Charitable behavior as a form of social activism in Russia

Social activity is usually considered to be a measure of social transformations associated with the formation of the civil society in Russia, the construction of a social, democratic state that ensures the improvement of the quality of life, the realization of the rights and freedoms of citizens. Since the phenomenon under study has a strongly marked interdisciplinary character, the article presents investigation into social activism and charitable behavior in terms of the activity-activist approach in the sociology of E. Giddens, A. Turen, P. Shtomki, V. Yadov. Identifying the socio-cultural characteristics of the collective socio-historical memory of the Russian society (A. Akhiezer) helped to consider these changes in socially significant subjects in contemporary Russia. The author of the article pays close attention to the specific conditions of the formation of social activism during the formation of the Russian statehood. The contemporary period is characterized by uncertain benchmarks for the development of the civil society and by manifestation of contemporary activism in organizational forms of «traditional» and «novel» types. Identifying the characteristics of charitable behavior as a form of activism, the article draws attention to the following feature of Russian charitable practices: here functions an informal, helping, altruistic basis, when the good is exchanged for the good without hoping for a close return. The article considers different kinds of charitable activity, forms of charity, the originality of charitable behavior that lies within the framework of legal, socially defined and sociocultural norms of the contemporary Russian society. Nevertheless, the author concludes that the image of charity is slowly entering the ordinary practice of life and is far from being entrenched in the public consciousness.