Features of sociological analysis of religion in Russia during the imperial period of its history

The article deals with the features of sociological analysis of religion in Russia during the imperial period of its history. The national sociological tradition of study of religion as a socio-cultural phenomenon and a social institution, which was developed during this period, had its own unique and peculiar appearance and was just begun to revive again in post-Soviet Russia, is sharply different from the tradition that took place in the West. In this context, the appeal to the works of classics of Russian religious, socio-political thought, unfortunately undeservedly forgotten, is a very promising area of modern sociological research.

When studying this problem, the author emphasizes the study of the works of representatives of three ideological areas of Russian religious and socio-political thought: conservatism, liberalism and socialism, as well as the peculiarities of the historical development of Russian society and the state and those events that had a significant impact on the formation and development of scientific understanding of religion in Russia. Among such features, the author, in particular, refers to the formation of an “antisystem” (systemic integrity of people who are negative about their homeland, hate their own nation, its values and culture, history, traditional religious, political and social systems) among the Russian intelligentsia, bureaucracy and part of the elite of Russian society, under a certain influence of Westernism, as a consequence of the spiritual schism of the 18th century, which occurred in the educated strata and elite of Russian society.

The author of the article analyzing the views of A.I. Herzen, P.L. Lavrov, M.A. Bakunin, P.A. Kropotkin, G.V. Plekhanov, V.I. Lenin, emphasizes the understanding of religious issues by representatives, primarily the socialist camp, who dreamed of carrying out a socialist revolution in Russia and who were extremely negative about religion, religious institutions and the traditional life of society. He notes the fact that the authors mentioned above were more concerned with introducing various ideological stamps into science, as well as using political technologies to discredit in a destructive way for society and the State, this traditionally important sphere of life for any society and an influential social institution. Against this background, a peculiar exception to the rules was the balanced, scientifically based approach to sociological analysis of religion in society developed by P.A. Sorokin, with an emphasis on the study of the integrating role of religion in social stratification.

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