The article features an empirical study of the attitude of adolescents to coming-of-age with various resiliency in St. Petersburgand Smolensk. The research employed a modified version of the Dembo-Rubinshtein selfevaluation methodology. The actual and ideal self-esteem of the teenagers was measured in terms of «adulthood», «willingness to be an adult» and «desire to grow up»; their resilience was assessed with the help of a screening version of the Resiliency. The characteristics of the regulatory, moral and reflexive spheres were assessed according to the Self-Assessment Scale of Personal Maturity. The research demonstrated that adolescents from Smolenskassessed their desire to grow up significantly higher than those from St. Petersburg, while their level of actual and ideal self esteem of adulthood remained the same. The adolescents from St. Petersburgshowed lower rates of conative, reflexive and moral maturity, as well as resiliency, primarily in terms of involvement and control. Depending on the strategy of growing up, resiliency is a resource (for an internally coordinated strategy of coming-of-age) or a personal condition for exercising control over one's own life (for an internally conflicting strategy of coming-of-age). The data obtained are used in the psychological and pedagogical accompaniment of adolescents growing up in different sociocultural conditions. There is a tendency to further research on the influence of socio-cultural factors on the implementation of a particular coming-of age strategy and teenagers’ attitude.

The authors consider the process of self-fulfillment as an exteriorization of one’s inner world on a life scale. The research features the following ways of self-fulfillment: self-expression (positioning oneself), self-realization (the realization of one’s potential) and self-transcendence (commitment). The authors describe their constructive and non-constructive character, taking into consideration the "Oneself – the Other" axis, i.e. in the interest of one’s personality, as well as for the sake of other people. The efficiency of the self-fulfillment, the manifestation of the variants and the directivity were measured by means of the authors’ questionnaire. The authors conducted an empirical research of the self-assessment of self-fulfillment among teenagers and adults and its influence on the psychological well-being and emotional state. It was discovered that both the adults and the teenagers had a positive assessment of the self-fulfillment related with the expression of psychological well-being and general life satisfaction and was accompanied by the axis towards "the Other". The authors point out that life satisfaction, emotional and psychological well-being in teenagers was connected with a positive assessment of self-realization, while in the adults it was predetermined by all the ways of the self-fulfillment.

The study evaluates the psycho-physiological status and sociopsychological characteristics of humanitarian and technical students working for their bachelor's degree. The longitudinal study featured male and female students of technical university majoring in various humanitarian and technical sciences. In their analysis of neurodynamic, cognitive and psychodynamic parameters, the authors assessed mechanical, semantic and image types of memory, mental alertness, mental performance efficiency, speed of sensomotor reaction to photic stimulus, and nervous processes. They used A. K. Osnitsky’s Method of Evaluation of Social and Psychological Adaptation, Ch. D. Spielberger and Yu. L. Khanin’s Assessment Method of Reactive and Personal Anxiety Level and H. Eysenck’s tests on stress resistance and temperament assessment. The study revealed that both male and female students of different specialties underwent certain psycho-physiological and socio-psychological changes resulting from their adherent personal characteristics and from the influence of the specialty.

The article covers the outcomes of the empiric research devoted to the revelation of subjective life way picture formation among servicepersons in different spatiotemporal conditions of professional activities. It verifies the hypothesis of interrelation between personality’s subjective life way picture and professional specifics of person’s position and actualization environment. Professional medium could affect spatiotemporal and life-purpose characteristics of life way, person’s temporal orientation, correlation of time loci in person’s world picture.

The findings prove the fact that spatiotemporal characteristics of professional activities conditions promote the development of person’s peculiar methods of time arrangement and formation of subjective life way picture. The article shows that the representatives of the model groups, mirroring different spatiotemporal organization of professional activities, demonstrate diverse perception and content of the past, present and future; dissimilar strategies of one’s own life way apprehension in the context of time transpective; varied directivities into life spheres. The results of the research are applicable for the organization of psychological work with servicepersons in different conditions of professional activities.

