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The paper presents several basic arguments which corroborate the researches of the Russian sociologist Zinaida Golenkova aabout transformational processes in postsoviet Russia, specially about the processes which led to the changes in the social structure of the Russian society. The author believes, relying also on the researches of other Russian scientists, that the transformation of the post-soviet Russian society occurs within the historical type which is called "the social engineering". Unlike the other two types of historical transformation ("modification" within a specific type of social relations and the changes created in "the bourgeois-democratic revolutions"), "the social engineering" implies a specific violation of the historical reality of a society. In author's opinion, "the social engineering" is characteristic both for the revolutionary transformation of Russia in 1917 and for its transformation in the last decade of the 20th century. Namely, the transformations realized in Russia in the last decade of the 20th century to a great degree represent "social engineering", because they are realized with the help of the instruments of political power, by the forceful reforms from the top, in order to form the social-economic structure according to the models which were historically created in significantly different social environments. In that sense, the post-soviet transformation of the Russian society could be designated as a state of social chaos. Such a state to a great degree created a specific social system, which is argu-mentatively discussed in the research studies of Z. Golenkova.

Ottomans and drinkers : the consumption of alcohol in Istanbul in the nineteenth century François Georgeon -- Prisons and marginalisation in nineteenth-century Egypt Rudolph Peters -- Getting into the shelter of Takiyat Tulun Mine Ener -- Prostitution in Egypt in the nineteenth century Khaled Fahmy -- Madness and marginality : the advent of the psychiatric asylum in Egypt and Lebanon Eugene Rogan -- Migrants and workers in an Ottoman port : Ottoman Salonica in the eighteenth century Eyal Ginio -- Marginality and migration : Europe's social outcasts in pre-colonial Tunisia, 1830-81 Julia Clancy-Smith -- Public morality and marginality in fin-de-siècle Beirut Jens Hanssen -- Entertainers in Baghdad, 1900-50 Sami Zubaida -- Shifting narratives on marginality : female entertainers in twentieth-century Egypt Karin van Nieuwkerk

AbstractMeeting individuals' social care needs is a core element of UK social policy. However, the conceptualisation and operationalisation of 'unmet need' remain a challenge. This paper advances our understanding by incorporating a temporal dimension into the conceptual framework on unmet need to investigate the dynamics of met and unmet need for social care over time. Using data from Waves 8 and 9 of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, this paper examines five possible trajectories among individuals with a social care need for bathing or dressing at baseline: (a) no longer having such a need; (b) having continued needs met; (c) delayed needs met; (d) newly arisen unmet needs; and (e) repeated unmet needs. The results indicate that amongst those with need at baseline, unmet need has decreased over time – indicating that some needs for social care may be fulfilled with a delay. However, a significant proportion of older people experienced repeated unmet needs, particularly those who were younger, with no spouse or civil partner, and those whose activities of daily living index scores worsened over time. Understanding the dynamics of unmet need can support policy makers in better ensuring that those facing an elevated risk of repeated unmet need over time do not fall through the social care safety net.

The paper presents a ten-year history of social network logics in China. It tells the story of how this new research area was started, how its research agenda was extended, and, in particular, how a focus on graph games developed. Important ideas and research results are summarised, with an emphasis on the connections between them. An important aspect of this history is the successful collaboration between Chinese and international colleagues.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to show that given the dearth of literature on how firms in the African continent have embraced and practiced corporate social responsibility (CSR), this study contributes to the CSR literature by examining managers' perceptions about CSR, structural changes to enhance, its implementation, and the pattern of current CSR actions in Nigeria.Design/methodology/approachThe study used quantitative approach and collected primary data through a three‐part structured questionnaire, from insurance firms operating in Nigeria. The 67 responses received were analysed descriptively and the results presented.FindingsThe overall results indicate a strong support for social responsibility and the translation of this support into action through involvement in some community based projects. Evidence from the study also suggests that social responsibility is still largely perceived as a philanthropic gesture.Research limitations/implicationsThe study only covers insurance firms operating in Lagos state. Furthermore, only one response represents the view of a firm, hence the need to exercise caution in generalizing the results.Practical implicationsSince the results suggest the readiness of the Nigerian insurance firms to go beyond the traditional view of profit and shareholders' wealth maximization, there must be a consistency between this posture and their actions.Originality/valueThe study provides an insight into perceptions about corporate social responsibility in the insurance industry, in a developing country and in Africa, which to the best knowledge of the author, have not been done before.

Introduction. This article aims to examine social integration of national minorities in Lithuania. The scientific novelty of this study represents identification of the main social mechanisms that influence the integration of national minorities. The author focuses on the integration of Polish minority due to their large number and active political position.Methodology and sources. Throughout the study, big attention was paid to the scientific articles and monographs of Lithuanian sociologists, thanks to which the term "social integration" in relation to the Lithuanian case, the identity of the Poles living in Lithuania, as well as the integration of national minorities into Lithuanian society through the education system were studied. Moreover, expert and narrative interviews with representatives of the Polish minority were conducted in order to better understand the situation.Results and discussion. Based on the data, the authors came to the conclusion that current legislation creates favorable conditions for the protection of the rights of national minorities, contributes to the preservation of their identity and development of culture. However, representatives of national minorities express the desire to have a separate law on national minorities that would clearly define and regulate their rights. Lithuanian language skills are seen as an important indicator evaluating integration of national minorities.Conclusion. The education system creates opportunities for national minorities to acquire necessary competencies and learn Lithuanian language. Communication contributes to the improvement of language skills. Good knowledge of Lithuanian language contributes to the expansion of the circle of contacts and integration into the Lithuanian social system.

In the age of the digital generation, written public data is ubiquitous and acts as an outlet for today's society. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn have profoundly changed how we communicate and interact. They have enabled the establishment of and participation in digital communities as well as the representation, documentation and exploration of social behaviours, and had a disruptive effect on how we use the Internet. Such digital communications present scholars with a novel way to detect, observe, analyse and understand online communities over time. This article presents the formalization of a Social Observatory: a low latency method for the observation and measurement of social indicators within an online community. Our framework facilitates interdisciplinary research methodologies via tools for data acquisition and analysis in inductive and deductive settings. By focusing our Social Observatory on the public Facebook profiles of 187 federal German politicians we illustrate how we can analyse and measure sentiment, public opinion, and information discourse in advance of the federal elections. To this extent, we analysed 54,665 posts and 231,147 comments, creating a composite index of overall public sentiment and the underlying conceptual discussion themes. Our case study demonstrates the observation of communities at various resolutions: "zooming" in on specific subsets or communities as a whole. The results of the case study illustrate the ability to observe published sentiment and public dialogue as well as the difficulties associated with established methods within the field of sentiment analysis within short informal text.

Abstract
The article explores aspects of the Soviet atheistic regime that contributed to the formation of the religious imaginary of believing Ukrainian and Lithuanian scientists born in 1930–1960s. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, most of them did not accept Orthodox, Catholic, or other institutional religions, but instead created their own privatized religious patterns, using science-related elements in their imaginary. This distinguished them from the other national groups participating in the study. In the article, I propose an interpretation for this phenomenon. I analyze 29 in-depth interviews of a larger sample and focus on the biographies of the older cohort of natural scientists from Lithuania and Ukraine to show how the Soviet political and normative context supported their science-based imaginary. This allows us to draw some parallels concerning secularization—gradual in the West but forced in the Soviet case—and the role of science in this process.