developing civil society has increased. In this situation it is important to trace the evolutionary dynamics of the coherence degree of the social changes of post-Soviet countries and key priorities for their integration.

The author shows governance and self-organization in nonequilibrium social systems, the emergence of social epidemics, and social diseases, use of social therapy to overcome them. Social epidemiology investigates the occurrence of spontaneous processes of mass diseases. The epidemic process is a process of mass distribution of biological viruses, virus information (ideological or religious ideas, rumors, technological innovation). The spread of fashion, gambling, alcoholism among the population, drug addiction are examples of social epidemics. The rate of mass distribution of diseasecausing virus depends on the quality and characteristics of the communicative system. The authors demonstrated the features of social epidemics (multifactorial destructive impact on the social and economic fabric of society, the relationship of social epidemics with economic crises, etc.) on the example of the epidemic of the XXI century (HIV / AIDS). Social epidemics, we can stop the following ways: «vaccination» against the information viruses, using methods of social therapy, social interventions and education of morality. The authors show examples of M. Gladwell approach to counter the social epidemics.

The concept and features of social injustice are considered. Interrelations between the phenomenon of social injustice and relations between society and government are demonstrated. Results of the social study conducted by the authors lead to the conclusion about the escalation of the conflict between ethics and politics despite the existence of opportunities to overcome it.

The author analyzes Russian approaches to the study of innovation as a phenomenon of a developing society, providing a personal definition with special focus on qualitative changes in social life. Challenges to innovative activities in Russia and ways to overcome them are considered as well.