The paper deals with the relationship between the characteristics of individual time perspective and the processes of self-regulation that affect the quality of life. The research features personal characteristics of people engaged in entrepreneurial activities. The author has conducted a comparative analysis of time perspective balance in relation to the styles of self-regulation in three groups: successful entrepreneurs, individuals who refuse to engage in entrepreneurial activities for various reasons, and individuals who keep failing to organize their own business. The obtained results have revealed that a balanced time perspective in combination with regulatory modeling and evaluation processes is necessary for successful business activity. If time perspective is unbalanced, it does not allow the individual to use their positive potential to the full, even if life regulation processes are well-developed.

The paper features some results of a pilot research on the formation of I-concept of one’s professional identity during practical training and at work. The issues of the I-concept draw attention of modern scientists; however, the problem of I-concept of one’s professional identity remains largely understudied, e.g. its sensitive period of formation, conditions, factors and dynamics, interrelations between the I-concept of one’s professional identity and one’s professional activity, etc. An adequate I-concept plays a special role in the activities connected with extreme conditions, a high degree of responsibility and a brief adaptation period, e.g. public transport. The research involved first thirdand fifth-year students of State Transportation University of the Far East (Khabarovsk) and railroad employees of the corresponding profile. The diagnostic package was shaped according to the theoretically revealed structure of the I-concept. The results confirmed the initial assumption that one’s "I-concept" of the professional identity is rooted in one’s learning and practical training, but its actual formation happens during one’s professional activity. The paper contains some recommendations on I-concept formation in students majoring in transport.

The research features various theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of emotional intelligence in children aged 5–7. The relevance of the issue can be explained by the current social mandate and the federal state standard of modern pre-school education. The paper focuses on an analysis of foreign and domestic approaches to the study of the psychological phenomenon in question. The authors come to a conclusion that emotional intelligence regulates the integral state of the human psyche and manifests itself at the physiological, psychological, and personal levels of its functioning. The article also includes a description of the study methods applied to senior preschoolers. The authors give a critical review of the methodological tools for emotional intelligence assessment in children aged 5–7, the results of which indicate the problem areas in the existing methods for diagnosing emotional intelligence. The paper describes the matters of criteria selection for evaluation and selection of adequate methods for studying. In conclusion, the authors point to the insufficientlystudied aspects of emotional intelligence and designate the theoretical and methodological problems of researching emotional intelligence in children of senior preschool age. Based on the results of the theoretical analysis, the authors propose to consider emotional intelligence as a dynamic system functioning at all levels of one’s mental life and justify the need to develop a comprehensive approach to its study from the standpoint of general, age and pedagogical psychology, psychophysiology, preschool pedagogy.

The article presents the results of a psychological research aimed at studying the axiological sphere in adolescents with different levels of agency formation. The authors conducted a thorough theoretical analysis and formulated some theses concerning the dynamics of the axiological sphere during the stage of development. The empiric research involved 71 respondents. The reference set was split into two groups according to agency formation level. The data obtained were interpreted according to criterion and correlation analyses. The axiological sphere of young men and women with better formed agency was characterized by a higher degree of crystallization of values that determine behavior and activity, strong pro-social orientation, and non-adaptive essence; their relations with other people were more productive, although they maintained a significant autonomy. Those with a lower degree of agency formation were characterized by hedonistic life-orientation, adaptibility of behavior, and a tendency to maintain their position in the system of social interaction.

