Prospects for the development of digital forms of political participation of generation Z in modern Russia

The article considers the forms of political participation of generation Z in modern Russia and gives an assessment of the prospects for digital forms of this participation. The paper describes the characteristics that distinguish generation Z in terms of the influence of these characteristics on the political behavior of its representatives, as well as possible motives for the political participation of young people. The authors give the results of a study that allow you to get answers to the questions: what features make this or that form of political participation the most attractive for generation Z? Is generation Z really critical and negative about regime? Can digital forms of political participation become mainstream in the country’s political life thanks to youth and the rapid digitalization of society? The paper describes the criteria for the attractiveness of various forms of political participation, such as rallies, actions, demonstrations, strikes, hunger strikes, revolutions, elections, crowdfunding, written appeals to the authorities and petitions, participation in political movements and parties, meetings with political figures. These criteria are: personal safety, speed of implementation of the form, the ability to attract attention and find like-minded persons. According to the results of the study, the authors substantiate the conclusion about the prospects of using digital forms (in particular, online voting) of political participation, primarily due to the speed and security that distinguish digital forms of political participation from traditional ones: it is very convenient to express your civic position from anywhere in the world, while simultaneously doing other things and not fearing negative consequences for participation. In addition, digital forms of political participation are demanded by young people as the most convenient, as they are built into their “natural habitat” – the space of social networks

Transformation of the American academic system during the COVID-19 pandemic

The article explores the issue of the structural transformation of the contemporary American academic system, namely one of the main formats existing in it – universities and their functioning during the first months of the spread of coronavirus infection. The COVID-19 pandemic has had the vast and most comprehensive impact on the higher education systems of the first world countries, which was demonstrated in the article. It is worth noting that the actively current trends of digitalisation, computerisation and the general implementation of the advancements of the scientific and technological progress of the higher education system were overlapped by the new emergency conditions of the pandemic and the need to choose a different format of functioning in the current situation. The ongoing transformations and structural alterations are most visible in the United States of America, due to a number of factors – from the historical dynamism of the development of the American higher education system to its active role in the development and rollout of technological advancements. The American academic system is introduced and analysed in two main formats: public universities and private ones. Each group of the indicated universities has chosen its own strategy of functioning and implemented it in practice, resting on individual factors and conditions. Nevertheless, there is already a separation between these two large groups of American universities in the implementation of functioning strategies during the coronavirus pandemic. The analysis of factors, conditions, contexts and actions of universities from these groups allows us to understand not only the dynamics of the development of the American academic system at the moment but also will allow us to comprehend its future transformations and alterations

GENERATION Z: CONSUMER BEHAVIOR IN DIGITAL ECOSYSTEM

The behavioral matters of Generation Z, who use the possibilities of the Internet to meet their needs, have been considered. There is no universal digital format. The company’s interaction with the consumer facilitates the implementation of an omnichannel marketing strategy that creates conditions for their continuous interaction, as easy and convenient as possible to meet existing expectations, requests, and needs. As a result of the study, the opportunities (consumer’s independent choice of means of interaction with the manufacturer, channel shifting in the process of purchasing, interaction with the manufacturer regardless from the chosen communication channel) and barriers (absence of isolated online channels for sales, usage of slow-loading Internet platforms with inconvenient interfaces, absence of a dedicated app or limited possibilities of its usage, etc.) of omnichannel marketing implementation for the Generation Z target audience have been revealed. Their media preferences, such social networks as VKontakte, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, were defined. It has been determined, that Generation Z’s consumer expectations and consumer behavior are influenced by opinion leaders and reference groups, these mainly being bloggers, peers and occasionally older companions, whom they find in social networks

