The book is regarded as an important step in studying the history of Russian state statistics. The authors identify three stages of history: pre-revolutionary, Soviet and post-Soviet. With all their specifics, common features are also found in the stages. The level of statistics is assessed by the reviewer as an indicator of the civilizational level of the country. The authors carefully study the pre-revolutionary period. After a very dull period in the first half of the 19th century, from the beginning of the 60s, under the conditions of emerging capitalism and growing democratization, a period of relatively successful development began, which still did not reach the level of developed countries. The State Statistical Service remained weak. The Soviet authorities realized the dream of Russian statisticians about the creation of a powerful state statistical service. Some valuable statistical work was carried out during the Civil War and NEP. But the successful development of Soviet statistics was interrupted in the late 1920s because of the increased political pressure. In a number of areas, some studies were discontinued, the others were falsified. Many statisticians were repressed. With the transition to a command economy, Statistics was largely replaced by Accounting and for a long time it was deprived of administrative independence.

The reviewer argues with the authors on a number of results of statistical studies of the NEP and post-NEP periods, evaluating them more critically. He notes that the 1948 reform of the status of statistics was fruitless, and criticizes the authors’ poor use of the archives of the Soviet and post-Soviet periods. The reviewer supports the positive evaluation of many transformations in the post-Soviet period, which returned the original content to statistics, but at the same time he admits that a significant part of the statistical data of this period was unreliable. The material and personnel situation in modern Russian statistics is far from what is necessary, and it is still far from the level in the developed countries

The article is devoted to the study of the main aspects related to the radical reform of the Russian academic science. An empirical basis was the materials of interviews conducted with scientists in the scientific centers of Siberia – Novosibirsk, Tomsk, Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk. Much attention is paid to the analysis of the organizational and ideological prerequisites for reform, as well as the content of discussions in the parliament and the media, which led to its implementation. It is shown that the main reason for the beginning of the reform was, on the one hand, the desire of the country’s leadership in the conditions of a shortage of necessary resources to make the sphere of fundamental research more compact and effective, aimed at meeting the needs of the economy and society, primarily in terms of the development of new technologies; on the other hand, the desire of the relevant Ministry to rebuild the sphere of intellectual production through the patterns of the Anglo-American neoliberal model, and to remove the academic leadership from the administration of the property complex of the Russian Academy of Sciences, was an equally important motive for the reform. An analysis of the opinions of Russian academic scientists showed that in the overwhelming majority they critically evaluate the methods and interim results of the reform, while recognizing the urgency of its implementation. It is shown that the adaptive potential accumulated by the domestic academic science so far allows successfully damping the negative consequences of the reform, but it is not boundless, moreover, a noticeable part of scientists is simply tired of constant changes.

The article describes the New Year celebration in a historical context. In the 19th century, Armenians for the first time witnessed the celebration of the New Year (1827) by the Russian army under the command of General Krasovsky at Yerevan Fortress. In the 19th century, there was a common for both countries (Armenia and Russia) typological tradition of singing Christmas carols by children going from one house to another. The empirical analysis showed that all the New Year’s attributes of the Soviet era were the same in both countries (Christmas trees, Ded Moroz, Snegurochka[1], New Year decorations, etc.). The same trend remains in the post-Soviet era but this time in the context of global trade. Alongside with the other consumer goods in Armenia, there appeared the New Year decorations reflecting the national and religious consciousness and symbols of Armenians. The channel of the Armenian Apostolic Church “Shoghakat” played an important role in the transformation of the New Year’s festive atmosphere and the attributes of post-Soviet Armenia. The commonality of the New Year celebrations in the post-Soviet era can be seen in the following facts: almost the same number of non-working days in both Armenia and Russia, the New Year’s speeches of the presidents of both countries in the post-Soviet era, participation of the Russian and Armenian presidents at the Christmas Liturgy. But there is one significant difference. The Catholicos of All Armenians continues congratulating the nation before the New Year’s congratulation of the RA President, while the Patriarch of all Russia no longer congratulates Russian people together with the President on the New Year (since 2009), in order not to hurt the feelings of multi-religious citizens of Russia

[1] Snegurochka, a character of Russian folklore, the beautiful granddaughter to the equally mythical Ded Moroz (Russian, “Grandfather Frost”). Snow Maiden assists Grandfather Frost in delivering gifts to children at New Year’s in those countries that were formerly constituent states of the now-defunct Soviet Union.