The paper features the role of the author's image as a factor that determines the variable functioning of the text in the process of its interpretation by a native speaker. A linguistic experiment conducted by the author revealed semantic versions of the source text as a result of the influence of the author's image on the interpreting activity of the addressee. The image of the author is viewed as a portrait of a political leader modeled by the addressee and his or her communicative intentions on the basis of the analysis of interpretive texts as the result of perception and interpretation of the source text. The research proves that the image of the author influences the addressee’s interpretation of the text. The author used the method of linguistic analysis to prove that the image of the author of the political text is shaped in mundane political consciousness under the impact of various factors and influences mundane linguistic consciousness and the interpreting activity of the addressee. This is confirmed by the fact that the same text, attributed to different politicians, received different interpretations depending on how the recipient perceived the politician designated as the author of the text.

The paper features the 3rd category of the classification introduced by the author in her previous article "The Role of Stylistic Dissonance in Alla Y. Frolova’s Russian Translation of J. Austen’s "Sense and Sensibility". Part 1". The author analyzes the relevance of stylistic dissonance in the Russian translation of "Sense and Sensibility", published in 2013 under the title "Разум и чувство" (pronounced as [razum i chuvstvo], which literally means "Reason and Feeling"). The 1st stage of the research revealed the following categories of the phenomenon: 1) it conveys (or create) comic effects and irony; 2) it serves to adapt the novel to the linguistic worldview, tastes and preferences of the modern audience; 3) translation and editing mistakes. The present article represents the 2nd part of the research and examines the 3rd category. The phenomenon of stylistic dissonance is revealed to have both positive and negative impacts on the text, which are described in the conclusion. The analysis is a part of a larger research that focuses on Russian and French full-text translations of J. Austen’s novel.

The paper deals with the image ofGermanyin I. P. Miatlev’s poem "Sensacii i zamechaniya gospozhi Kurdyukovoy za graniceyu, dans l’etranger" ("Madam Kurdukova’s Sensations and Remarks Abroad, dans l’etranger") that is an example of macaronic poetry. The poem marks an important milestone in the transformation of the image ofGermanyin the Russian literature of the 1840s; however, it has not received proper scientific attention. The current research examines the historic and the mundane aspects of the image in question. The historic aspect combines different loci connected with the German history of the Middle Ages and the Modern Times: urban images and urban unions, like theHanseatic League, or certain urban spaces, e. g. churches, etc. Such loci are often connected with historical characters like Charlemagne or Napoleon. The mundane aspect is represented with things, money and goods as a typical attribute of the German (Western) civilization, which leads to the metonymic unity of cities and goods produces there, the way it happens toHamburg. Besides, the mundane element is actualized via the philistine personages, which make the core of German characters in the poem.

The research features the metaphorical representations of the language in the individual author's worldview expressed by W. von Humboldt via artifact metaphors. The linguistic personality of the great scientist remains surprisingly understudied, so it seems important to study the language means of verbalizing the basic concepts in his philosophical discourse. The research concentrates on the verbalization of the phenomenon "Language" by means of artifact metaphors in W. von Humboldt’s "On the Difference of the Structure of Human Languages and its Influence on the Spiritual Development of Mankind" (Über die Verschiedenheit des menschlichen Sprachbaues und ihren Einfluss auf die geistige Entwicklung des Menschengeschlechts, 1836) [1]. The analysis of empirical material included the method of linguocognitive analysis, the method of component analysis based on dictionary definitions, the method of interpretative analysis of contexts, conceptual and semantic-cognitive analysis of artifact metaphors, etc. The article reveals some features of the cognitive structure of the phenomenon "Language" on the basis of artifact metaphors "language as tool" and "language as fabric". As a result of the research, the frame structure of the artifact metaphorical models of the language concept has been revealed, as well as the ontological components of the language structuring various types of slots. The basic frames "language as tool" and "language as fabric" objectify the concept "Language", represented by the metaphorical model "Artifact" in the philosophical discourse of W. van Humboldt. The "language as tool" metaphor explicates the correlation of Language with such phenomena such as Spirit, Thought, andMan.The metaphorical identification of language and instrument explores the mediatory power of language in relation to Nation and Spirit. The "language as fabric" metaphor objectifies language as a complex entity, whose relevant features are anthropological qualities dominated by intellectual and sensualistic components in the diversity of their manifestations. Individuality is one of the dominant epistemological features of the concept "Language", represented by the artifact metaphorical model in W. von Humboldt’s philosophical discourse. The study proves a high degree of metaphoricity of W.vonHumboldt's linguistic worldview as a whole. One of the important concepts in his philosophical discourse is the "character of language". The scientist metaphorically "humanizes" the language, giving it individual features inherent only to human. The character of the language emphasizes the inseparable interdependence of Spirit and Nation, in its turn, being influenced by the external (verbal) form of the language.