Young people’s political participation in the digital environment

Much of the time today's young people spend on the Internet, communicating with friends, receiving educational services, making online purchases. Such an important part of public life as political activity is no exception. The article is devoted to studying the opportunities and barriers of young people’s political participation in a digitalisation, to describing the different forms of this participation in the digital environment, and identifying the young people’s interest level in different forms of political participation online. The research paper carries out a content analysis of different ways of political participation: online flash mobs, Internet voting, platforms for collecting signatures, personal blogs, politically oriented communities, publications by popular bloggers. The content analysis data were supplemented by the questionnaire survey results of young people – active Internet users. The political participation modes were compared with each other in terms of their relevance to young people, including in the context of the using safety one mode or another. The research results provides an opportunity to designate the problem and significantly speed up the process of solving it, and will make it possible to considerably simplify the young people’s entry process into the political system through digital technologies

Социальные трансформации в условиях цифровой среды

The digital environment is forming new social reality: the structure of society and principles of formation and functioning of social groups are being changed, identity is being blurred, as well as the labor, education and consumption markets are experiencing changes. These changes demand serious social thought. The article presents social inequality transformation issues in conditions of digitalization and its probable reasons. In particular, some of the reasons, that influence new inequity forms, are: identity bounds violation, due to technological progress affecting personal space; simultaneous existence of virtual (online) and real (offline) spaces, severely increased multiplicity of statuses (including fictional), migration virtualization, and transition of some parameters from rank to nominal, etc. Digitalization also impacts on social institutions, such as education one. For instance, part-time or full switch to online-education is gaining popularity. The article shows some researches among students about online educational programs: respondents claim that the traditional and online models should be combined. For sure, online platforms have advantage in access to variable sources, such as particular online courses, subscription to EJ, useful data bases, permanent chatting with students and professors, etc. In addition, it is assumed that the social structure of the education system that has implemented e-learning becomes less hierarchical, which is associated with the digitization of the text.Цифровая среда формирует новую социальную действительность: меняется структура общества, меняются принципы формирования и функционирования социальных групп, “размывается” идентичность, меняется рынок труда, образования, потребления. Все эти изменения требуют осмысления с социологической точки зрения. В статье рассматриваются вопросы трансформации социального неравенства в условиях цифровизации, выдвигаются предположения о причинах этих трансформаций. В частности, среди причин, влияющих на появление новых форм неравенства, называются нарушение границ идентичности индивида вследствие вторжения технологических преобразований в личное пространство человека, параллельное существование виртуального (онлайн) и реального (оффлайн) пространств, многократно возросшая множественность статусов (в том числе вымышленных), виртуализация миграции, переход многих параметров из ранговых в номинальные и т.п. Цифровизация влияет и на функционирование социальных институтов, в частности, института образования. Одним из современных трендов развития образования является полный или частичный переход к онлайнобразованию. В статье приводятся результаты исследования отношения студентов к внедрению онлайн-образовательных платформ: по мнению респондентов, необходимо гармоничное сочетание традиционной и онлайнмоделей образования. Действительно, онлайн-образовательная модель имеет целый ряд преимуществ: предоставляет студентам доступ к различного рода необходимым ресурсам, таким как специальные онлайн-группы по интересам, подписка на электронные журналы, проведение исследований с использованием баз данных и цифровых архивов, общение посредством электронной почты с одногруппниками и преподавателями и многое другое. Кроме того, предполагается, что социальная структура системы образования, внедрившей электронное обучение, становится менее иерархической, что связано с оцифровкой текста

THE PROFESSIONAL DIAGNOSTICS AND EMPLOYMENT OF STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES

The authors conducted a research of employment problem of graduates with disabilities. Specifics justification of professional diagnostics of students with disabilities has been substantiated. Types and methods of professional diagnostics, the basic rules and difficulties of performing professional diagnostics of persons with disabilities have been defined. The main directions of assistance to employment of students with disabilities have been offered. The technique of regional labor market monitoring including the solution of such tasks as a research of regional labor market and assessment of a jobs offers for persons with disabilities have been developed and approved; formation of a vacancies databank for graduates with disabilities; development of social partnership for the purpose of employment of graduates with disabilities

