The thorny path of the Russian sociology sovereignty: History, the present time and prospects

The transition to a multipolar world, the sovereignty of Russia and other countries have contributed to the actualization of the significance of all civilizations and cultures and to the recognition of the uniqueness of national development paths. The “universality” postulates of Anglo-Saxon theories have been criticized, and there is a demand for sociological knowledge based on civilizational and national-cultural specifics but not denying achievements of the world sociological thought [25; 26]. Today, a sovereign vector of producing sociological knowledge is in demand: “Russian society is at a ‘fork in the road’, and the choice of the direction of further development is complicated by the destructive impact of aggressive circles of the globalist community pursuing their own interests that are clearly different from the national interests of Russia” [63. P. 525]. Initially, sociological knowledge was formed in specific countries and aimed at diagnosing and resolving specific social contradictions. However, over time, nationally oriented theories began to internationalize, usually adapting to national social-cultural features. Globalization in the form of Americanization contributed to the fact that sociological theories created in the context of Western values were presented as “universal”, which became a geopolitical challenge for Russian education. There is a need for a complex path of sovereignty for Russian sociology: its contradictory processes are clear in the confrontation of Slavophilism, Westernism and Eurasianism at different stages of the country’s historical development. Many ideas about the originality of Russia and its sociology, developed by different generations of scientists who were sometimes in intellectual confrontation, are now updated - revived and modernized under synergistic complexities and the transition to a multipolar world. The author considers it promising to develop sovereign sociological knowledge based on the basic principles of Russian culture, Eurasian civilizational specificity and achievements of the world sociological thought.