The paper specifies the term "ergonym" and its place in the onomastic terminological system of the Russian language. A number of relevant studies performed by Russian linguists have allowed the author to conclude that there are no scientifically grounded criteria for distinguishing ergonyms from other varieties of onyms, i.e. urbanonyms, toponyms, chrematonyms, etc. The article introduces a complex definition of ergonym that distinguishes it from other types of onyms, in particular, from chrematonyms and ktematonyms. The author also specifies the difference between such concepts as ergonymy, ergonymics, and ergonymicon and clarifies the concept of ergonym through the business profiles of the enterprises described in the field of chrematonymy: marketing, public and ideological. The study features the field structure of the concept of ergonomics and describes the syntagmatic and paradigmatic, or genus-species (hyperonymic-hyponymic), relations of ergonyms in the terminological system of onomastics, as well as their systemic organization.

The paper focuses on one of the most effective factors of linguistic manipulation, i.e. imperative utterance. The subject of the study was direct contact appeals, whose structures corresponded to the literary norms of the English language. The research determined and described the temporal component of imperative prosody. The author employed electro-acoustic, mathematical and statistical methods. The phonetic experiment revealed four prosodic structures, as well as their inter-structural and inter-style levels, the degree of temporal fluctuation and the phenomenon of emphatic length, the latter being recognized as the basic temporal feature of imperative prosody. Temporal variation in a phrase and its functional segments in different prosodic structures and in certain extra-linguistic conditions convincingly demonstrates the set of absolute and inter-style markers of this prosodic subsystem. In practice, the results of the present research can be applied in teaching communicatively oriented utterances and in making up the algorithm of automatic speech recognition and synthesis.

The research features communicative behavior of the logical-grammatical category of predicativity, its realization in speech, and field organization of the sentence in the modern German language. The study is focused on the means that shape the periphery of the predicative field. The subject of the study is the categorical meaning of predicativity, which considers any linguistic phenomenon from its meaning (attributive meaning) to its form (explicit and implicit ways of expressing predicativity) and is based on such abstract linguistic predicative unit as the predicative sign. The authors pay particular attention to such syncretic means of implicit predicativeness as close explicative syntagm, compound words (copulative and determinative composites) on the periphery of the predicative field. By applying the extrapolation method of the predicativity test to the level of these structures, the authors have revealed a "collapsed" predicative core, a kind of predicative "ellipse": a two-step transformation that allows one to unfold a predicative "ellipse" into a "nuclear" sentence. The results obtained can be used in theoretical grammar and lexicology.

The research features variations of meaning within multiunit metaphors in the technical conceptual sphere of the English language. Its objective was to reveal the heuristic potential of the multiunit metaphor, which contributes to the description of the metaphoric process pragmatically directed at changing the addressee’s worldview. The author employed the method of the complex heuristic potential modeling within a conceptual sphere, thus disclosing the nature of one-, twoand multiunit metaphors as non-contradictory and pragmatically charged. The heuristic potential modeling and the holistic approach to the multiunit metaphor makes it possible to identify misconceptions, beliefs and myths based on technical metaphors. The general emotive key of the technical metaphor is negative as it reveals the process of breakage and malfunction. The author states that technical metaphors have to be used with caution in order to avoid manipulation and reveal the false character of the Man Is Machine metaphor.