The article considers functioning of emblem books in the culture of the late Renaissance and the beginning of Modern times. The Italian humanist Giovanni Andrea Alciato, who published in 1531 the first book of emblems, became the originator of this genre of literature which had mainly didactic character. Emblemata by Alciato consisted of a set of images, each of which was followed by a short inscription-motto and also by commentary, revealing the meaning of the emblem. This extremely popular edition was republished many times and translated into different languages. Interest in the Alciato book and other similar works was largely caused by the enhanced attention toward antiquity and by the transition from mainly religious discourse to its more secular character. Authors of emblem books were mostly humanists, who tried to influence their audience appealing not only to the reason but also to the imagination and senses of their readers. Attractive and sometimes mysterious images promoted curiosity in the beholders, which resulted in the fact that a moral lesson or useful information contained in the commentary became easily remembered. In this regard, the books of emblems could be used with success as peculiar reference books, similar to the contemporary “commonplace books”, which contained distinctive quotes of antique authors, proverbs and sayings, which were thematically systematized. Educated people of this time remembered and used examples from these books in oral communication and also referred to these “reference books”, enhancing their writing. Emblem books, written mostly in Latin and referring often to the antique literature and mythology, contributed to the development of secular culture, which united the countries of Western Europe separated religiously after the Reformation. Also, the ambiguity of an emblem’s visual image expanded the scope of its possible meanings, which resulted in the growth of the individuality of perception and interpretation of the subject touched by the emblem

The present work develops the traditions of intellectual history associated with the re-creation of «hyperreality» of the theatrical and cinema space through scenic biographies. Continuing to adhere to the right-conservative positions, the author made an attempt to touch upon a special facet of this space. He seeks to draw attention to the career of female actresses, who because of their sincere and dedicated service to the high art of the cinema and for the ideological and aesthetic sophistication of their images can be considered genuine «queens of the screen» not only of the Fifth Republic, but also of the world cinematography. Of all the numerous pleiad of French cultural figures of the investigated gender category, the author singles out three large-scale, legendary figures – Annie Girardot, Simone Signoret and Michel Morgan.

The study focuses on the most important stages of the cinema career of these actresses and the concrete results of their activities that make up the contribution to the cinema art, which is considered in direct correlation with the main tendencies of France’s social and political development in the newest period of time.

Because of this, a historical and cultural comparative analysis of «being-in-the-art» based on the use of various kinds of sources is carried out in the work.

They, except for sources of personal origin, are of paramount importance media materials in the form of film productions, films, the conceptual evaluation of which is based on both the personal impressions of the author and the research reserve that exists in historiography and cinematography

The article describes the world of images in Czerny’s etudes, op. 740. This is the first work on this theme in Russian music literature. Nowadays etudes are considered to be only instructive. It is a mistake. Carl Czerny is an outstanding composer, a great piano teacher, «the King of Etudes», the first editor of «The Well-Tempered Clavier», a pupil of Beethoven, a teacher of Liszt and Leshetitsky. Czerny was a teacher of the transitional period – from positional classic technic principles to romantic free physiology principles. The etudes (op. 740) are the obligatory part of piano studies of every pianist in the whole world from the second part of the XIX century. At least 16 etudes (op. 740 includes 50 etudes) are not only instructive, but must be considered as artistic, creating images – like the etudes by Chopin, Liszt… The author of the article proves, that the world of etudes’ images contains the next ideas: images of Vienna, where Czerny lived (№ 9, 20, 29); «salon» images (№ 9, 33); images of dancing (№ 23, 42); imitation of timbres (№ 4, 18, 24); heroic images (№ 14, 46, 50); landscape lyricism (№ 6, 22, 36); nocturne images (№ 45). The article is based on M. G. Karpychev’s monography «Carl Czerny. Opus 740» (Novosibirsk, 2014) [5], in which every etude is separately analyzed in many aspects of performance

The article compares the views of the Orthodox patristics with the philosophy of Marxism. (The author considers the content of the Marxist philosophical theory, but not its ideology). This comparison takes place in three key aspects: general philosophical (the basic question of philosophy, theory of evolution), socio-philosophical (the basic question of social philosophy, private and public property, exploitation of labor) and ethical (freedom of moral choice, moral progress). Patristics is less known if compared with Marxism, that’s why the author focuses his attention on the presentation of its ideas in the given article. He shows that in patristics and Marxism there are many common (or at least compatible) philosophical theses. The article preferably considers these “points of intersection”. The author comes to the conclusion that Orthodox theology, not being a philosophical ontology, goes beyond philosophical partisanship. It is also shown that the patristic heritage contains provisions incompatible with the class character of society, and above all with private property and exploitation of labor. The conclusion is that the general philosophy of Marxism (dialectical materialism), Marxist social philosophy (historical materialism) and Marxist ethics are compatible with the authentic Orthodox world view (not as a special religious-philosophical “hybrid”, but in the format of an intellectual dialogue) in a single cultural space. This conclusion is of great theoretical and practical significance in the theory and practice of real humanism, it allows to establish a constructive ideological dialogue between different parts of Russian society

