Russian Journal of Sociology

Number 2 (4), 2016

38-43
The New "Economic man": the Dialectics of Traditional and Contemporary Forms of Economic Motivation

Authors: А.P. Abramov

Abstract

View in PDF

Number of views: 406

The article discusses evolution of conceptual socio-economic approachesfor various forms of economic behavior.The economic motivation is expressed by such formsof coercion asexternal economic, economic, technological and ideological coercion.The social norm is determined as the main source of motivation. The new social reality presented by the non-institutional structures gives rise to the introduction of irrational motivational variablesin terms of global economy and transition of cultures, where affective economic action becomes dominant, and value-oriented, based on cultural scrapie, religious faith and aesthetic taste is the least important. It is concluded that the socio-cultural approach is fundamental in the study of socio-economic systems, since it allows the systematically and holistically imagine a new model of "economic man".

44-51
The Peculiarities of Cultural Transformation of Modern Social Status of the Police in Terms of Russian Reality

Authors: D.A.Kartavtsev, R.V.Skoblikov

Abstract

View in PDF

Number of views: 419

This article discusses formation of the sociocultural status of employees of law-enforcement bodies in modern Russian reality. The authors investigated the mutual influence of legal socialization of young police officers and the development of their professional identity. In conclusion, the authors note that the cultural context of the activities of the professionals of the internal affairs bodies is associated with the transformation of the russian society. The various blocks of the reformed society have an impact on the self-determination and self-realization positively, neutrally or negatively. The personnel law enforcement agencies are, on one hand, the object of cultural influences, on the other hand, they are performing their functions in accordance with the regulatory culture, and participate in the formation of values, law and order.

52-61
The Cognitive-Developmental Approach as Contribution totheExplanationoftheArabian Migrants´ Criminality

Authors: Georg W. Oesterdiekhoff

Abstract

View in PDF

Number of views: 446

The incidents in Cologne at the New Year´s Eve with sexual attacks against young women performed by some hundreds of Arabian refugees and migrants have originated a debate both about the causes to such strange forms of behavior and about migration policy. Most experts earmark either the specific social situation of migrants or their traditional values regarding gender relations as causers to these forms of delinquency. The article shows that explanations of this type are not sufficient to explain such extreme forms of behavior unknown in the crime history of Germany. It is evidenced that instead only developmental psychology is able to explain these crude and brutal patterns of behavior. Different nations stay on different stages of psychological development, as Piagetian cross-cultural psychology found out. Therefore, it will need generations to raise in the new migrants those higher stages that carry a civilized conduct peoples of the most advanced nations of today usually exhibit. The incidents of Cologne shed a light on the modifications of culture modern societies have to face when they follow the migration policy Germany currently practices for whichever reasons. The new approach shows a fundamental theoretical alternative both to social psychological and racial-biological theories regarding the scrutiny of the psychology of different nations and of the problems of migration policy.

62-73
The Right to Read Behind Bars: Access to Books and Libraries in the Prisons in Bulgaria

Authors: Milena I. Tsvetkovaa, Sashka Y. Andrekova

Abstract

View in PDF

Number of views: 441

The actuality of the research is justified by the lack of serious scientific, social and politically engaged interest in the subject of books and reading among prisoners, which could reflect on the whole society, with negative consequences. This topic has been neglected even at state level in the former socialist camp. A comprehensive picture of the reading in the penitentiary establishments in the world is absent. There is no empirical study on the reading in the places of imprisonment in Bulgaria after the end of the totalitarian period (after 1989). A research interest of the library keepers and of the experts from the public libraries to the problems of the reading in the prison libraries is absent. The aim of the study is to answer the question what is the level of the readers activity in the prisons in Bulgaria and what are the perceived material needs of the prison libraries to meet the reading right of the prisoners.The subject of the study is the access to books and libraries in Bulgarian prisons and the accompanying risk of information discriminationof the prisoner – the feeling of intellectual isolation from the books, the world is reading. Subject of a direct interest is the right of happiness through reading and the opportunities for the welfare of the imprisoned reader. For the first time, a recap of the status of the prison libraries and the readers activity among prisoners in Bulgaria after the democratic changes of 1990 to 2015 is presented.