(Review of the round table held jointly by the Department of Sociology of the Russian State University for the Humanities and the Research Center at the Institute of Youth)
The analysis of the role of the Russian intelligentsia in public life, the transformation of its forms is actualized in the context of socio-political instability. Along with this, there is also a need to respond to an important date of cultural development of our society - 90 years since the publication of the collection "Milestones".
Zh. T.Toshchenko, Editor-in-Chief of the journal "Sociological Research", Head of the Department of Sociology of the Russian State Pedagogical University, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, opened the round table with a description of this social and internal scientific situation. He invited the audience to consider the Russian intelligentsia as a special historical phenomenon that has survived the vicissitudes of almost two centuries and has not lost its main unique features. First, it is not just the possession of knowledge, but the desire to convey this knowledge to the people. The idea of serving the people has always been a binding force in the behavior of those who call themselves intellectuals. Secondly, it is a statement of morality, good-will, readiness for self-sacrifice. Third, it is a sincere appeal to all of humanity. The Russian intelligentsia has always cared about what happens in other countries, what happens to other peoples.
Zav. At the Department of Sociology and Law of the MATI - Russian State Technological University named after K. E. Tsiolkovsky, Doctor of Sociology I. S. Bolotin drew attention to the fact that "Milestones" laid not only the tradition of analyzing the essence of the intelligentsia, but also formed a corpus of its basic concepts. Perhaps the most controversial was the division of the concept of "intelligentsia" into broad and narrow interpretations, according to which it is interpreted not as a community of all educated people, but as part of this community. The "Vekhovtsy" describe, for example, such properties of this "part"as an artificial isolation from the national existence, a circle character ("secession"), Messianism, sacrifice, nihilism, a thirst for justice on Earth, a desire to take on the function of spiritual and social leadership of the people and their representation before the authorities. The return to the Vekh tradition of understanding the intelligentsia begins with the publication in 1974 of the collection "From under the Boulders", where A. I. Solzhenitsyn analyzes, in particular, the changes that affected the Soviet intelligentsia, its spiritual orientations, introduces the term" obrazovanshchina "(what" changed, did not replace " the intelligentsia). * A sociological analysis of the processes it has experienced can significantly refine its understanding of this social group.
With the intention of "compacting" the image of the intelligentsia, which would allow us to perceive its inherent qualitative certainty, the head of the Department of Social and Political Philosophy of the Institute of Youth, Doctor of Philosophy V. V. Zhuravlev, focused on the separation of the concepts of "intellectual" and"intellectual". An intellectual is characterized by two characteristics:: a) priority of the spiritual over the material in the structure of value orientations, b) activities for the realization of such interests and goals that go beyond the personal, beyond the boundaries of individual life. In his opinion, there is a need to create a history of the Russian humanitarian intelligentsia, its long-suffering "walking through torment". Otherwise, we will not be able to understand why at all stages of the Russian
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it played such an important role in the revolutionary process, which attracted the socialist orientation towards collectivist principles of the intelligentsia, who extolled individual freedoms, why did Soviet society cultivate distrust of this "stratum"? And yet-how did it happen that it now has to be content with socio-economic lack of demand?
As the chief researcher of the SIC at the Institute of Youth, Doctor of Philosophy G. S. Entelis, reminded, in Hegelian philosophy, the concept of "intelligentsia "is associated with" the ability to have knowledge through reason", with the state of" theoretical spirit " that has reached its self-consciousness. Throughout the entire history of mankind, the humanitarian intelligentsia, as a carrier of culture, has ensured its continuity in generations. In the Russian mentality, the true mission of the intelligentsia is to serve the people, and a true intellectual " listens to his conscience." And in the course of modernizing Russian society and structuring it on new foundations, the intelligentsia is called upon to fulfill its mission in the most professional way.