The research features the ways of innovation discourse and is based on the concept of axiological parameterization of social media discourse. It contributes to the construction of social meanings on the basis of what is particularly significant and valuable in the interpretation process. It also defines the conceptual status of "innovation" as one of the axiologemes of modern discourse. The authors set the parameters of the strategic organization of innovation discourse based on the dynamic approach to the discourse analysis in the model of the trajectory of discursivisation and interpretative approach to the discourse description. The authors also reveal the prevalence of axiological strategies of conceptual status improving as a positive valorization realized in the tactics and techniques of valorizing positive nomination as well as tactics of axiological programming. The theoretical significance of the work lies in the fact that it contributes to the description of discursive construction of the value of "innovation". The results of the analysis are applicable in the field of social discourse theory, speech influence, argumentation theory and axiological strategies.

The article features the structure and content of the concept "the exiled" in the Angaralinguoculture. Using conceptual analysis method, the author identified and examined conceptual and value layers of the concept "the exiled" in the oral stories and interviews with the residents of the North Angara river basin (Kezhemsky, Bogychansky and Motyginsky districts of Krasnoyarskregion). The originality of the study is in the fact that it is the first time the concept in question has been investigated on the basis of the Angarabasin residents’ oral stories and interviews. The study was conducted in the frames of the communicative-discursive paradigm of the modern linguistics. Its topicality is based on the fact that the conceptosphere of the Angaralinguoculture remains largely understudied. Moreover, researches of the moral culture of the Angarabasin residents have important sociocultural value since the population was mostly resettled after the construction of the Bogychany hydroelectric power station and flooding of villages in Kezhemsky district of Krasnoyarsk region. The research findings broaden the empirical basis of linguoculturology and communicative dialectology and clarify the peculiarities of the concept "the exiled" in the regional Siberian linguoculture. The author established that the explication of the value layer of the concept «the exiled» was verbalized via evaluative adverbs and adjectives. Positive normative (rationalistic),

The study features the image of the revolution in the novel by  V. Maksimov "The Nomadism to Death". The research employed the cultural-historical and mythopoetic methods, as well as the method of motivational analysis. Since the novel has a complex multistage structure, the image of the revolution is considered according to the levels of the text: 1. The real layer of time, featuring the generation of fathers, who participated in the revolution and civil war. For them, revolution is significant: this is what they lived, killed and died for. The image of revolution evokes respect and worship, as well as regret about its incomplete. On this level, the revolution is closely connected with the time of the Civil War, which became its continuation. 2. The metatext level (the level of the explicit author-narrator Mikhail Barmin) unites the metatextual construction of the novel (which includes the present, Barmin’s past and "a novel inside the novel" about the time of the revolution and the civil war) and fits into the artistic conception of the writer's time: Maksimov depicts the time as a deadly chaotic circle, guiding the destinies of his characters and the land that repeats its history again and again, and in the whole of humanity as a whole. 3. Author's point of view (implicit author) – the revolution appears in the form of chthonic creatures, monsters devouring their children, demanding blood sacrifices and human lives.

The article features the linguistic peculiarities of four novels the author uses in her course on Contemporary English Fiction: Hilary Mantel’s A Change of Climate, Jim Crace’s Quarantine, Graham Swift’s Last Orders, and Adam Thorpe’s Ulverton. The novels probe deeply into some of the stranger aspects of human experience. Hilary Mantel writes of people who try to behave as balanced, rational beings, but to whom irrational and terrible things happen that have to be dealt with. The metaphorical language illuminates this philosophical exploration, which would otherwise be dull or unconvincing. The novel might seem strange for English readers, but the language carries the conviction of the true storyteller. J. Crace has a wonderful sense of exact words for an exact rhythm. Graham Swift’s novel is written as though it were the thoughts and memories of seven different characters. The language here is the colloquial vernacular, the language of elderly and middle-aged men and women with little education from south-eastLondon. The most extraordinary book of these four is Adam Thorpe’s Ulverton. It consists of twelve chapters, which are a chronological set separate ‘stories’ that happened between 1650 and 1988. Each chapter uses a different literary genre for the story-telling: for example, a simple first-person narrative, a sermon, a journal, letters to a lover, lecture notes, an internal monologue, and – ending the novel – a television script. Thorpe has therefore set himself a colossal task: to render into lively readable English, the concerns and passions of individuals, often illiterate individuals, while retaining a sense of the language appropriate to a particular era and a particular genre.

