Volume 2017, Issue 2, 2017

The authors of the current paper have analyzed data obtained from opinion polls among Russian citizens (including those conducted among students and staff of various Russian universities). The surveys have revealed significant coincidences in the results obtained by different research centers regarding the reduction in the level of political and civic engagement of Russians in recent years. According to the surveys, this is largely due to the alienation of the significant part of the population from the government and the state. These people believe they are not able to influence the state decisions, which, in their turn, have little effect on the improvement of their everyday life. In the post-Soviet period, practically all the elective procedures were designed in such a way that they allowed the officialdom to be self-sufficient and independent from public opinion. As a result of formalized elections, the society in general, as well as separate communities, legitimizes this situation as democratic, since the governing structures are formed in the course of a multistage procedure involving a significant part of the population (employees). Thus, as sociological studies show, "the attitude of the population towards the authorities is greatly influenced by the discrepancy between the perception of the value of democracy and its implementation in real political practice. On the one hand, democracy values have rooted quite firmly in the society. On the other hand, the processes of democratization in public perception are of a nominal nature, i.e. they do not correspond with their purpose ". In a situation like this, management assumes a bureaucratic form, and the dominant type of political behavior in modern Russian society is paternalistic and subject-imposed. Individual liberties and democratic rights, although important, are not decisive and get diminished by other considerations, e.g. the interests of the community. It is obvious that everyone’s aim is adaptation and maintenance of the today’s status quo, because things might get worse tomorrow. It applies both to the behavior of the so-called political power and to the behavior of the so-called “unsinkable” officials on different levels, who belong to the top of the new nomenclature, as well as to the behavior of their subordinates. The situation described above indicates ritualization of political life, which is connected, on the one hand, with the divergence between the power elite and the masses, and, on the one hand, with the mutual interest of the authorities and the electorate in preserving the currently stabilized political and psychological situation in the country.

The article reviews the meaning of political symbols in the modern society through the prism of Guy Debord's political and philosophical tractate «The Society of the Spectacle». It introduces a notion of political symbols - a specific form of social communication; such symbols give each agent the opportunity to identify themselves with a certain political community; they are an important part of political activity. All this becomes possible due to a long history of transformation of political signs and symbols that have the same meaning for most members of sociopolitical relations. Political symbols represent a «soft political power» that affects people via sight, which is the most abstract of senses, according to the author of «The Society of the Spectacle». As a result, political symbols have become essential part of modern political life, creating or maintaining an illusion of free choice. In order to negate spectacle's influence Debord offers to think and act creatively, building relations according to one's personal beliefs, as opposed to following patterns and imposed symbols.

The article suggests a re-evaluation of theoretical and practical application of tolerance in its contemporary European-American understanding as a concealed expansion of spiritual values, extraneous to Russian mentality. One of the conduits of this tolerance, propagating “western values” and alien to Russian peoples, is satirical comedy shows on Russian television, where a Russian person is depicted as a primitive brute. We examine the history of various understanding of cultural values between Russian people and western countries. Fundamental traditional moral and ethical values and cultural experience of Russian peoples are considered to be top priority in cultural development. For this reason, the author suggests establishing learning and teaching and academic centres and departments to study, preserve and actualize traditional cultures of native peoples of Siberia, the Far North and the Far East, as well as to research and regenerate Russian traditional culture.

The image of the organization is its most important characteristic and success factor. In a highly competitive environment, modern universities seek to form and maintain a positive image. Consequently, a study of various aspects of its image helps to identify some reputational problems and to find ways to solve them. The aim of the current paper is to analyze the attitude of Kemerovo State University academic personnel to various characteristics, elements and factors of the university image. An analysis of various approaches to the interpretation of the image allows the authors to propose their own definition of the “university image” notion and to justify the use of sociological methods in its study. The research conducted at the Kemerovo State University has shown that the teaching staff see the following factors as significant for a positive image formation: high qualification of the academic staff, successful employment of the graduates, and good facilities and resources. The actual characteristics of their institution were grouped in integrated indicators; they were later compared with their ideas of a positive image, which allowed the respondents to rank them. The "image of the academic staff" appeared to be most consistent parameter, followed by "the image of the provided educational services" and "the image of the university site" (with equal values). "The image of administration» ranked fourth, and “the image of students" completed the list. The conducted research has made it possible not only to determine the university's assessments of various aspects of the image, but also to focus on those problems, whose solution will improve the university image.

The article examines the state and dynamics of labor productivity in the Russian Federation within the context of major policy documents on the socio-economic development of Russia. The author analyzes the dynamics of a number of high-performance occupations for the last three years. The paper features the factors of productivity growth and efficiency of its use in practice. The author determines the main causes of low level labor productivity and proposes measures for its improvement. The article is based on analysis of statistical data, outcomes of analysts’ researches, and the results of interviews with managers. The result of the study is the conclusion that, along with large-scale renewal of fixed assets, it is needed to use extensive reserves of an organizational nature to increase labor productivity. Among them: reduction of losses of working time, the use of modern managerial techniques, motivating people to high performance by all methods, centralizing and systemizing of improvement proceedings for labor productivity.