In connection with this turn of the discussion, the director of the SIC at the Institute of Youth, Doctor of Historical Sciences B. A. Ruchkin, proposed to analyze the question of the relationship between professionalism and intelligence. Probably, forming modern youth, from which we want to raise intellectuals, recreate the domestic intelligentsia, we rightly think that professionalism is a necessary condition here. But is it enough? The problem of developing young people's ideas about a socially significant ideal, the ability to devote their thoughts and aspirations to it, remains open and is extremely interesting for us in our pedagogical practice. After all, doubts about whether the people really need the service of the intelligentsia, which have already had a ninety-year history, have become stronger today than ever.
To understand the nature of these doubts, as noted by the head of the Department of Sociology of Spiritual Life of the Faculty of Sociology of the Lomonosov Moscow State University, Doctor of Philosophy F. I. Minyushev, one can only once again turn to the conceptual apparatus. The humanitarian intelligentsia is the one that studies a person. Its socio-cultural significance has been devalued due to the degradation of the individual. We observe a dystrophy of education, material security, and physical well-being of a person. The picture becomes more complex due to the growth of social differentiation. Nevertheless, it is necessary to strive to create a frontal examination of all social manifestations "from the point of view of human relations". At the same time, traditional intellectual service changes its object -the need to serve not the people, but the truth is revealed, to strive to preserve the identity of culture.
Candidate of Philosophical Sciences M. B. Bulanova (RSUH) believes that the topic of" generational connections " of the Russian intelligentsia, when statistically reflected, can turn into the topic of "generation gap". Let's not forget that the intelligentsia used to be a small social minority (about 2.7 % of the population at the end of the 19th century). The intelligentsia of the past century's recognition of their small number as a chosen people was perceived as a challenge to fate, the answer to which was their own selfless activity, which was aimed at returning the "debt"to the people. Now, statistically, the situation has changed dramatically, which leads to a change in the functions of the intelligentsia as a social group, to the transformation of social self-identification, and therefore sets it the task of defining a new social role, searching for a different style of "filling" the social space of Russian society.
V. F. Levicheva, Doctor of Philosophy (RSUH), devoted her speech to identifying the similarity of features of methodological reconstruction of ideas about youth and intellectuals as social groups. The mechanisms of social construction and reproduction of both communities have now largely either lost their own forms of symbolic representation (intellectual newspapers and magazines are among the most limited - circulation; many publications for young people have almost disappeared from the horizon of public attention; creative and youth unions and associations are barely afloat; scientific and humanitarian forums are few and far between. or they are represented in the mass consciousness through purely negative images (young people on TV screens are presented "in a package" of drugs, crime, prostitution and Nazism, or, at best, in the image of a relaxed student with a can of beer; the media is increasingly pointing fingers at the intelligentsia, discussing the question "Who is to blame?" and In addition, the growing stratification differences in the 1990s, the weakening of intra-group relations, and the decline in the number of people living in the United States.
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social relations and interactions, dysfunctions in the systems of social and professional identity (when, say, the young generation of the humanitarian intelligentsia "gets stuck" at the level of subcultural youth identity, demonstrating complete civic and professional immaturity), general social regionalization, which takes on a self - sufficient and often destructive character-all this raises a direct question: does it even exist? do we have intellectuals (and young people)? To understand this, it is important to study dispersed, non-contact social formations, mechanisms of corporate identity and value solidarity, signs of socio-cultural reference, transformation of cultural and professional practices, and the main qualities of personal and social similarity. Only in new methodological coordinates can the accumulated layer of "sweet" or "bitter" mythologism be removed from the concept of the intelligentsia and we can get closer to reality.