Literature is an act of communication between writer and reader which does justice to humanity through expressive, imaginative language. Nobody would be so arrogant as to say that reading literature is the only way of ‘being human’ but more than most activities it forces us to think about people other than ourselves.

Readers who would like to read more have available many other fine examples of contemporary English literature, provided by the Oxford Russia Fund for those taking part in the project on Contemporary English Literature in Russian Universities.

The current research is based on archival documents and works by domestic specialists in Caucasian studies. It features the foundation and construction of the Fortress of the Sacred Cross. Its history began during the famous Persian, or Caspian, Campaign of Peter the Great (1722–1723). As a result, the Caspian provinces of Iranand the entire Seaside Dagestan entered the Russian Empire. To protect the new territories, a system of military fortifications was built. The Fortress of the Holy Cross was founded by Peter the Great in September, 1722, inthe estuary of the SulakRiver. It gradually became one of the economic, administrative and political centers of the Caucasus.

Owing to its strategic location, the Fortress of the Holy Cross played an important historical role in the Caucasian policy ofRussia: it wasRussia’s pillar of support in the region and shielded the southern boundaries of the Empire. The article focuses on the history of the garrison, which has long remained understudied by domestic historiographers. Some Russian researches devoted to the Caucasian policy in general mention the political and economic role of the Fortress. However, there have been no separate studies devoted to the history of the Fortress – a lacuna the authors of the article attempt to bridge.

After the end of World War II, medical institutions of the Kemerovoregion needed repair, new buildings, modern equipment, and medical personnel. The region suffered from recurrent gastrointestinal epidemics and high mortality rate, especially among children. There were special medical-sanitary units that treated industrial workers; their level of healthcare care was higher than in other medical institutions. In 1945–1959, the local healthcare saw a significant improvement; the network of medical institutions expanded, the number of doctors and hospital beds increased, epidemiological situation improved and mortality decreased. Still, poor social financing and the rapid growth of urban population prevented the region from reaching the all-Union level.

The article features the meeting held on November 21–22, 1915, where representatives of the authorities, municipal and public organizations discussed the issues of assistance to World War I refugees on the territory of the Irkutsk Governorate General. The study is based on the previously unstudied meeting minutes and the newspaper reports and describes the participants, the main issues, and the results of the discussion. The research made it obvious that initially the authorities did not plan to accommodate the refugees in such a remote region but were forced to redirect them farther east because the western regions were overcrowded. The cities of Eastern Siberiadid not have time to prepare for such a massive resettlement. The migrants were hastily resettled, provided with rations and medical assistance. The money, however minimal and irregular, came mostly from the government, the department of migration, the All-Russian Union of

Cities, and local charitable organizations. At the meeting, it was proposed to set up a general Siberian Committee for Assistance to Refugees, to organize local refugee departments, and assign all expenses to the state.

