Sociology of culture: Paths of scientific development (1968-2018)

The article considers the long path of the development of sociology of culture as a special sociological theory within the system of Russian sociological knowledge. The author describes the fifty-year period of the empirical enrichment of sociology of culture; identifies main research issues within cultural and educational activities (clubs, museums, parks, groups of artistic and technical creativity in cities and villages); provides an overview of key achievements in the sociological study of theater, cinema and the media in the 1970-1980s. It was during this period that the basic directions of the sociological study of cultural life were formed and consolidated the efforts of sociologists: planning, forecasting and managing various types of cultural institutions; scientific planning of cultural development of the city, village, and region; forecasting the development of art and its different types; social indicators of the development and management of artistic culture; economy of culture - improvement of its material and technical base, pricing, efficiency; interaction of different types and forms of artistic culture, their relationship with art; analysis of the cultural life of different social-demographic groups; development of the theoretical-methodological foundations of sociology of culture, its self-determination as a special sociological theory. The author also considers such aspects of the spiritual life as musical culture and features of leisure activities and describes the multicultural state of the contemporary Russian society.