DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2022-7-4-72-108
Rural settlements in the Russian Near North face multidirectional effects, being at the crossroads of natural and environmental zones, economic and household patterns, and modernization challenges. In the market conditions, the relatively low fertility of non-black-earth soils and harsh winters make agricultural production marginally competitive. The steady centripetal migration of rural residents to cities, population outflow, relatively low life expectancy of the working-age population, accelerated demographic aging and, thus, the centrifugal influx of dacha residents from big cities and gradual transformation of lifestyle — these are the main thematic nodes of the study. The authors analyze macro- and micro-trends in rural life through the settlement patterns, material culture, living conditions and economic practices based on the study of the out-of-town settlement locus along the Unzha River between Manturovo and Makariev (Kostroma Region). The traditional methods — observation, survey and analysis of statistical data — were supplemented by the quadcopter footage of the villages. The authors paid special attention to the architectural and planning typology of houses and to the functional structure of rural estates, which objectively reflect the history of villages and rural lifestyle and the contemporary social-cultural evolution of ‘small territories’ under the social transformation of the Near North.
Russian Near North, Kostroma Region, rural settlements, depopulation, deurbanization, rural lifestyle, household practices, rural households, architecture of rural households, quadcopter survey.
Baskin Leonid M., DSc (Biology), Leading Researcher, Severtsov Insitute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences. Leninsky Prosp., 33, Moscow, 119071, Russia.
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Pokrovsky Nikita E., DSc (Sociology), Professor, Chair of General Sociology, National Research University Higher School of Economics; Leading Researcher, Institute of Sociology, Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology, Russian Academy of Sciences. Myasnitskaya St., 20, Moscow, 101100, Russia.
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Uliana G. Nikolaeva, DSc (Economics), Leading Researcher, National Research University Higher School of Economics; Institute of Sociology, Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology, Russian Academy of Sciences. Myasnitskaya St., 20, Moscow, 101100, Russia.
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DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2020-5-1-125-142
The article considers rural environmental issues as an object of sociological research and emphasizes the need to conduct surveys of expert communities. Such an approach allows to identify, follow and analyze the development of various environmental practices typical for rural residents, and to evaluate innovations and initiatives at both households and settlement level. The authors insist on the need to use the previously tested expert questionnaire and to rely on the cases that meet the specific requirements of the study. For instance, in the considered case, the authors faced methodological difficulties when discussed rationality of the environment use and interdependence of available natural resources and everyday human activities. Thus, the article presents a ‘field-tested’ methodology of sociological research focusing on the in-depth analysis of environmental issues in rural worlds.
ecology, rural world, sociological research, qualitative methodology, informal social-ecological practices, rural households, rural residents, natural environment
Vinogradsky Valery G., DSc (Philosophy), Senior Researcher, Center for Agrarian Studies, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. 119571, Moscow, Prosp. Vernadskogo, 82.
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Vinogradskaya Olga Ya., Researcher, Center for Agrarian Studies, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. 119571, Moscow, Prosp. Vernadskogo, 82.
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Nikulina Ekaterina S., Researcher, Center for Agrarian Studies, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration; 119571, Moscow, Prosp. Vernadskogo, 82.
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DOI: 10.22394/2500-1809-2019-4-1-123-144
In her interview, Tatiana Nefedova, a Chief Researcher at the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences, tells about her research interests that had formed already in childhood and brought her to the geographical faculty of the Moscow State University, and about her further professional development. As a true geographer, the author traveled a lot all over Russia and the world, participated in different interdisciplinary geographical projects, and at first they were not agricultural. Nevertheless, T.G. Nefedova made a significant scientific contribution to the study and development of rural post-Soviet Russia. At the same time her cross-cultural comparative studies of rural Russia and other countries of the world—Europe and Asia—are no less important. In her interview, she also focuses on various methods to study the spatial development, on the perception and reflections on the poly-scale nature of space, on the diversity of regionality as the most important factor of rural development, and on the ratio of quantitative and qualitative research methods. One of the special topics of the interview is the relationship of the scientist and the authorities. Should a scientist seek power and strive to in fluence the state decision-making with his findings despite the threat of turning from a scientist into a politician or an official? In conclusion, new plans and projects of geographical studies of rural Russia are discussed, for instance, the study of such a combination of factors of social development as the long-inhabited territories, social capital, social mobility, agglomerations, summer residents, and cultural heritage.
geography, regions, rural Russia, research methods, rural households, social capital, agglomerations
Nefedova Tatyana G., DSc (Geography), Chief Researcher, Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences; 119017, Moscow, Staromonetny per., 29.
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Nikulin Alexander M., PhD (Economics), Head of the Center for Agrarian Studies, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration; 119571, Moscow, Prosp. Vernadskogo, 82.
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