Vandal Practices as a Psychological Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Received 5 March 2021. Accepted 2 September 2021. Published online 11 October 2021.We would like to thank the director of the Center of Academic Writing “Impulse” of Tyumen State University, Valeria Evdash, who lent professional support in preparing this manuscript.Vandalism can be seen as a form of individual self-realization and expression of the individual and collective responses to change. In this paper, we intend to look at the meaning and motivations behind acts of vandalism. We also aim to classify cases of vandalism that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. In total, we analyzed 80 cases of vandalism related to the COVID-19. The information was obtained from open online sources: publications in online communities and media found through the use of hashtags #COVID-19 and #vandalism. As a result, five categories of vandalism were identified: (a) vandalism as a mechanism of adaptation to change; (b) vandalism as a coping strategy; (c) vandalism as an unconscious defensive reaction to a threatening situation; (d) vandalism as resistance to change; and (e) vandalism as a reflection of the sense of social injustice. We found that vandalism during the pandemic was used mostly as a way of adaptation to change and as a coping strategy. Moreover, our findings have also demonstrated that social instability and transitivity in the crisis period stimulate people to rethink the current social order and search for new social forms,structures, and principles.This research was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (Project No. 17-18-01278)

The Idea of Education: Development or Service Delivery?

Introduction. In recent years, the debates over the education crisis, its essence and the role in the development of a person and culture in general have underlined the need to scientifically define the concept of modern education. The present article is debatable and theoretical; therefore, it explores the idea of education from the perspective of the current trend – the classification of education as a service sector. The aim of the article is to scientifically justify irrelevance of the ideas of education as a “commercial service” through the discussion of consequences of such an interpretation. Methodology and research methods. The research methodology is based on a meta-systemic approach, which allows us to consider education as the system in a number of other social institutes and structures and as an element of a larger system. The logical-semantic analysis, hermeneutic method and synthesis of the views among the representatives in the filed of the humanities were used to study the phenomenon of “educational services”. To determine own position, the authors of the present article used the procedure of separating “social construction paradigms” (as a set of principles of knowledge and transformation of social reality), which make it possible to give diverse definitions of society and to introduce the concepts of the essence and the role of education. Results. The concept of “educational services” is analysed as a speech template, a way of thinking, a legal concept, a call to changing social practice and a probable project. The authors reveal a conceptual, semantic substitution, which negatively affects the result of the educational process: the meaning of profit has taken the place of the sense of personal development and social long-term viability and development of society. It is demonstrated that this semantic substitution is a natural consequence of the market laws, going beyond the social control, in particular, their semi-legitimate expansion into the sphere of education, which is a significant public good. Scientific novelty. It is proved that an established expression “educational services” in modern discourse contributes to destructive transformations of the citizens’ mentality and social space. The concepts of “service” and “education” are characterised according to a set of the following criteria: a subject of activity, its nature, a recipient role, specificity of the methods of activity, its result (or its goal) and quality assessment. It is concluded that the sectors of service and education can be characterised as joint constructive human activities, but they are fundamentally different activities. Practical significance. The obtained results could be applied to provide purposeful adjustment processes for conceptual management of the education sector.Введение. Развернувшийся в последние годы дискурс о кризисе образования и обострившийся спор о его сущности и роли в развитии человека и культуры в целом обусловили необходимость научного определения смысла современного образования. В дискуссионной и теоретической по характеру статье данный вопрос исследуется в ракурсе актуальной тенденции отнесения образования к сфере услуг. Цель работы состояла в научном обосновании нерелевантности представлений об образовании как о «коммерческой услуге» и обсуждении последствий подобной интерпретации. Методология и методики. Исследование выполнялось на базе метасистемного подхода, позволяющего рассматривать образование как систему в ряду других социальных институтов и структур и как элемент системы большего порядка. Изучение феномена «образовательные услуги» проводилось посредством логико-смыслового анализа, герменевтического метода и синтеза мнений представителей разных гуманитарных наук. Для аргументации собственной позиции авторы использовали процедуру разделения «парадигм социоконструирования» (как совокупности принципов познания и преобразования социальной реальности), из которых логически выводятся разные дефиниции общества, определения сущности и роли образования. Результаты. Концепт «образовательные услуги» проанализирован как речевой шаблон, способ мышления, юридическое понятие, призыв к изменению социальной практики и как вероятный проект. Выявлена негативно влияющая на результаты образования концептуальная, смысловая подмена: смысл извлечения прибыли занял место смысла совершенствования личности и обеспечения долгосрочной жизнеспособности и развития всего общества. Показано, что данная подмена – закономерное следствие выхода рыночных законов за рамки социального контроля, в частности их полулегитимного распространения на сферу образования, являющегося общественно значимым благом. Научная новизна. Доказывается, что закрепившееся в современном дискурсе выражение «образовательные услуги» способствует деструктивным трансформациям менталитета граждан и социального пространства. Услуга и образование охарактеризованы по комплексу критериев: предмет деятельности, ее характер, роль акцептора продукта деятельности, особенности методов деятельности, результат (цель) деятельности и оценка качества. Сделан вывод о том, что сфера услуг и образование – это области совместной конструктивной деятельности людей, имеющие принципиальные различия. Практическая значимость. Полученные результаты позволяют целенаправленно корректировать процессы концептуального управления сферой образования.The present research was carried out with the financial support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research in the framework of the research project No. 19–013–00373 A “Academic Mobility of Students with Disabilities in the Context of the Transformation of Higher Education”.Исследование выполнено при финансовой поддержке РФФИ в рамках научного проекта № 19–013–00373 А «Академическая мобильность студентов с ограниченными возможностями здоровья и инвалидностью в условиях трансформации высшего образования»