The concept of liberalism is extremely unpopular in modern Russia. Modern hopes about the solution of Russian problems cling to conservatism based on traditional values which are defined by Orthodoxy to a great extent. In other words, Orthodoxy and liberalism in modern Russian political discourse are treated as contradictory to each other. It is noteworthy that historical liberalism in its conservative variant was rooted in Russian ground and closely connected to Orthodox tradition. But with generally Christian sources of liberalism being widely accepted, the liberal potential of Eastern Christianity is being questioned. It is universally believed that Orthodoxy seemingly “belittles” personality and discourages the development of independence and freedom. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the inaccuracy of such views. Drawing from patristic heritage and the methodology developed by the classical Orthodox theologian V. Lossky and modern Orthodox philosophers (Ch. Yannaras, S. Khoruzhiy) the author elucidates the Orthodox understanding of personality (hypostasis) encoded in the Doctrine of Trinity. It was Orthodoxy that preserved and developed the concept of a human personality absolute value and uniqueness introduced by Christianity, this concept being later undermined by Western Christianity with “amending” the Trinity Doctrine by double procession of the Holy Spirit. Analyzing patristic attitude to a human the author comes to the conclusion that Orthodoxy is the religion of freedom. Its philosophy is pervaded with the pathos of freedom and hymn to the elevated predestination of a human who is able of becoming a co-Creator. The proposition is supported by the Orthodox ideal of deification and the theory of synergism, i.e. concordant action of Divine and human energies suggesting free and conscious efforts of a person. Of course, we are talking about inner freedom: the freedom “to” and not freedom “from”, without which the realization of external freedom is problematic

The article examines the process of comprehension of the Old Russian church music heritage by medievalists, church and professional composers and the significance of this heritage for the national culture. The article shows the process of the Old Russian chants tradition revival that took place at the end of the 19th and 20th centuries. Russian composers and church leaders understood the key thing: the secularization of Russian religious music and the use of European musical means of expressiveness would lead to depersonalization, the loss of the “core” which had always been the foundation of the Russian church music. Therefore, the turn to the Old Russian chants based on a special echoes chant was obvious at that period. Composers developed special methods of writing music that corresponded to the spirit and character of the Old Russian chants and embodied them in practice.

A bright figure of this revival was S.V. Smolensky, who had the courage to contradict the prevailing views, to prove and to support the necessity of restoring the Old Russian chants taking into consideration the most essential part of those chants. He was lucky to see the first results of implementing his ideas into practice by his colleagues and pupils.

The revival of the tradition of the Old Russian chants was discontinued by the revolution of 1917 in Russia and the official Soviet policy, which enforced the state atheism.

The interrupted tradition of the Russian church musical culture was revived abroad among the emigrants: in the legendary Don Cossacks choir under the direction of Sergey Zharov (Serge Jaroff). Thus, one can speak not only of the continuity of the Russian church musical culture, but also of transferring it to other cultures. Russian emigrants carefully preserved their national traditions and among them the tradition of Russian church singing. The author describes the characteristic features of these processes and highlights their importance for the Russian culture

The economic crisis associated with imposing of international sanctions and worsening of the material situation of the population over recent years has led to increased social anxiety and social tension in Russian society. Such changes are particularly noticeable in the development of large cities and agglomerations. The inevitable result of the growth of social anxiety and social tension is the emergence of protest moods, which under certain conditions can develop into active protest actions on the part of the population, aimed at opposing worsening of well-being. Classification of the population, depending on their protest potential, is an important part of understanding the nature of protest activity and the motives of the population. Based on the results of a sociological research conducted in Krasnoyarsk, where more than a million people live, in 2015, six homogeneous groups with different protest potentials were singled out using the cluster analysis method. Taking into account the key features of the clusters, they were given names based on 2 characteristics: the level of social well-being and the level of protest activity. These are: “prosperous passive”, “non-prosperous passive” “prosperous active”, “middle passive”, “prosperous neutral”, “non-prosperous neutral”. 2 groups: “non-prosperous active” and “prosperous active” have the largest protest potential. With a general willingness to act, an important difference between clusters is their social and material position, the pattern of anxiety varies significantly. Based on the data received, the authorities should pay special attention to relieving the tensions associated with environmental concerns and anxiety about the future, as they can be used as an excuse to destabilise the situation in the region

The paper presents a critical review of studies in which the real options method, combined with the fuzzy set method, is used to evaluate the effectiveness of innovation projects. In Russia, such studies have not yet become widespread, so the emphasis in this paper is on the analysis of foreign publications. These publications were analyzed by us on the following six criteria: the direction of research; fuzzy “input” parameters; type of fuzzy numbers; type of real option; option evaluation model; availability of approbation. The following areas of research in the selected field were identified: assessment of the effectiveness of strategic mega-investments having a high degree of uncertainty; evaluation of the effectiveness of R&D projects; the problem of choosing the optimal portfolio of R&D projects; evaluation of investment in real estate; an estimation of firm’s cost; evaluation of investment in software (IT sphere). In the analyzed studies, the following types of real options are used: European call option (standard); American call option; a compound European two-stage call option with constant volatility. Such models for real option evaluation are used as the Black-Scholes model in fuzzy form (in the majority of works), the Geske model in fuzzy form, binomial model (Cox-Ross-Rubinshtein model) in fuzzy form. The following shortcomings of the analyzed works were revealed: in very few papers approbation of the proposed approaches is carried out (an exception from the rule). If such approbation is carried out, then there is no meaningful economic interpretation of the obtained results. There are no articles on the direction of the research – the use of the real options method and the fuzzy sets analysis to assess the effectiveness of venture financing of innovation projects