История, содержащая опыт прошлого, издавна интересна не только профессионалам, но и широкому кругу ученых разных специальностей. Кажущаяся доступность исторического материала, излагаемого общеупотребительным языком, вводит в искушение сказать свое слово в понимании прошлого и без особой подготовки, что нередко приводит к ошибкам. Но есть и положительные примеры удачного сочетания природоведческих и гуманитарных подходов в историческом анализе. В таком качестве рассмотрены исследования Э. С. Кульпина в рамках разработанного им социоестественного изучения истории. Тем не менее некоторые общетеоретические воззрения автора СЕИ вызывают необходимость уточнений, изложенных в статье. В заключении предлагается общий взгляд на начало социализации человеческого сообщества. At all times history with its experience of the past is interesting not only for the ex-perts, but also to a wide range of scholars from different fields. The apparent availability of historical material, written in plain, simple language, tempts many people to have their say on the understanding of the past and without special training, which often leads to mistakes. But there are good examples of a successful combination of natural history and human approaches to historical analysis. The article deals with Eduard Kulpin’s research developed within his socio-natural study of history. Nevertheless, some of general theoretical views of the author of socio-natural history require the specifications which are presented in this article. In conclusion, the author proposes a common viewpoint concerning the beginning of socialization of the human community. Подробнее https://www.socionauki.ru/journal/articles/265434/

Статья посвящена проблеме осмысления Русской социальной рево-люции 1917 г. Работа выполнена в жанре политфилософского эссе. Ав-тор предлагает взглянуть на историю Русской революции под углом идеологического метода, краткий набросок которого представлен во вводной части работы. История революции преподнесена как часть ис-тории революционной партии и ее идеологии, поэтому повествователь-ный формат работы носит выраженный идеологический характер. Ра-бота состоит из пяти смысловых разделов. Во вводной и первой частях раскрывается представление о революции как об идеализированном ком-поненте революционной идеологии. Автор раскрывает свое представле-ние о Русской революции как о подлинной социальной революции, которая привела к радикальной модификации общественной формы России. Так-же в первой части формулируются базовые для работы методологиче-ские определения идеологии и революции. Во второй части работы автор излагает сходства и отличия идеологических контекстов революций Нового времени и современности. Также в статье предлагается оригинальная интерпретация места и значения идеологии русских революционеров среди революционных идеологий всего периода революций. В третьей части работы автор затрагивает проблемы спонтанных и организованных причин революции в России, делая акцент на том, что вступление Российской империи в Первую мировую войну создало социальные условия, приблизившие революцию в России. В четвертой части работы анализируется феномен идеологии русских революционеров. В пятой части обосновывается отношение автора к большевистской партии как партии профессиональных заговорщиков-нелегалов, которые лишь по стечению обстоятельств смогли захватить власть в России в октябре 1917 г. Однако победа в развязанной ими в 1918 г. Гражданской войне сделала необратимой социальную трансформацию России. The present article is devoted to rethinking of the Russian social revolution of 1917. It is written in the genre of political-philosophical essay in which the author suggest considering the history of the Russian revolution in terms of ideological method whose brief description is presented in the introductory part of the paper. The history of the revolution is presented as a part of the history of the revolutionary party and its ideology, that is why the narration in the article is obviously ideologically biased. The article consists of five meaningful parts. The Introductory and first sections give the ideas of revolution as an idealized element of the revolutionary ideology. The author presents his own view of the Russian revolution as a genuine social revolution which led to radical modification of the social pattern of Russia. In the first section the author also formulates the methodological definitions of ideology and revolution basic for the research. In the second section the author defines similarities and differences of the ideological contexts of the revolutions of the New Era and modernity. The article also suggests an original interpretation of the place and impact of the Russian revolutionaries’ ideology among the revolutionary ideologies of the whole period of the revolutions. The third section touches the problem of spontaneous and organized causes of the revolution in Russia and emphasizes that World War I created social prerequisites that expedited the revolution in Russia. The fourth section analyzes the phenomenon of the Russian revolutionaries’ ideology. In the fifth section the author justifies his attitude towards the Bolshevik party as a party of professional illegal coup-plotters who accidentally succeeded to get power in Russia in October 1917. Meanwhile, their victory in the Civil War of 1918 made irreversible the social transformation in Russia. Подробнее https://www.socionauki.ru/journal/articles/1319813/

Статья посвящена проблеме столкновения европейской цивилизации (с характерным для нее индивидуализмом и разрушенной коллективистской традицией) и аграрно-традиционных культур. Показано, что традиция ориентирована на воспроизведение устоявшихся форм жизни и глубоко равнодушна к судьбам отдельных людей. Европейская цивилизация чувствительна к жестокости, в традиционной культуре практически незаметной. Европейцы стремятся помогать людям, обреченным на изгойство и гибель в традиционной системе ценностей. Носители тра-диционных культур считают их позицию бессмысленной и разрушитель-ной. Волна погромов и насилия со стороны мигрантов, прокатившаяся по Европе в последние годы, не осмысливается мигрантами как чрезвычай-ная ситуация. Действия насильников соответствуют нормам их традиционной культуры. The author discusses the clash of the European civilization (with its individualism and destroyed collectivist tradition) with traditional agrarian cultures. The traditional worldview is oriented at a stable reproduction of life forms and is quite indifferent to separate individuals’ destinies. On the contrary, the European civilization is sensible to the cruelties which are unnoticeable for the traditional mentality. The Europeans tend to help the individuals doomed to be the pariah and to perish within the traditional value system; the bearers of the traditional cultures treat this attitude as senseless and destructive. The immigrants’ pogroms and violence in Europe in recent years are not considered by themselves as anything extraordinary: the violators’ activities correspond to their traditional norms. Подробнее https://www.socionauki.ru/journal/articles/1360259/

On November 14–15, 2015, the international symposium on ‘Theories and Methods for Studies of the Origin of States’ was held in Gucun Park Hotel, Shanghai. The symposium was co-organized by Research Center on Ancient Civilizations and History Department of Shanghai University, assisted by Pre-Qin History Research Association of China and Editorial Office of Academic Monthly.

