Abstract: The subject of this research is the media activity as a personal quality of a modern man. The object of this research is the modern subject of culture as creator, as well as consumer of diversified information. The author reviews the activity of an individual as manifestation in various forms of behavior, lifestyle, and way of thinking. Special attention is given to the peculiarities of the path from adjustment to the circumstances of existence in the technogenic world till the critical understanding of reality; it requires demonstration of specific qualities and skills regarding the work with media information, represented by the content of the Internet resources, communication ties, and sociocultural practices. Media competence of a modern man is the key condition for the successful and accomplished self-realization in career, life, and creative work. The scientific novelty consists in determination of media activity as a fundamental characteristic of an individual of the postindustrial era. Familiarization with the media spaces opens opportunities for the new methods of work with information and preservation of humanistic ideologies within the sociocultural reality.

Keywords: media education, media environment, media literacy, media competence, media activity, mobility, sociocultural practices, activity, postindustrial culture, subject

Abstract: The object of this research is fashion, and the subject is fashion as a sociocultural phenomenon. The author analyzes the social nature of fashion, its properties, and correspondence with the orientations of consumer society. Various aspects of fashion, its universality, timely character, fluidity, and correspondence with the socio-historical context are being reviewed. The author examines the connection between fashion and economy, impact of fashion upon public relations, as well as processes of establishment of mass consciousness and choice of behavioral strategies. Fashion is presented as a multifunctional phenomenon, as contradictory unity of the positive and negative. The scientific novelty consists in the substantiation of a thesis on the demand of fashion by the modern society. As the methodological foundation for this article, the author uses gnoseological and ontological principles of dialectics, as well as the analysis of the fashion phenomenon as an integral phenomenon. The problematic field of the article allows formulating a number of statements: 1) fashion is an imperative sociocultural phenomenon, which captures social space and the entire multiplicity of human relations; 2) consumer society endows fashion with the features of universality and individuality.

Keywords: diffusion, imitation, differentiation, stratification, consumer society, fashion standard, fashion, trend, brand, prestige

Abstract: The subject of this research is the impact of the natural conditions, in which the Eastern Slavic people have live and cultivated land, upon the formation of certain features of the Russian economic mentality. The author analyzes the role of the landscape specificities and geographical factors of the Eastern Europe concerning the establishment of peculiar attitude of the first settlers towards the surrounding space, as well as their place of residence and property. The specific environmental conditions necessitated the farmers towards the unequal work rhythm in the course of year, which later spread over the entire lifestyle of their descendants. Nature and climate dictated to the first settlers and their successors the difficult living conditions in the woody and swampy lands, forcing them to concentrate on farming and husbandry, which impeded development of the trade-economic relations, thus prolonging the economic lag behind Western Europe. The research is conducted primarily within the framework of the historical method, which allows determining the inner logic and prerequisites for education and strengthening of the certain mental characteristics. The main conclusion consists in the following: the popular among Eastern Slavic people fire–fallow form of cultivation forced the farmers to lead the migrating lifestyle, under the influence of which the mental characteristics of the migrants have formed.  

Keywords: Economic lag, Farming, Migrants, Famers, Fire-fallow cultivation, Climate, Natural conditions, Geographical factor, Eastern Slavic people, Russian mentality

Abstract: The subject of this research is the regular succession of the change of types of power. It is being viewed with regards to the cycles of the change of elites in the XX century. The author primarily touches upon Russia, but also the questions of parallelism with multiple countries. The same combination of regularities could be observed in the number of other countries, but only concering separate historical periods. The examined regularity carries a rather universal character and manifests on the cycles of various level, although it can be more or less certain. The research is based on the existential systemogenetic approach, as well as theory of cycles. Both of these directions were developed by the author, as well as applied in examination of other topical areas back in 1990’s.  The conducted analysis of the forms of power in the XX century in Russia along with the extensive global context, establishes a new point of view upon the dependence of politics upon the mentality and culture. It manifests as a rigid mental program. This article contains the analysis of the past and present, as well as creates opportunities for the cyclic forecast.

Keywords: cycle, history, solar cycles, XX century, mentality, culture, mode, power, politics, analytics

Abstract: This article examines the main components of propaganda of the study of the “Brief course of the history of All-Union Communist Party ” inside the organization, as well as among the youth outside the union in Tambov Oblast. The author analyzed the fundamental methods of the study of the “Brief course” among the young generation, as well as the attitude of young men and women towards the history of the All-Union Communist Party, and the consequences of the influence of the falsified history upon the consciousness and public moods of the youth. The relevance of this topic is substantiated by the necessity to cover the historical role of Komsomol in propagandaof the “Brief course of the history of All-Union Communist Party” in the youth environment, as well as the importance of considering the experience of establishment of public consciousness in the conditions of the cult of personality. The geographical framework of the research include the territory of Tambov Oblast. The scientific novelty consists in the fact that for the first time the study of the attitude of the youth towards the “Brief course of the history of All-Union Communist Party” is built upon the resource base of the State Archive of Sociopolitical History of Tambov Oblast. The author makes a conclusion that the examination of the “Brief course of the history of All-Union Communist Party” produced a significant effect upon the establishment of mass interest of the youth in the reading of the history of the All-Union Communist Party, behind which there was often the lack of need for studying the “Stalin encyclopedia”.

