The emerging of the concept "public issue" in the domestic sociological thought

The article analyses the genesis of the concept «public issue» in the Russian papers of the period 1858-1872. Attention to research phenomena named «social problems» is growing in contemporary science. Using the concept «social problem» it is necessary to understand how the term has rise, what does it originally mean and what meanings we brings from the history to contemporary discourse when we use the term. There is lack of theoretical development of the concept. It makes difficult the overall understanding of the term and does not allow using approaches for studying social problems made by foreign colleges. The term «social problem» began to be using in Russia just in XX century. Concepts "public issue" and "social issue" dominated in Russian sociology in XIX century. That article pays attention on the emerging of the concept «public issue». The object of the article is literature written by Russian initial sociologists, public figures, publicists in the period 1858-1872. The general aim of the article is to define key interpretational directions of the concept «public issue» in prerevolutionary Russian society. The article provides general characteristic of the concept «public issue» in Russian papers and characteristic the public issue mostly as a peasant. Texts of the Russian intellectuals, previously not subjected to sociological analysis, were put into circulation. Important result of the literature analysis is the first general determination of the concept «public issue». The general conclusion is: there are 33 ways of interpretation the concept «public issue» to the 1870: from population moral ill-being to economic reforms.