Doctor of Philosophical Sciences V.A. Lukov (Institute of Youth) compared the generations of intellectuals of the second half of the XIX and second half of the XX centuries. The intelligentsia of past times seemed to serve as an interpreter and relay of cultural values based on the close connection between the image of a cultured person and literacy (in the most direct sense - as the ability to read and write). Communication links based on the transmission of a written text had a stratification value, and this supported, first, the identity of the intelligentsia as a highly cultured stratum, and secondly, its missionary attitudes (the desire to ennoble the people, to introduce authentic culture into them). These characteristics are reproduced over the course of generations, even when the social system changes. However, at the end of the XX century, the environment of its activities has significantly changed and the role of the carrier of cultural values can no longer be the same. The meaning of literacy, which is less and less connected with working on a written text, has changed, which has reduced the distance separating highly cultured and low-cultural layers in terms of access to informative sources necessary for life orientation. But even more significantly, the transformation of information through the media has led to a fragmented picture of the world as an important aspect of modern cultural life, where the leading property of an intelligent person's worldview-integrity - turns out to be maladaptive. The bulk of humanitarians are school teachers, university teachers are not .it is successful in the system of value orientations typical for the majority of Russian youth. Studies conducted by the Institute of Youth in 1995-1999 show that among students (including pedagogical and other humanities universities), self-identification with the intelligentsia is practically not observed. The missionary function of the latter is no longer based on a close connection with the profession and is thus significantly undermined. Intellectuals in this case are defined rather through self-identification, and their characteristic features can be perceived by analogy (but no more than analogy) with religious minorities. Similarity is seen in the peculiarities of recognizing "one's own" (non-contact community), asceticism and striving for normative behavior, the phenomena of apostasy and condemnation of apostates (both as a search for new stability), active resistance to the expansion of alien cultural patterns.
Candidate of Philosophical Sciences E. A. Grishina (SIC at the Institute of Youth) addressed the problem of the formation of intellectuals in a "market society". As traditional as it may sound, the division of it in accordance with its property status also dictates its "ideological community" with other groups that are close in material status. In almost all respects, those young intellectuals who have a low property status are in solidarity with the" working class " in assessing the shortcomings of the market economy. Conversely, those who have a relatively high financial situation perceive the "degrees of freedom" introduced by the market as undoubtedly positive aspects and in their views are much closer to the group of respondents from the "new Russians".
According to a sociological survey of students of Moscow, Perm and Nizhny Tagil Universities (May-June 1998), which was introduced to the audience by the chief researcher of the SIC at the Institute of Youth, Candidate of Philosophical Sciences P. I. Babochkin, 19.1% of respondents were focused on achieving a high position in society among their life-meaning goals. In order to achieve a high position, young people focus on the factors that ensure success in life, career and social recognition. In general, the young intelligentsia today is close to
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use the definitions of "smart class" or"pro class". (It is in this situation, Zh. T. Toshchenko emphasized, that it is important to answer the question: what is happening to the intelligentsia - renewal or destruction? Is it preserved, in the words of P. N. Milyukov, as the "thinking and feeling apparatus of the nation", if the traditions and values that have been formed for centuries are destroyed, individualism, chauvinism, extreme clericalism, cynicism, the cult of money, hatred of dissent are promoted?)
Doctor of Sociology O.N. Kozlova (RSUH) said that the Russian intelligentsia is gradually overcoming the state of self-dissolution and continues to reproduce at a new level its traditional internal conflicts of perception and reflection of social reality - between freedom and responsibility, individualization and "collectivization", nationality and service to the people, speculative and compassionate. However, in the context of the global crisis, the task of developing an idea of the strategic future and the main value - life-is brought to the fore. It is precisely this value that appears as the "full basis" for the formation of a new "social contract" as a way to end the social anomie that has reached a threatening concentration. The very same development is the business of the intelligentsia. The change of generations, the change of epochs, millennia implies a change in the way of action by the humanitarian intelligentsia - not to be limited to setting "milestones" (defining the way of movement, indicating "how to go"), but to focus on modeling the goal, strategic perspective. To do this, it is necessary to significantly restructure the work of the humanitarian intelligentsia, which is primarily engaged in the education of the mass intelligentsia. In the process of education, it is necessary to restore the dialogue of humanities students ("seekers") with real social problems much more fully, to initiate their inclusion in the development of technologies for "serving the people", overcoming total destruction, marginalization, and social death.
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