The successfulness of a modern individual: theoretical and methodological aspects of the study

The article discusses theoretical foundations of understanding success, substantiates methodological approaches to studying the successfulness of the 20th century individual, and discusses findings of an exploratory research conducted by an international team of scientists. We consider it important to study the social phenomenon such as “succesfulness of a modern individual” in the context of their satisfaction with important aspects of life and work and from the perspective of a wide range of socio-cultural, socio-psychological and demographic determinants. The study uses methods developed in various fields of social and humanitarian science; the methods describe the phenomenon1 of success in a meaningful way and identify its prevalence and manifestation features in different countries (in this project - Russia, Poland and Belarus) and in specific groups within countries. An exploratory research performed in this way has an interdisciplinary basis and relies on the synthesis of econometric (modeling, correlation and regression analysis), sociological (questionnaire survey), and psychological (testing) methods. The article presents findings of a pilot sociological survey and psychological testing of the population of different cities of Russia (Vologda, Cherepovets, Petrozavodsk, Kolomna), Belarus (Minsk) and Poland (Lublin). The pilot stage of the comparative cross-country study involved empirical testing of the selected tools in determining success factors in different linguistic, cultural and political environments, searching for methodological approaches to the essence of the phenomenon under consideration, and the operationalization of the concepts used. Successfulness2 has been studied in terms of self-esteem and in relation to life satisfaction. The study covered main spheres and conditions of human life. We tested relevant hypotheses that we had confirmed in the course of regional studies. The scientific significance and novelty of the research lies in the exploratory nature of the project, an attempt to solve a scientific problem by integrating knowledge and methods from various scientific fields. The findings of the study, its conclusions and models can become the basis for the development of a full-fledged concept of “modern successful individual”.