Abstract: Virtual social environments as an instrument for motivating youth to sociopolitical activity. The development of information and communication technologies in the Internet encourages the emergence of new virtual environments that affect civic mobilization of the youth. The authors analyze the participation of youth in sociopolitical events, as well as identify the factors that may obstruct their desire for participation. The article determines the political parties that enjoy most popularity among youth alongside the favored sources for acquiring the sociopolitical information. The objectivity of the online coverage of events is assessed from the youth perspective. The empirical foundation of this study is the author’s sociological online survey, which involved 412 respondents ages 18 to 29. The results demonstrate the overall positive attitude to sociopolitical segment of our society. The basis of youth motivation towards sociopolitical activity lies in their interest in politics, as well as assurance in the ability to affect the political events. However, assessing the activeness of the youth, the authors underline the clear passive position, associated with the distrust in political segment. Young people actively use Internet as the source for receiving sociopolitical information; the majority notes the high degree of objectivity of the information acquired from Internet.

Abstract: This article examines the questions associated with the problems of social inequality. The scientific progress alongside the advancement of information and communication technologies is currently accompanied by the emergence of the new virtual social environments, which in many cases encourage the levelling of the existing types of social inequality. At the same time, different access opportunities to such technologies for various social groups is the source of appearance of the new types of social inequality. The work analyzes the most common factors: limits of physical assess to the information and communication technologies; differences of information and communication competencies of the users; physiological nuances of a person; information threats. Methodological foundation includes the system-structural method that represents a sequence of actions of establishing the structural links between the variables or elements of the explored system. For conducting the analysis were applied the secondary data of the results of the national and foreign sociological research, official documents of the state programs of the Russian Federation. The authors proposed the mechanisms for levelling the factors that lead to emergence of the new types of social inequality, as well as analyze the actions of the Russian Federation in this regard.

Abstract: This article is dedicated to the discussion of problems of higher education that are associated with globalization. Russia's entrance to the Bologna process alongside the transition onto the three-level system of education "bachelor's degree - master's degree - post-graduate school" for increasing the rating of Russian education abroad, provide educational services to foreign citizens in Russian universities, expand and strengthen the country's positions in the world educational space, can be viewed as a process of globalization of education in Russia.  Based on the example of mathematical training of sociology students, the work analyzes the occurring problems, as well as the possible ways for their resolution. The classical and modern theoretical positions of the social and humanitarian branches of scientific knowledge formed the methodological basis of the research, which allows analyzing the Federal Program for the Development of Education over the period of 2016-2020 and the content of the training program for bachelor's sociologists on the GEF standard. The authors come to the conclusion that the impact of globalization processes upon education has positive and negative sides. Negative sides, such as, for example, the shortage of hours for acquiring new knowledge beyond the scope of the standard, can be balanced by the development and implementation of the remote forms of education. The graded rating system of the assessment of knowledge as a concurrent factor to the globalization of education must be implemented with consideration of the national pedagogical achievements. Meeting this requirements will lead to the successful acquisition of standards, and eventually, to the competitiveness of future Russian sociologists.

Abstract: This article is dedicated to the analysis of support of the people with vision disabilities in the Russian society. The mechanisms of support this category of citizens in existed in the Soviet period are being analyzed. The author presents the statistical data, which testifies about the elimination of the previously existed traditions pertaining to the support of such category of citizens. The article discusses the possible ways of solution of the established situation, and particularly, the use of the modern virtual social environments. The development of tiflo-communication computer technologies allows the people with disabilities to use the Internet in the social sphere and everyday life, for communication, job search, and questions of education or self-education. Classical and modern theoretical positions of socio-humanitarian branches of the scientific knowledge that allow examining the foundations of the social processes regulation with participation of visually impaired people, comprise the methodological basis of this article. The conducted research significantly filled the gaps in the scientific knowledge regarding the processes of adjustment of the people with disabilities to the society using the opportunities of the virtual social environments. The methodological importance lies in the proposed by the authors criteria and indexes of the sociological monitoring and assessment of the level of adjustment and integration of the people with disabilities into the social institutions.

Abstract: The article deals with the results obtained in the monitoring of teaching staff in the Moscow region for compliance with modern requirements for subject teacher in terms of new educational and professional standards. The goal of this work is to identify the professional difficulties and methodological problems for teachers in such areas as general pedagogical, scientific-theoretical, methodological, information and communication. The main tasks of the research is to assess the teachers' knowledge of new methods and techniques of training, teachers ability to organize research, independent work of students, teachers knowledge of the achievements of modern science and practice. The studies are conducted among the teaching staff in the form of Web-questionnaires, computer-based testing, interviewing, collection of indirect data. The results of the studies define the needs of teachers. Solutions to identified problems and difficulties for the training, retraining and advanced training of teachers are supposed. Trained teachers, who are able to combine traditional teaching methods and modern information technologies, are necessary to implement new features. Teachers must be able to create their own educational resources, widely use them in their teaching activities.

Abstract: The author considers in detail the practice of the use of virtual social networks by the disabled persons. The work discusses the issues connected with social integration and adaptation of visually impaired people. The emphasis is made on the process of the integration of the disabled persons into the society by the means of opportunities provided by the Internet. The experience of the Russian Federation in this field is analysed. In particular, the attention is paid to the Russian Federation Government Programme "Accessible Environment". The article provides the examples of existing virtual social networks for the visually impaired people. The statistics of the World Health Prganisation has been used. The methodological basis of the research is comprised of classical and modern theoretical provisions of social and humanitarian fields of scientific knowledge, allowing to consider the basic regulation of the social processes involving visually impaired citizens. The research conducted by the authors significantly filled the gaps in the scientific knowledge regarding the processes of adaptation of the disabled persons into the society using the opportunities offered by the virtual social networks. Methodological significance is justified by the criteria and indexes of sociological monitoring and the evaluation of the level of adaptation and integration of the disabled people into public institutions, suggested by the authors. 

Abstract: The subject of this research is the organizational and economic aspects of radiation safety projects in Russia and the creation of the effective mechanisms of system operation that ensure radiation safety for the environment and society. The goal of this work is to develop conceptual organizational and economic foundations for the integral national system of ensuring human safety from radon, in accordance with which in Russia could be formed a reliable system for protecting individuals, society, and nation from such type of radiation hazards and threats. The scientific novelty lies in devising interrelated measures that carry systemic character, aimed at neutralization of radon risk. Particular attention is paid to the fact that the natural sources in the structure of public exposure account for approximately 70% of the radiation level, and a substantial part of this dose (60%) originates from radon exposure. The author notes that the territories of Chita and Rostov regions, Altai and Stavropol Krai, Ural, and a number of other regions have elevated radon levels. Therefore, we can observe that in the current complicated environmental situation, the unit weight of radon component has considerably increased.