Formation of Subjectivity of Regional Communities in Russia: Sociocultural Aspect (Based on Materials from Belgorod Oblast)

The article analyzes the state of sociocultural foundations of formation of the subjectivity of regional communities in modern Russia and the possibilities and limitations of their use for increasing the independence of federal subjects in constructing social reality. The methodological basis of the study was the theory of identity developed by a number of foreign and Russian researchers and P. Sorokin’s theory of sociocultural dynamics. The study interprets the results of an empirical sociological study “Renovation of Sociocultural Constants as a Factor in the Reproduction and Development of Regional Communities,” conducted by the authors in 2021 in Belgorod oblast, Russia. The study included: (1) a questionnaire survey of the population (N = 500: regionalized, quota sample; the quota characteristics were: place of residence, gender, age); (2) expert survey (N = 30; expert selection criteria: research experience in field of sociology, availability of scientific publications on problems of sociology of culture and sociology of the region); (3) focus group interviews (three groups: young people, employees of budgetary institutions related to the sociocultural sphere, and mass media workers,—in the total there were 32 participants). The unwillingness of the majority of respondents to identify themselves with the region, revealed during the study, complemented by their doubts about the existence of a community established within its borders, allows us to conclude that identity plays an insignificant role as a prerequisite for the formation of subjectivity in the regional community. Analysis of the dispositions of the research participants allows for a rather critical assessment of the prospects for increasing the level of subjectivity of the regional community through the actualization of a specific value-normative complex. This conclusion naturally follows from an assessment of respondents’ statements about their characteristic values and norms and patterns of behavior, on the basis of which (provided they are interrelated and “prosocial”) society is consolidated (integrated).