Keywords: Enemy of the nation, Political apathy, Public consciousness, Propaganda, Myth, History of the party, Stalin, Public moods, Komsomol, Youth

Abstract: The object of this research is the processes of meaning-making, which emerge in the existentially important life situations. The subject of this research is the emotions, contemplation, and self-esteem of a person, which are marked as “ordinary” and “extraordinary”. The author attempts to determine the place of ordinary and extraordinary in human life, as well as define their importance for existential wellbeing and meaning-making. He claims that all most serious and extraordinary transforms into ordinary and absurd, in are constantly renewed by one and the same existential subject. In the conclusion the author determines the following: the meanings of ordinary and extraordinary in human life, as well as their importance for existential wellbeing;The author reveals and describes the causes and dynamic of routinization of the meanings in the daily existence of a human;the phenomenon of “extraordinary” in its objective and subjective dimensions. 

Keywords: life norm, autumn of middle adulthood, tragicomedy, existential wellbeing, routinization, meaning-making, extraordinary, ordinary, self-esteem, age crisis

Abstract: The subject of this article is the progress in the sociocultural and economic development of North Caucasus (second quarter of the XIX – beginning of the XX century). Based on the archive and documental materials the author narrates that by the end of the XVIII century the lengthy and gradually developing process of voluntary entrance of the Caucasian people into the composition of the Russian State was completed. The changes occurred in life of the highlanders after this historical act under the influence of the cultural figures of Russia and inclusion of the North Caucasus into the orbit of the capitalist relations, initiated the spread of education and literacy among them. The historical-comparative method allowed analyzing the comparable facts and based on that determine the regularities and specificities of the path of regional processes in sociocultural sphere. The article proves that the progress in sociocultural development of the aforementioned period led to the social-spiritual and political-economic revival of the highlander tribes, although there was still lack of educated people and schools. The national intelligentsia has just recently began its inception. Certain improvements in the school system, which emerged by the beginning of the XX century, primarily was determined by the active positions of the residents themselves. The reformation period became the time of future discoveries on the multinational Caucasian Krai and the unique culture of its people.

Keywords: multinational region, school construction, educators and education, national intelligentsia, North Caucasus, highlanders, pre-reformation period, voluntary membership, unique culture, Russians

Abstract: The subject of this research is the impact of the World Festival of Youth and Students of 1957 and the Stilyagi movement upon the activity of the Komsomol. Having studied the archive materials along with the memories of the veterans as former members of Komsomol and the participants of the informal youth movement, the author overviews the established within the historical science stereotypes. The relevance of this material in many ways is connected with the upcoming in 2017 World Festival of Youth and Students and 100th Anniversary of the Komsomol (October 29, 2018). The experience of the work of the most influential and mass organization within the Russian history is being assessed from the general human and national perspectives. It is demonstrated that despite the hopes of the party and Komsomol leadership, the attitude of the regular members of Komsomol towards the Stilyagi movement was rather ambiguous. The direct measures of the Komsomol members against the Stilyagi movement at times just aroused interest towards the forbidden among the rest of the youth. The implementation into the Soviet daily life of the Western lifestyle elements encouraged Komsomol lean towards an aesthetic upbringing. The Moscow Festival of Youth and Sudents destroyed the stereotype image of a foreigner in the eyes of the youth even more. The festival is assesses as one of the very first lessons of democracy. The author underlines that there were prerequisites for the formation of dissenting views among the participants of the Komsomol themselves.

Keywords: Festival, Stilyagi, Democracy , Creation , Cultural life, Dissenting views, Propaganda, Thaw, Komsomol , Youth

Abstract: The subject of this work is the iconographic program of the mosaic of apse of oratory of the Abbey Theodulf in Germigny-des-Prés. The object of this research is the oratory of the Abbey Fleury and Bishop of Orleans Theodulf in Germigny-des-Prés – a unique heritage of the Carolingien era, which not only allows touching the historical source as a priceless document and witness, but also raises multiple questions. The discussion field consists not only from the aspects of preservation of heritage, state and dating of the fragments of its decoration, but also the program of mosaic which is noted for a unusual iconographic and style of performance. In the presented research based on the iconographic method and interdisciplinary approach, the author analyzes the Old Testament images of Theodulf’s mosaic, comparing them with the texts of the Holy Scripture. The author examines the modern perception on the discussion iconographic program of the mosaic of apse of the oratory in Germigny-des-Prés and suggests its own version of explanation of Theodulf’s iconographic scheme, which complements the already existing interpretational picture. It is demonstrated that the Ark of the Covenant is the main conceptual object of this program, and the invisible Glory of the Lord that is present between the cherubs of the Ark is closely connected to the liturgical symbolic.

Keywords: Ark of the Covenant, Mosaic, Glory of God, Cherubs, Carolingien era, Eucharistic, Iconographic program, Oratory, Theodulf, Germigny-des-Prés

Abstract: The object of this research is the complex archeological open-air museums in the area of development of the domestic cultural-educational tourism. The authors introduce into the scientific discourse the notion “complex archeological open-air museum”, as well as reveal its content through the analysis of activity of the historical-cultural and natural open-air museum “Tomskaya Pisanitsa”, which is located on the territory of Kemerovo Oblast. The authors underline that the comprehensive approach is the most efficient and promising method of musefication of the material and immaterial heritage. Using the structural-functional method, the authors examine the combination of the activity on preservation of the objects of heritage with the efforts on their implementation within the framework of the development of national tourism. In particular, the authors characterize the experience of the open-air museum in development of the event and religious tourism, as well as review the problem of implementation and improvement of the information-communication technologies into the work of the museum. The authors make a conclusion that the complex archeological open-air museum manifests as a center of research, preservation, and presentation of heritage, although these functions could be realized for the purpose of development of the national cultural-educational tourism only on the basis of the project approach and application of the advanced information-communication technologies.

Keywords: Archeological heritage, Structural-functional method, Project approach, Information-communication technologies, Religious tourism, Event tourism, Cultural-educational tourism, National tourism, Open-air museum, Historical-cultural heritage