Based on an empirical study, the article considers management practices at the departments of higher education institutions in the context of the recent education policy reforms in Russia. It was found out that the “new managerialist” policy does not comply with the existing practices of regulation of academic work based on collegiality and informal redistribution of workload. The role of heads of departments in such circumstances becomes peculiar.

Notes, observations and personal impressions of author, concerning the XXth International Congress of French-Speaking Sociologists at Montreal, held in July 4-8, 2016 and organized at Montreal by the International Association of French-Speaking Sociologists, University of Montreal and Quebec University at Montreal.

The paper discusses problems of socio-economic security of employees working in small businesses. The role of employment protection parameters in personal job satisfaction is determined. The analysis is based on the methodological approach to labor protection within the “decent work” concept. Following the results of the survey of employees in small businesses in Moscow we describe most vulnerable areas in labor relations as well as the compensation mechanisms of representative protection.

The paper analyses the negative tendencies in the development of the Russian sociology. Authors show that the significant problem is the weak relation between theory and empirical studies in the current research. They also demonstrate the turn away from the rationalistic explanation of social phenomena. The bibliometric analysis of the 1829 articles in the leading Russian and foreign journals is presented. The comparison demonstrated the differences between Russian and foreign papers in such aspects as the structure of the scientific publications, the description of the methodology of empirical research, the level of statistical analysis.

The phenomenon of reading is a key element of sociocultural activities. Importantly, reading is "built in" media consumption in general. No less important is that the media environment of modern society has been going through a profound transformation last 5 to 7 years. Within these circumstances, the project focusses on the following research questions. What is the place of reading (newspapers, magazines, books - both printed and electronic) in today's media consumption? How television and various online activities affect reading? What determines electronic book consumption nowadays? What are the social consequences of ever more popular digital reading? Empirical data came from representative surveys of communication behavior of urban population in Russia (15+ years old; year 2010: N=3000, and 2014: N=2100). Formalized personal interviews at home have been used. Several statistical procedures used for testing our hypotheses, including logistic regression. The research proves that using electronic devices for reading books, newspapers and magazines is gaining popularity among Russian audiences. We found that preference for digital reading is primarily predicted by sociodemographic variables, incumbent practice of other media usage, and ownership of new communication devices. Social implications of digital reading are analyzed using concepts of media displacement and mediatization. We assume that digital reading is changing earlier practices of text perception as well as cognition in general. The results are discussed within the context of today's discourse about the place of reading in connection with: information overload of contemporary people; diminishing traditional consumption of books; traits of new digital generations; and the dilemma of "book" versus "screen" culture which is an essential part of modern and postmodern personality. Discussing Russian prospects, we use cross-country comparisons that allow us to show the varying pace of innovation in book consumption and the role of social and cultural context.

The article reveals actual indicators of the quality of life (QoL) in urban settlements of Russian regions. An overview of relevant - classical and recently published - sources is presented, in which the main theoretical components of QoL are analyzed in the perspective of their operationalization; basic concepts used in the measurement of QoL are given. On the basis of express-questioned qualitative data collected in the cities of Orel and Tula - regional centers of the Central Federal District with a standard of living slightly below the average and above the average in Russia, it is shown that when discussing QoL in a large Russian urban settlement, the following codes (topics) that are not became a common place in the literature on measurement of QOL: (1) assessment of QoL dynamics; (2) assessment of the presence / absence of spaces for civic engagement; (3) assessing the presence / absence of spaces for consumer behavior. The indicators of QoL were revealed, which practically all informants were initiativeally and independently of each other in the answers to the two questions about the quality of life in the city.

The article is devoted to the principle of inclusion in social policy and social services. Inclusion is presented as a strategy of international organizations, national social policy, as a principle of social service rendering. On the results of the interview with social services employees, inclusion is considered in a context of occupational and organizational culture. The inclusion of migrants is chosen as a specific case. A necessity of evaluation of inclusion as an indicator of quality of social services is proposed.