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Researchers of the reproduction of Russian population pay attention to the process of natural movement of the urban population. In the early XX century the share of urban population increased in every region. The objective of this paper is to show the quantitative parametres, general characteristics and peculiarities of natural migrations of the population in certain regions of Asian Russia in the first decades of the XX century. The author considers the chronological dynamics of the situation in Western and Eastern Siberia, the Steppe krai and the Far East; compares various regions with each other and with European Russia as a demographic center of the country. Based on the the data of the General medical inspector of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian empire (1902-1914) the author for the first time in historiography calculated birth and death rates, the rate of natural increase - number of demographic events per 1,000 population in various regions. Calculation data for all years are tabulated, particularly for the years 1902-1905, 1906-1909 and 1910-1914. the dynamics is presented in three histograms. The conclusions based upon the comparative analysis of the research findings are as follows: 1) the traditional type of reproduction of the population dominated in the early XX century in European Russia and in all regions of Asian Russia implying high birth and death rates and modest natural increase; 2) natural population increase was more rapid in the east of the country, as opposed to the situation in European Russia where the demographic indicators began to decrease by the end of the XIX century; 3) certain signs of the first phase of demographic modernization manifested themselves in the cities of Asian Russia (e. g. reducing birth rate and especially death rate, higher rate of natural increase); 4) there were essential differences in character and dynamics of natural movement of urban population in various regions of Asian Russia depending on the population composition, intensity of migratory streams, level of communication of urban population with their rural environment.

The article formulates an understudied problem of classification of population migrations in the USSR during the Great Patriotic war. Contemporary historiography is skewed towards the forced deportations. During the war these deportations were of ethnic character. As a result the forced deportations were considered to be numerically prevalent and both researchers and readers viewed them as a dominant type of migrations. Undoubtedly, forced migrations had a great impact on social structure dynamics, economy, social and cultural image of the USSR. However a concrete historical research based on the new, previously neglected sources has shown that during the war along with forced deportations the Soviet Union witnessed another type of deportations which were mainly of voluntary-compulsory character. The analysis of this little-investigated subject allowed identifying among all types of territorial displacements the military and labour migrations, evacuations and re-evacuations of large masses of population, repatriations. The purposeful and planned settlement of territories that became vacant after deportations of ethnic groups played an important role in migratory movements, as well as organized agricultural resettlement. For the first time in national historiography the author characterizes military mobilizations, which meet all the classic criteria of migration, as a special form of migrations. In this aspect forced ethnic deportations are considered to be just one of the forms of migration. Quantitatively, it was not the greatest migration thread. Labor migrations remained an important type of migrations. The article determines quantitative relationships between different types of migrations.

The purpose of the article is to identify and substantiate principles of city grouping according to the city types and classes in historical research. The research problem deals with peculiarities of urbanization in the Angara-Yenisei region in the second half of XX century, along with specific aspects of its study. The key research objectives are: to analyze the most widespread ways of classification in urban studies; to define specific characteristics of East Siberian cities; and to identify the main problems of city grouping while suggesting possible solutions. The author considers a city as a historical phenomenon, represented in the historical process as a special social organism, complex and multi-layered. Thus, typologies also have complex structures. Fr om the historical point of view, the most efficient approach in this case is a genetic method which classifies the cities according to the time and reason for their origin as well as to the extent of preservation of various historic features as seen in the modern plans and images of the cities. The key research findings are as follows: the paper demonstrates the efficiency of genetic typology used in historical studies on urbanization; defines four main types of the cities (regional, historic (old), early industrial, and late industrial). Intra-typological classification is performed on the basis of conventional features: population size, functions, economic and geographical characteristics. It is notable that the need in such classification arises only in regard to the last two city types due to their great number and significant differences in various features. As for the late industrial type, there is a need to distinguish a separate group of industrial cities - closed cities (Zheleznogorsk and Zelenogorsk), which is determined by their unique nature. The author also observes a phenomenon of “rebirth” of those historical (old) cities wh ere large enterprises were localized during the late industrial period (the case of Minusinsk). This phenomenon deserves further consideration in a separate study.

