Reading as a social and cultural need of the Russian population (a case of the Republic of Bashkortostan)

The paper examines the aspects of modern reading as a sociocultural phenomenon which serves as a way to fulfill the social and cultural needs of a person. The results of sociological studies conducted by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center show that, on the one hand, the population still has an interest in reading and literature as a whole. On the other hand, traditional book culture is supplanted by mass media, television, and the Internet. The quality and level of reading are fundamentally different since it is mainly mass literature that dominates the publishing space. This demonstrates the fragmentation of the reading culture consisting of short-term impressions often devoid of stable values and authorities that unite and are transmitted to generations. Having analyzed the statistical data on library, the author identifies that this social institution of book culture has lost its value component responsible for structuring mass reading. Library attendance rate in Russia has decreased by a factor of 1.2 in the past decade. In the Republic of Bashkortostan, the attendance rate has decreased to 5.5% by 2017 compared to 2007.