Sociologists celebrate their professional holiday on November 14. It has not yet been officially approved, but it has already taken root and has become an integral part of the sociological community. Our interlocutor is Sergei Ivchenkov, Doctor in Sociology, Dean of the Faculty of Sociology, SSU.
– Sociologists’ Day in Russia was first proposed to be celebrated in 1994, although the science of sociology originated more than two centuries ago. What is the history of this holiday?
– In 1994, the dean of the Faculty of Sociology at St. Petersburg University, Professor Asalkhan Boronoev (he is still in good health, we maintain relations with him), at one of the conferences, proposed celebrating November 14 as Sociologist's Day. I witnessed this event, as I participated in all conferences since 1989, when sociology began to revive in the country. Why this particular date? The fact is that on November 14, 1901, in Paris, Russian scientists Maxim Kovalevsky and Yuri Gambarov opened the Russian Higher School of Social Sciences with one of the world's first sociological departments. Every year on this day, residents of St. Petersburg hold Kovalevsky readings, the scientist was originally from St. Petersburg.
– There are no holidays without traditions. Are they already in your faculty?
– Conferences and contests are held on this day. This year we plan to organize a meeting of students and teachers in the format of a cabbage patch. Traditionally, VTSIOM holds a sociological dictation on this day, and our students are sure to take part in it.
– Sociology is a relatively young and very important branch of scientific knowledge. What is the most succinct definition you would give her?
– Sociology is the science of society, studying social reality. Unlike other social sciences, its peculiarity is that it has chosen new methods of studying social reality, which make its conclusions truly scientific, reliable, verifiable and reproducible.
– How much have the methods of social research of public opinion and the ways of development of society changed recently?
– Sociology is a rather conservative science with its own methods of sociological research. But at the same time, today we are increasingly focusing on studying the deep processes in all spheres of Russian life. Research provides an objective picture of what is happening, which allows us to say that in many ways we know the society in which we live, it is characterized by unprecedented dynamics in the context of the aggravation of the geopolitical situation in the world.
– When and how did the training of sociologists at SSU begin?
– Back in 1920, new departments were created at our university: sociology, history of socio-political teachings and criminal sociology. The formation of science is associated with the names of Professor Solomon Zakharovich Katsenbogen, who served as rector of SSU, and outstanding Russian philosophers Semyon Ludvigovich Frank and Georgy Petrovich Fedotov.
But the development of sociological science was actually interrupted in the late 1920s. It was only in 1989 that two sociology faculties were reopened – in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and in 1990 regional departments of sociology were established - in Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod and Saratov. Since 1994, we started teaching sociology as an academic discipline for students, and in 2000 we opened the Faculty of Sociology.
– Whose names have made the sociology department iconic and famous?
– The organizer of our faculty and its first dean was Doctor of Philosophy, Professor Gennady Vasilyevich Dylnov, who can be considered the creator of the scientific sociological school at SSU. He put together a strong team and was a real inspiration to us, the youth of that time. The head of the Center for Regional Sociological Research, Nadezhda Vladimirovna Shakhmatova, and Irina Alexandrovna Beginina, responsible for scientific work, and Professor Leonid Sergeevich Anikin, a specialist in the field of political sociology, came out of it. Our first students have already become doctors of social sciences. The Dylnovo School of Classical Sociology is actively developing. The next All-Russian scientific and practical conference "XI Dylnov readings" will be held in February.
– Which programs and specializations were the most popular among applicants entering the Faculty of Sociology in 2023?
– This year there was a fairly high competition at the Faculty of Sociology, the minimum score for the field of Sociology was 210. The trend is that it is getting higher every year. Usually, the field of study "Applied Informatics in Sociology" is not very in demand, everyone went to the mehmat and KNiIT. But for the second year it has been developing rapidly, the passing score reaches 190. Traditionally, this year the most popular programs are "Sociology of Regional Development", "Sociology of Youth Policy", "Sociology of Social work".
– Sociology exists at the junction of the humanities and the exact sciences. What qualities should a sociologist have in this regard?
– Sociology is one of the few disciplines developing at the junction of mathematics and humanities. If medicine diagnoses a person, then sociology diagnoses society.
A sociologist has a unique opportunity through well–known methods - sociological surveys, interviews, focus groups – to gain knowledge about society, so to speak, first-hand. Imagine that you are the only owner of the information, which will then be brought to everyone. Communication skills, analytical thinking, and fluency in computer technology are the necessary qualities of a modern sociologist. We would only welcome it if, for example, our student would later be able to write computer programs himself. Especially now, when digital technologies are developing and the whole world is going to switch to new methods in sociology – big data analysis, machine learning. It is becoming relevant to study society through the analysis of a large amount of information using automated tools.
– Sergey Grigoryevich, you graduated from the physics department of SSU. And when and what attracted you to sociology?
– In 1984, I graduated from the physics department of SSU, and for five years I was engaged in public work – I was chairman of the trade union committee of university students. It was an interesting period in the life of the country: perestroika was beginning, the process of democratization of society was underway, which gave impetus to the development of youth initiatives. My PhD thesis was devoted to the activities of formal and informal youth organizations. I had to act as the author of new approaches in the organization of youth associations – these are both self-government and councils of young scientists. Since there was a lot of communication, communication with people, in the end the humanities won in me, and I went to public departments. In 1989, he entered graduate school, and then defended himself as a sociologist. At the end of the 1990s, at the level of the federal government, they thought about state youth policy in the regions, the post of vice-rector for Social Affairs and educational work appeared at SSU, I worked in this position for two years. And since 2013 he has been the Dean of the Faculty of Sociology.
The faculty is simply obliged to develop dynamically, since the science of sociology itself does not tolerate dogmas, it develops together with society.
According to the agreement between the SSU and the Government of the Saratov region, our faculty is the center of all sociological research conducted in our region, we have built close ties with all regional ministries. I am pleased with the fact that almost all of our graduates work according to their profile, they are very in demand.
We also receive assignments from our native university. Recently, for example, the Center for Sociological Research conducted a large-scale analysis of the attitude of students to teachers and to the university as a whole: more than 80 percent of respondents support the policy of the rector's office, they really like studying at their faculties, they consider SSU a democratic university, welcome the introduction of modern technologies, new approaches to educational programs. All this inspires optimism and faith in the future of our university!
In the recently published encyclopedic publication "Sociology of Russia in Persons: History and Modernity", the development of science in the country is presented through the personalities of the actors of sociological science. Among them are five professors of the Faculty of Sociology of SSU: G.V. Dylnov, S.G. Ivchenkov, M.E. Elyutina, N.V. Shakhmatova, and Ya.A. Nikiforov.
Text by Tamara Korneva
Translated by Lyudmila Yefremova