The historical family demography is a new research direction today. The complexity here arises from the fact that the research problem lies at the intersection of historical-demographic and socioeconomic studies. The statistical data on familistic processes are the most important sources of information, which allow drawing conclusions about the key aspects of the problem, such as nuptiality, fertility, natality, single motherhood, divorce rates, etc. However, it must be acknowledged that all these indicators were also influenced by the legislative initiatives. One of the most striking examples of such influence in the Russian history of the XX century was the Decree of July, 8, 1944. It was the immediate cause for the incompleteness of statistical data on families for the whole of Russia as well as for the individual regions. 1950s and 1960s witnessed a process of gradual abolition of some paragraphs of this decree. This process was reflected in changing registration forms. The most significant changes were made in the forms of birth registration. Thus, the old and common Form 2 (registration of maternal age and birth order) was replaced with numerous forms assessing the dynamics of lonely mothers by age and social groups (2-b), general information about the mother’s social and age group (2-v), the data about fathers (2-g). Tables of marriage rates were also modified as they no longer contained the data on urban areas with population over 100 thousand people. Changing forms affected the modes of statistical information presentation, as can be seen from the data on Western Siberia. This region included areas with different family dynamics, therefore changing forms of statistical record-keeping led to misinterpretation or loss of information. The article presents an overview of changing forms of keeping family statistics in the context of Western Siberia.

The paper considers main trends in the development of rural fertility rate during the post-Soviet period as exemplified by the rural population of the Krasnoyarsk krai. The purpose of the study is to find out to what extent the rural dwellers adopted the new reproductive norms, which character the process of fertility acquired under conditions of radical transformation of rural society according to Western standards and what features are peculiar to this process in Siberia. The research theme was chosen due to the fact that it has been poorly studied at the national and regional levels. It is also necessary to overcome misinterpretations made under the influence of political situation. All processes unfolding in the Krasnoyarsk countryside have been studied in comparison with similar processes in towns located within the Krasnoyarsk krai and in other rural areas of Russia. The events in the reproductive sphere are treated on the basis of demographic modernization theory which was further elaborated by a concept of the second demographic transition. The information base of the research includes the data of 1989, 2002 and 2010 population censuses, the data of 1984 micro-census as well as current demographic statistics. The study has shown that the reproductive behavior of villagers is undergoing a transformation while acquiring features typical of the second demographic transition which has been observed in Western countries since the 1970s. However, along with some features of ”Westernization” the reproductive model still has “Soviet relics”. It is unstable and highly dependent on external conditions. Their improvement resulted in a short-time increase in fertility rate when the national and regional demographic projects were launched. Instability of the rural residents’ behavior makes it difficult to predict further development of the fertility process. However it necessitates observation of fluctuations of this process, since the knowledge of all modern trends in fertility and of underlying factors at the regional scale is an essential condition for developing an effective demographic strategy.

This paper intends to describe the ideological stages in the process of secularization in Russia that have led to the formation of a post-secular society. To achieve that goal the author sets and solves several tasks: explaining the stages of secularization process, identifying the key features of the “Petrine phase” of secularization; investigating the parameters of Soviet secular society. Analysis of the reasons for the emergence of de-secularization is provided. The processes of secularization and de-secularization are illustrated with a sociological interview, reflecting the period from the 1920s up to the present. Therefore, the paper offers an analysis of the historical and social aspects of ideological secularism in Russia; outlines the steps in this process up to (and including) the Soviet period. As a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union’s secular project, religion once again was incorporated into the structure of the Russian society’s life-world. The methodological basis of the article was provided by post-secular approaches to the historical and sociological study of religion. The author comes to several conclusions: ideological secularization was completed as a results of successful and effective establishment of Soviet ideology. Ideological indoctrination started at a pre-school stage and extended through all stages of schooling. It continued at the secondary and high education levels being supported by the Soviet mass-media, literature and arts. In effect, as a result of this indoctrination purified atheistic world view was formed with the horizontal transcendence of a “bright communist future” and the vertical transcendence of the cult of soviet leaders. As an illustration of these ideas, the sociological interview is analyzed in the final part of the paper. It shows that the results of Soviet secularization at the micro-sociological level were unstable due to the lack of crucial elements in the world-view provided by the Soviet ideology.

