Socio-cultural perspective of regional development: experience of long-term observations

The importance of analyzing the socio-cultural specifics of the development of Russian territories is justified by modern scientific discourse. In addition, the study of socio-cultural characteristics of regional development is becoming a popular task, as it has a clear practical application. Understanding the socio-cultural characteristics of the territories makes it possible to expand and deepen the information base for making managerial decisions of the regional authorities. The article presents an analysis of the results of seven waves of monitoring of the socio-cultural development of the Vologda Oblast, conducted by Vologda Research Center of RAS in 2008, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2019, 2020, 2021. The purpose of the research is to analyze and record the transformations of the region’s socio-cultural development. As a result, we have identified the nodal and stable points of the region’s socio-cultural portrait, as well as shown the main transformations associated with periods of instability and external challenges. The most noticeable changes were those catalyzed by the coronavirus pandemic. For instance, the regional community reacted by strengthening the settlement identity, increasing dependence on external institutional conditions and policies, and changing the hierarchy of some instrumental values. After removing restrictions, interest in visiting public and cultural institutions increased slightly. But at the same time, there has been a tendency of passivity in leisure: mostly Vologda residents do not use cultural services because there is no interest and desire, whereas previously time and financial constraints were more pronounced. The core of the value field, the insignificance of migration sentiments, relatively low cultural activity, and priorities when spending free time remained unchanged. The practical significance of the research results lies in the possibility of using data for conducting regional policy taking into account socio-cultural characteristics.