Reproduction of scientific and pedagogical intelligentsia in modern Russia: sociocultural and organizational factors

Abstract

Background. In the conditions of digitalization of modern society, the social sta-tus of many social groups, including teachers of higher education, is being transformed. The analysis of the prospects of reproduction in this community of socio-critical and educa-tional attitudes characteristic of the traditional Russian intelligentsia becomes extremely relevant in this regard. The purpose of the study is to consider the socio-cultural and orga-nizational factors affecting the implementation of these prospects. Materials and methods. The study uses a comprehensive analysis of the social situation of the modern scientific and pedagogical community through the prism of the organizational concept of G. Mintsberg and the theory of “McDonaldization” by J. Ritzer. In addition, to clarify the concept of in-telligentsia, the basic provisions of the sociology of knowledge are applied, according to which the features of many theoretical and sociological constructions are determined by the specifics of the social context in which these constructions are created and reproduced rela-tionships. Results. Summarizing the trends of evolution characteristic of the Russian scien-tific and pedagogical community, it is possible to draw conclusions about the preservation of the system of social expectations that orient higher school teachers to the realization of the roles of the traditional Russian intellectual. At the same time, the massization of intel-lectual professions, the decline in the economic component of the status of a university teacher, the transformation of professional and bureaucratic organizational forms of higher school management into a mechanistic bureaucracy prevent the reproduction of adequate socio-cultural conditions for the reproduction of intellectuals in the field of scientific and pedagogical work. Conclusions. The mass reproduction of socio-critical and radical educa-tional attitudes in the modern scientific and pedagogical community seems unlikely. Rather, we may be talking about the possibility of the transition of the majority of this community to the usual, “reactive” opposition – while the same opposition in the ranks of the classical intelligentsia is “proactive”, socially-searching and avant-garde in nature.

Keywords

• intelligentsia
• higher school
• professional bureaucracy
• mechanistic bureau-cracy