Socio-cultural development of the Vologda oblast: experience of sociological measurement

The modern stage of society’s development makes new demands on the development of territorial strategies for the purpose of their effective implementation and achievement of the planned indicators. The integrated approach to the study and planning that take into account regional characteristics and institutional factors is required. In these conditions the socio-economic policy is aimed at managing behavior of many people and the relevance of considering behavioral factors and public opinion in the adoption and effective implementation of management decisions increases. The importance of studying socio-cultural specifics is substantiated in modern scientific discourse. The socio-cultural specifics is the basis for determining elements of the territorial structure; it can be deeply studied only by using sociological data. The article presents the analysis of results of the monitoring surveys of socio-cultural development of the Vologda Oblast, carried out by the Institute of Socio-Economic Development of Territories of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2015. The purpose of the work is to present significant changes in socio-cultural development of the region, as reflected in the opinion polls. During the synthesis of public opinion polls results we identify features and foundations of socio-territorial identification of the population and nature of the relationship with forced migrants and representatives of other nationalities. In addition, we consider people’s estimates of their place of residence and their satisfaction with the provision of social and cultural services. The conclusion reveals preservation of the trends of low social participation and atomization, which are expressed in people’s desire to find support in the narrow circle of immediate environment. Vital priorities of ensuring material wealth and conducting home affairs prevail in the period of crisis phenomena in economic and social development, reducing the population’s interest to satisfy their cultural, educational and professional needs. The reasons for low social activity are the following: sense of insecurity from arbitrariness of officials and disbelief in the possibility of influence on the public and political situation in the region and the country, which also generates negative expectations in the near future. We make a conclusion about the importance of using social data as an important component of the information base for the adoption and effective implementation of management decisions.