A review of Kabytov, P. S., Dubman E. L., and Leontieva, O. B. (Eds.) ‘Finding Homeland’: Society and Power in the Middle Volga Region (from the Second Half of the 16th to Early 20th Centuries). Vol. 2. Regional Settlement and Ethnic and Demographic Situation. Samara: Samara University, 2014. Original version in Russian (Кабытов, П. С., Дубман, Э. Л., Леонтьева, О. Б. «Обретение Родины»: общество и власть в Среднем Поволжье (вторая половина XVI – начало XX в.). Часть 2. Заселение региона и этнодемографическая ситуация. Самара: Самарский университет). Подробнее https://www.socionauki.ru/journal/articles/445674/

The African Americans or Black Americans continue to be one of the largest minorities in the USA. The descendants of the African slaves they encountered discrimination, came through racial segregation (1865–1955) and fierce fighting for civil rights (1954–1968). Different social conceptions and movements sprang up inside the Black community in response to discrimination. Afrocentricity as one of them is considered to be the paradigm combining theory and practice, social movement and methodology of research, culture and lifestyle. The main goal of the Afrocentricity is to rehabilitate the Blacks from every corner of the globe. This article demonstrates the evolution of the Afrocentric socio-cultural paradigm in the USA from the early 1960s, when the conditions for its origins were created, up to the present. The author analyzes the evolution of the fundamental basis of the Afrocentric theory, as well as the mechanisms of spreading Afrocentric ideas and influence across the African American community upon the background of contemporary American history. Подробнее https://www.socionauki.ru/journal/articles/445658/

The Meru live in one of the most fertile and densely populated areas of Tanzania, and their current population number is about 198,000 people. Today they are organized in 26 clans. Most Wameru claim their origin from the Machame and Siha/Ng'uni groups associated with Chagga community, whose ancestors arrived and settled on the slopes of Mt. Meru about 400 years ago. Three clans traced back to the Maasai ancestors. The Meru actively opposed Christianity, and the missionaries were treated extremely hostile. The first Meru who adopted Christianity in 1905 was ostracized by the whole community. In the course of time the situation changed and currently most Meru are Christians. The Meru actively participated in liberation movement and were among the closest comrades of Julius Nierere. The economic liberalization evoked changes influencing the Meru people economy. Along with agriculture, many families are now engaged in various off-farm activities. Подробнее https://www.socionauki.ru/journal/articles/588203/

The long history of capitalism can be interpreted as an evolution driven by permanently mutating socioeconomic structures. The article is devoted to new forms of inequality that emerged during the postindustrial phase of the capitalism evolution and increase the structural complexity of contemporary societies. The spatial configuration of inequality transforms while globalization has resulted not in the ‘world society’ but rather in a transnational network of the globality enclaves: the largest cities connected by the flows of material, symbolic, and human resources. Compared to their countries as a whole, the metropolitan areas have no boundaries and are more successful with respect to economic growth although they are most unequal in terms of the Gini coefficient. The ‘onion-like’ stratification with dominant middle strata is substitutes with the ‘pear-like’ bimodal stratification. This new stratification results from the rise of the glam-capitalism. The glamour is transformed from an extravagant aesthetics into a new rationality of postindustrial capitalism. Now the value creation is more related to trends than to brands or products. The owners of trends and creators of trendy goods/services compose new status groups: glam-capitalists and glam-professionals who dominate over the shrinking middle class. The flows of people, money, goods, and information are structuring the social life under the glam-capitalism and involvement in these flows becomes a factor of social differentiation. The flow-structures make inequality temporal. Rising social significance of access to trendy goods creates new configuration of inequality as traditional quantitative gap between ‘having more’ and ‘having less’ is combined with the temporal lag between ‘having now’ and ‘having later’. Подробнее https://www.socionauki.ru/journal/articles/588161/

Review of Leonid Alayev, Rural Community: “A Novel Embedded in History”: Critical Analysis of the Theory of Community, Historical Evidence of its Development and Role in the Stratified Society. Moscow: LENAND/URSS, 2016. 480 pp. ISBN 978-5-9710-3745-3. In Russian (Алаев Л. Б. Сельская община. «Роман, вставленный в историю». Критический анализ теорий общины, исторических свидетельств ее развития и роли в стратифицированном обществе. Москва: Ленанд). https://www.socionauki.ru/journal/articles/1387365/

This paper examines the historical development of town planning in Lagos under colonialism. Unfortunately, the contributions of British town planners to the development of Lagos have not been given scholarly attention by historians. It is therefore against this background that this study attempts to historicize the development and politicization of town planning activity in the colony of Lagos from 1920 to the end of the Second World War in 1945. This work also highlights the contributions of the British town planners to urban development in colonial Lagos with particular emphasis on the prominent role played by Albert Thompson. During the period under study, the colonial government employed surveillance, inspection, and modification of built forms, provision of municipal facilities, and the demarcation of space to plan the environment. However, this paper also discusses the conspicuous challenges faced by town planning during the years of the Great Depression and the Second World War. Finally, some directions for future research are suggested. https://www.socionauki.ru/journal/articles/1213971/