The article explores the problems that interfere with the development of housing and communal services in Kemerovo. The purpose of this study is to improve the system of management of apartment houses in the city of Kemerovo. The subject of the study is the city of Kemerovo and its system of apartment house management. To achieve the goal the following research methods have been used: analysis, synthesis, methods of comparison and generalization, computational method. It was revealed that the commercial management companies of Kemerovo lack financial stability: the share of accounts payable in assets is high and amounts to more than 80 %, the value of assets has been reduced by more than 20 % over the last 3 years, the financial stability coefficients are significantly lower than the normative value 0,8-0,9) and make no more than 0,4. Other problems in the development of housing and communal services in Kemerovo are: a significant share of the city budget expenditures for subsidizing resource-supplying organizations, numerous administrative offenses by management companies, and a high percentage of depreciation of street sewage and water supply networks (more than 40 %). It is noted that municipal management organizations established in other municipalities (Moscow, Krasnoyarsk, etc.) have a positive dynamics of the main performance indicators. The conclusion is made on the need to create a municipal budgetary institution «Municipal property management company» in Kemerovo.

As the goal and the objectives of the study, the article features a systemic rationale for the need to form a structural and substantive basis for cluster policy within the framework of the movement of regions to a cluster-oriented model of regional economic growth to ensure their market competitiveness. The article defines a structure and content of the conceptual foundations of regional cluster policy, which makes it possible to build an algorithm for its implementation. The authors believe that the legal and regulatory framework for the conceptual basis of cluster policy will ensure the consistency and legitimacy of its conduct. The structure of the concept of cluster policy includes the directions, goals and objectives of its implementation, the principles and final indicators of the effectiveness evaluation, as well as the actual mechanism for its implementation. The mechanism for implementing regional cluster policy is presented in the form of five elements, the logic of which reflects the unity of the concept of cluster policy. The conceptual framework proposed by the authors may be universal in the practice of applying regional authorities to the development and implementation of regional cluster policy.

Subject. The subject of the current research is the saving potential of households. The matter of the essence of the saving potential of households is relatively underexplored. At the same time, it remains a topical issue from the academic as well as from the practical point of view. The matter maintains its current importance because (1) household savings are an important long-term investment resource for the uplift of the real economy sector; (2) household savings are an indicator of material well-being of households and economic growth of the regional economy in general. As a result, the investigation of theoretic aspects of the saving potential of households acquires a special actuality. Objectives. The purpose of the research work is the attempt to reveal the essence of the saving potential of households from positions of system approach. Methods. The appliance of the system approach in combination with methods of general scientific perception and special methods (comparative analysis, structuring, systematization, classification, comparison) allowed revealing the theoretic aspects of the saving potential of households. Results. The paper analyses approaches to the definition of the concept «saving potential of households» available in scientific literature. It proves the need for a system approach to the concept «saving potential of households». The article also reveals a system methodology of formation of household saving potential. It demonstrates the system properties of household saving potential and offers a structure of the system of saving potential of households. The paper features the author’s definition of household saving potential from positions of the system approach. Conclusions. The analysis of the methodological approaches to the investigation of the content of the concept «saving potential of households» makes it possible to accentuate the system approach, alongside with the resource-process and institutional approach. The system approach to saving potential of households allows one to structure the interrelated elements of the system. This interrelation must be taken into consideration while shaping the state regulation measures of the regional economy.

The current paper highlights the social and economic importance of adequate diagnostics of labor market situation acting as the tension/well-being indicator in society. It lists the shortcomings of the currently available mono-approaches, which are mostly limited to either a statistic analysis or a typological analysis the unemployed registered by state and/or private employment services. The study offers an original technique of complex social and statistical assessment of the situation in labor market whose information base is formed by two types of sources: reports and statistical information from job centers and materials provided by selective sociological surveys among the unemployed. The key indicator of the technique in question is the level of the labor market situation, with the hypothetical range varying from 0.20 to 1.00. It allows one to diagnose five types of situations: ideal, safe, normal, problematic and critical. The research offers a card of expert estimates of the parameters characterizing a situation in local labor market. The paper provides a step-by-step algorithm of the technique illustrated by a tentative example. The author puts special stress on the innovative character of the method and proves the need to replicate the technique in profile editions. Keywords: local labor market, social and statistical assessment, integrated approach, methodical tools.

The subject. The article is devoted to the analysis of the current state of agriculture as a branch of the economy of the Kemerovo region and to the identification of the prospects for its further development. The goal and tasks. The paper features the tendencies of the development of agriculture in the Kemerovo region. It asserts the role of agriculture in the economy of the region. The methodology. The research involves scientific methods of obtaining knowledge (retrospective and comparative analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction), allowing one to obtain reliable and valid results of the study. The results. The paper analyses the structure of agricultural products in terms of categories of farms and nomenclature over the past five years. It estimates the dynamics of the development of agriculture in the region, namely, the production of poultry and livestock, the size of cultivated areas, and the number of livestock. Positive trends in the development of the industry have been singled out, as well as problems interfering with the development of agriculture in the Kuzbass. The article describes the measures implemented within the framework of the Strategy of Social and Economic Development of the Kemerovo Region until 2025 in the field of agricultural management. The conclusions and significance. The study has made it possible to identify the key problems of the development of the Kuzbass agricultural sector, including management problems on the farms, and to propose measures to improve the efficiency of agriculture in the region.