How to Make Digitalization Better Serve an Increasing Quality of Life?

Modern people live in the era of knowledge and digitalization supposed to increase their quality of life. Nevertheless, digital technologies are only the instruments in the development and transformation of social-economic processes and their usage per se does not ensure only positive effects, which much depends on goals, conditions, institutes, etc. Thus, digitalization has an unambiguous influence on many social-economic processes and needs a wise policy to provide smooth progress and well-being for everybody. This study aims to design and test appropriate tools for managing digitalization to direct this process on increasing the quality of life. For this purpose we analyzed: (1) correlation to identify interrelations between digitalization and quality of life; (2) the potential of using the visualization matrix method to identify and monitor national trends of digitalization in the context of quality of life. We found: (1) close correlation between subjective and objective indicators of quality of life and between the quality of life and digitalization; (2) the two-dimensional matrix turned out to be a relevant visual tool that embraces specific two-way relationships between human development and digitalization. In combination with statistical and qualitative methods, this tool has wide prospects for managing digitalization in the context of social progress and increasing quality of life

How to Make Digitalization Better Serve an Increasing Quality of Life?

Modern people live in the era of knowledge and digitalization supposed to increase their quality of life. Nevertheless, digital technologies are only the instruments in the development and transformation of social-economic processes and their usage per se does not ensure only positive effects, which much depends on goals, conditions, institutes, etc. Thus, digitalization has an unambiguous influence on many social-economic processes and needs a wise policy to provide smooth progress and well-being for everybody. This study aims to design and test appropriate tools for managing digitalization to direct this process on increasing the quality of life. For this purpose we analyzed: (1) correlation to identify interrelations between digitalization and quality of life; (2) the potential of using the visualization matrix method to identify and monitor national trends of digitalization in the context of quality of life. We found: (1) close correlation between subjective and objective indicators of quality of life and between the quality of life and digitalization; (2) the two-dimensional matrix turned out to be a relevant visual tool that embraces specific two-way relationships between human development and digitalization. In combination with statistical and qualitative methods, this tool has wide prospects for managing digitalization in the context of social progress and increasing quality of life

Adolescent vandalism: The role of the parent-child relationship in the development of destructive behavior