In the late XIX century Russia’s policy towards the peripheries was based on a theory of “a strong and indivisible country”. N.P. Ignatyev, the Governor-General of Eastern Siberia, suggested to extend the application of the law on land captains (enacted in European Russia in 1889) to the whole region of Siberia and to subject its peasant and indigenous population to the new authorities. This proposal was supported by the Minister of Interior I.N. Durnovo, Minister of Finance S. Yu. Vitte and personaly by Alexander III. The law of 1898 introduced the new 107 positions for peasant officials and formation of the new 25 district (uezd) congresses. The peasant and indigenous officials in Siberia exercised far greater control over the peasantry as compared to the land captains in European Russia. From then onward the peasant chiefs were given full mastery of the local peasant and indigenous self-government bodies. They controlled economic activities and morale of peasantry; played a significant role in judicial cases concerning rural population. Congresses of peasant chiefs were established in each district. They acted as courts of second instance challenging decisions made by peasant chiefs. Administrative reforms principally were aimed at strengthening the police control over the peasants and non-Russians in Siberia, accelerating russification of the latter, and at unification of administrative systems in the rural areas of European and Asian parts of Russia. The reform was carried out by the state of landowners and bureaucrats during the bourgeois era, however it retained some vivid feudal features. It quite fell within a range of measures taken by the government in the peripheral territories and aimed at preservation of the Empire’s integrity.

The paper reveals changes in the sanitary condition and redevelopment of regional administrative centers (Tobolsk, Tomsk, Omsk) under the influence of modernization processes. Despite unsatisfactory sanitary condition of West Siberian cities, the author argues that the urban environment gradually improved. This was manifested in changing everyday practices of cleaning the streets, squares and neighboring territories; rubbish removal and observance of sanitary conditions by different social infrastructure institutions. It is found that the number of epidemics depended on the overall sanitary conditions of the cities. The author comes to conclusion that the citizens’ sanitation and hygiene knowledge and ensuing behavior improved under the influence of urbanization and industrialization that penetrated into Siberia at the beginning of the XX century. These processes resulted in increasing cultural needs of the people living in Siberian cities. The infrastructure of Tobolsk, Tomsk and Omsk was enriched by water supply systems, new chemist’s shops and medical aid posts. Local authorities addressed on a day-to-day basis such issues as swamp draining, laying out parks and garden squares, cleaning the house premises and adjacent territories, maintenance of neighboring territories, establishing sanitation control over household waste removal. Sanitary and medical commissions intensified their work. Health education of city dwellers was strongly influenced by the local press, lectures delivered by representatives of the official conventional medicine; activities of various societies (like soberness clubs, societies for giving aid to indigent people, public health societies). There was increased public awareness of the importance of joint efforts of local authorities and citizens for the improvement of sanitary conditions.

The relevance of this article is due to the fact that today the technological development of the leading educational institutions in the world has reached the level where the further development of the information base does not bring a new quality. This poses a fundamentally new set of problems not only to the philosophy of education, but also to the entire social philosophy. The goal of this article is to analyze the information policy in education in the conditions of formation of a new global world order, with the emphasis on the specific features of e-learning. Education community and the community of students are not converged into one another so that we can claim that they together form some integrity. The reasons for this, according to the authors, is that the information policy in any educational system is connected both with the technical capabilities of the educational institution and with the world-view potential of teachers. One of the most difficult problems of formation of information policy in the educational system is the pedagogical conservatism, which postulates the traditional teaching methods, and this provokes inertness of transition to an informational education based on innovations, usage of new information technologies, modern achievements of the economy, science and pedagogical thought. Modern information policy in the field of education is conditioned, on one hand, by the need for integration into the global educational space by means of modern information technologies, on the other, on the importance of preserving the social and cultural identity.