The paper analyzes the process of scientific knowledge formation regarding the Kuznetsk Coal Basin in the context of the dynamics of geological knowledge development. The author employed historical-genetical and comparative-historical analyses, as well as generalization method to study the process of accumulation of knowledge about the Kuzbass region in conjunction with various socio-economic factors. The author conducted a terminological analysis of definitions in line with the conceptual framework of geology. Results of geological explorations of the region in XVIII – early XX centuries have been analyzed as a part of scientific foundation for the local mining development. The first fragmented mentions of coal deposits were part of the large-scale Siberian expeditions in the XVIII century. The early geologically significant mentions of coal-bearing layers near certain villages date back to the first half of the XIX century. From the middle of the XIX century, the geological exploratory research sponsored by the Cabinet of His Royal Majesty the Emperor, accumulates fragmented data on several coal-bearing regions of Kuzbass, which brought about the understanding that there are significant coal deposits making up the depth of the field. Intensified due to the growing economic demands of the country, the commercial interest of individual industrialists and the development of geological science, further geological findings of the coal deposits of the area were for the first time complemented by substantiated results, which answered practical questions regarding industrial evaluation of coal reserves, their qualitative diversity and regional peculiarities of coal fields. Near the end of the third decade of the XX century, geological research revealed a close-to-modern and well-rounded understanding regarding the geological build-up and the coal resources of the Kuznetsk Basin, which finally revealed its strategic significance for the state.

The research features public records concerning the Social-Democratic organizations of the Far East (Russia), stored in the collection of illegal publications at the Center for Social and Political History, the rare book section. The collection contains archival documents originating from the two largest Social-Democratic groups of the Far East located in Blagoveshchensk and Vladivostok. The records include: various reports, corporate charters, resolutions of party meetings, mandates to elected officials, and small newspapers. Publications issued by the Far Eastern social democratic organizations were mostly leaflets printed on a typewriter or published on a hectograph or mimeograph. Some leaflets were printed in actual print shops of private publishing houses or in handicraft illegal print shops. Most of the documents were previously unstudied. However, they belong to the category of particularly valuable and unique historical documents of cultural, historical and scientific value for the study of the Socio-Political movement of the Russian East. The author believes that the public records stored at the Center for Social and Political History, in combination with other archival data, may cast light on the state of the history of Social-Democratic underground in the Far East, its formation and development.

The research features the process of agrarian development in the Nizhneudinsk area of the Irkutsk province in the late XIX – early ХХ centuries, its agricultural industry, as well as the influence of mass migration and the construction of the TransSiberian Railway on the local agrarian development. The author identified regional tendencies in the development of agrarian production in the Nizhneudinsk district in the period described. The paper gives a detailed description of the local agricultural production and the land use system. Particular attention is paid to the dynamics of the cultivated areas and the causes of crop failure. The author has managed to establish a close connection of the phenomena with the socio-economic and natural factors.

In the late XIX – early ХХ centuries the subregion was a real "territory of advanced development", in modern terms. The analysis of the agrarian development of the Nizhneudinsk district shows a progressive development of the agrarian production. The methodology is based on the principles and methods of scientific knowledge, including the principle of historicism, according to which the agrarian development of the subregion is considered in the historical context of the local socio-economic and natural phenomena. The author used some general scientific methods of research, i.e. the method of analysis, synthesis, as well as special methods of historical research, such as statistic analysis.

The current paper features "American Girls in Red Russia: Chasing the Soviet Dream" (2017) by Julia L. Mickenberg, PhD in American Studies from the University of Texas. The author gives a thorough account of reasons that led American women in 1920–1930 to Soviet Russia. One of the chapters is dedicated to American author and journalist Ruth Epperson Kennell (1889–1977), who worked for the Autonomous Industrial Colony Kuzbass in 1922–1924, which makes her part of a unique industrial experiment in international partnership. She fulfilled duties of a secretary and librarian and continued to work at the library of Comintern in Moscow after her contract with Kuzbass expired. In 1928 she accompanied Theodore Dreiser in his Russian tour; he chose her as a prototype

for one of the novellas in his "Gallery of women". Relying on Kennell’s archive and written accounts of other Colony members, J. L. Mickenberg suggests that American women were attracted by the communal lifestyle ofsuch organizations as AIC "Kuzbass", as long as it offered them a relief from what was considered a woman’s traditional duties and a professional and artistic fulfi which led to a paradox: American women left for Soviet Russia in pursuit of the so-called American dream. Professor Mickenberg explains some of the radical feminism in her research subjects from the point of view of psychoanalysis and shows how environment and social changes influenced private life of the "Russian Americans". The monograph proves that the constant interest for the history and heritage of the Autonomous Industrial Colony "Kuzbass" is not only local but international.