Communicative practices of young people in social networks

Modern young people more and more often spend their time on social media, which they use for place for friendly chat, or place to spend leisure time, or place for buying things, or space for professional growth, or one of many other reasons. In the process of interaction, youth use various communication practices in social networks, the main of which have been given in the article.Main functions of social media, specifics and classification of user communities, their influence on communicative behavior of users have been described. Instruments of transferring social information on social media: emoji and stickers, photos and pictures (memes included), together with preferences of usage of this instrument by users have been analyzed. It has been proved, that peculiarities of lexis typical for virtual communication along with non-verbal means (such as memes) transform the language of users.The phenomenon of fake (an account hiding the real essence of a user), as well as reasons for creation of fake accounts and their functionality, have been considered. Degree and form of showing aggression in virtual communication have been analyzed. Specifics of content in dependence from typology of social communities, where users are interacting (groups by interest, groups with entertaining content, news communities, official companies groups, e-commerce pages, groups of citizens of a specific city (or workers of a specific place), help groups, blog communities) has been studied. Common regularities of both creation and usage of content in internet communities have been noted

Educational needs and opportunities for adaptation of students with disabilities and persons with health limitations in the tertiary education system

The article is devoted to the definition consideration of the educational needs of persons with health limitations (hereinafter – HL) and disabled persons in the tertiary education system; the aspects in which these needs are expressed. The article highlights the adaptation possibilities of disabled people in the tertiary education system, as well as the specifics of the organization and goals of an educational institution for teaching people with HL. The authors identify the barriers of social relations faced by students with HL, disabled students and their teachers at universities; analyze the degree of involvement of a student with HL in the educational process. The paper pays attention to the main approaches to the organization of educational activities of persons with HL and disabled people, namely: competence-based, project-based and activity-based approaches. The main types of inclusion, identified on the basis of medical indicators, as conditions for organizing the training of students with HL and disabled students are considered. It is determined that the education organization at the university of students with HL allows to adapt educational programs to the special needs of students, depending on the state of health of students with HL and of disabled students

Holding it together: rapid evolution and positive selection in the synaptonemal complex of Drosophila

Background The synaptonemal complex (SC) is a highly conserved meiotic structure that functions to pair homologs and facilitate meiotic recombination in most eukaryotes. Five Drosophila SC proteins have been identified and localized within the complex: C(3)G, C(2)M, CONA, ORD, and the newly identified Corolla. The SC is required for meiotic recombination in Drosophila and absence of these proteins leads to reduced crossing over and chromosomal nondisjunction. Despite the conserved nature of the SC and the key role that these five proteins have in meiosis in D. melanogaster, they display little apparent sequence conservation outside the genus. To identify factors that explain this lack of apparent conservation, we performed a molecular evolutionary analysis of these genes across the Drosophila genus. Results For the five SC components, gene sequence similarity declines rapidly with increasing phylogenetic distance and only ORD and C(2)M are identifiable outside of the Drosophila genus. SC gene sequences have a higher dN/dS (ω) rate ratio than the genome wide average and this can in part be explained by the action of positive selection in almost every SC component. Across the genus, there is significant variation in ω for each protein. It further appears that ω estimates for the five SC components are in accordance with their physical position within the SC. Components interacting with chromatin evolve slowest and components comprising the central elements evolve the most rapidly. Finally, using population genetic approaches, we demonstrate that positive selection on SC components is ongoing. Conclusions SC components within Drosophila show little apparent sequence homology to those identified in other model organisms due to their rapid evolution. We propose that the Drosophila SC is evolving rapidly due to two combined effects. First, we propose that a high rate of evolution can be partly explained by low purifying selection on protein components whose function is to simply hold chromosomes together. We also propose that positive selection in the SC is driven by its sex-specificity combined with its role in facilitating both recombination and centromere clustering in the face of recurrent bouts of drive in female meiosis