Background. While the phenomena of intentional destroying and damaging of private property have been known since ancient times, the term "vandalism" appears only in 19th century. In the 20th century, much research devoted to vandalism was conducted in the spheres of criminology, sociology, psychology, and education. Nevertheless, little attention has been paid to investigating the correlation between a child's propensity for vandalism and the child-parent relationship. Objective and Method. The main purpose of our research was to investigate the correlation between the styles of family upbringing and adolescents' propensity for vandalism. For this purpose, we analyzed the main predictors of adolescents' propensity for vandalism on the basis of the psychological diagnostics of 60 Russian families from Ekaterinburg. We investigated whether the fact that a child was brought up in a one-parent or disadvantaged family is significant for forming an adolescent propensity for vandalism. We also clarified the influence of various styles of family upbringing on an adolescent's propensity for vandalism of different types. Results. Based on statistical analysis, we concluded that an atmosphere of violence within the family plays a key role in forming adolescents' propensity for vandalism. The style of maternal upbringing has a greater influence on determining adolescent destructive behavior than the paternal, especially when the father's parenting style is "non-interference." Conclusion. Based on our research results, we suggest that preventive efforts against vandalism should be directed toward the prevention of family violence, and that there should be a differential approach toward parental education directed toward correcting individual parental styles of upbringing. © Lomonosov Moscow State University, 2018

Adolescent vandalism: The role of the parent-child relationship in the development of destructive behavior

Background. While the phenomena of intentional destroying and damaging of private property have been known since ancient times, the term "vandalism" appears only in 19th century. In the 20th century, much research devoted to vandalism was conducted in the spheres of criminology, sociology, psychology, and education. Nevertheless, little attention has been paid to investigating the correlation between a child's propensity for vandalism and the child-parent relationship. Objective and Method. The main purpose of our research was to investigate the correlation between the styles of family upbringing and adolescents' propensity for vandalism. For this purpose, we analyzed the main predictors of adolescents' propensity for vandalism on the basis of the psychological diagnostics of 60 Russian families from Ekaterinburg. We investigated whether the fact that a child was brought up in a one-parent or disadvantaged family is significant for forming an adolescent propensity for vandalism. We also clarified the influence of various styles of family upbringing on an adolescent's propensity for vandalism of different types. Results. Based on statistical analysis, we concluded that an atmosphere of violence within the family plays a key role in forming adolescents' propensity for vandalism. The style of maternal upbringing has a greater influence on determining adolescent destructive behavior than the paternal, especially when the father's parenting style is "non-interference." Conclusion. Based on our research results, we suggest that preventive efforts against vandalism should be directed toward the prevention of family violence, and that there should be a differential approach toward parental education directed toward correcting individual parental styles of upbringing. © Lomonosov Moscow State University, 2018

The Idea of Education: Development or Service Delivery?

Introduction. In recent years, the debates over the education crisis, its essence and the role in the development of a person and culture in general have underlined the need to scientifically define the concept of modern education. The present article is debatable and theoretical; therefore, it explores the idea of education from the perspective of the current trend – the classification of education as a service sector.The aim of the article is to scientifically justify irrelevance of the ideas of education as a “commercial service” through the discussion of consequences of such an interpretation.Methodology and research methods. The research methodology is based on a meta-systemic approach, which allows us to consider education as the system in a number of other social institutes and structures and as an element of a larger system. The logical-semantic analysis, hermeneutic method and synthesis of the views among the representatives in the filed of the humanities were used to study the phenomenon of “educational services”. To determine own position, the authors of the present article used the procedure of separating “social construction paradigms” (as a set of principles of knowledge and transformation of social reality), which make it possible to give diverse definitions of society and to introduce the concepts of the essence and the role of education.Results. The concept of “educational services” is analysed as a speech template, a way of thinking, a legal concept, a call to changing social practice and a probable project. The authors reveal a conceptual, semantic substitution, which negatively affects the result of the educational process: the meaning of profit has taken the place of the sense of personal development and social long-term viability and development of society. It is demonstrated that this semantic substitution is a natural consequence of the market laws, going beyond the social control, in particular, their semi-legitimate expansion into the sphere of education, which is a significant public good.Scientific novelty. It is proved that an established expression “educational services” in modern discourse contributes to destructive transformations of the citizens’ mentality and social space. The concepts of “service” and “education” are characterised according to a set of the following criteria: a subject of activity, its nature, a recipient role, specificity of the methods of activity, its result (or its goal) and quality assessment. It is concluded that the sectors of service and education can be characterised as joint constructive human activities, but they are fundamentally different activities.Practical significance. The obtained results could be applied to provide purposeful adjustment processes for conceptual management of the education sector