: In 1990–1995, Russia experienced a transition period from totalitarianism to democratic social and political system, formed a civil society based on the freedom of the people and the recognition of the priority of human rights by the state. The transition to market relations set a lot of challenges, including social security issues. Hence, the development of the social sphere maintained its priority during the whole period of economic reform. The current state of the socio-economic development of Altai region was shaped by the failure to implement the reforms on its territory in1990–1995.

The author found out that the main difficulties of the transition period were caused by the generalized statistical indicators of certain sectors of the economy of the region in the post-soviet period.

The change in economic development indicators of the local productive forces in 1990–1995 was connected with the globalization of socio-economic relations and favorable changes in the social sphere. The reforms focused on the normalization of the residents really contributed to the solution of their social problems.

The process of the Islam revival in Dagestan was associated with the politicization of religion in society during perestroika and post-perestroika periods. The process had its own peculiarities associated with the general transformation of Russian society, active work of international organizations, and the decline of traditional Islam in the republic. As a result, there appeared alternative and unconventional directions in the process of revival of the Islamic component, e. g. the so-called "new Islam" (Wahhabism), foreign to local religious communities.

The activity of the adherents of the new movement showed itself not so much in the confessional sphere as in the socio-political sphere. This was clearly manifested in Dagestan society in the early 1990s against the backdrop of the socio-economic and socio-political collapse and contradictions between the state and society.

The research investigates the place and role of the social conflict that arose on the basis of ideological differences. The actors of the conflict were individuals with their religious non-traditional views and socio-political orientations, who opposed official structures in the struggle for domination in the society, desperately searching for a new religious idea. The authors proceed from the thesis that the escalation of this kind of conflict has a significant impact on the nature of social (political, socioeconomic, national) relations in any society, the way it happened when the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Dagestan split according to ethnicity.

The study features the main stages of the tourist-excursion sphere development in Kazanin the first half of the XX century. The research is focused on the issues of the first educational excursions and their organization, compiling the first guidebooks and collections of Kazansites. The author presents examples of the first methodological works on tours around the city, the Kremlin, thematic and panoramic tours with descriptions of sights. The article features the objectives and tasks of the first Kazantourist-excursion societies and organizations. The author describes the main directions of the tourist-excursion business, analyzes the sources and literature of the period in question, and dwells upon the issues of tourist-excursion business development in Kazan. The research involves the sources from the Republicof Tatarstan National Archive, the first reference books and guidebooks around Kazan, as well as methodological works published in the 1920s–1930s.

The author studied the theoretical basis of tourist-excursion activity in Kazan, the issues of mass tourism origin and excursion business development and the propagandist and conceptual aspects of tourist movement. Special attention is paid to the inherent ideological orientation of the tourist-excursion sphere, based on the propaganda of ideas and achievements of theUSSR.

The research attempts to show that the tourist-excursion sphere became a significant part of socio-cultural activity in the first half of the XX century. Tourist trips and excursions helped to solve the tasks related to increasing the cultural level of the population.

The development of tourist-excursion organizations included several stages. In the 1920s–1930s, the organizational-centralization stage of tourism development began inKazan; the system of tourist-excursion service started to form.

The article highlights the appearance of the new forms of tourist movement, for instance, research of new routes and study of new venues.Kazantourists participated in trips to the sites of military and revolutionary glory, in All-Russia search trips. The article also touches upon the issue of educational significance of tourism and excursions for schoolchildren and youth.

It was in the first half of the XX century that tourist sections in Pioneers’ Houses appeared, as well as children’s tourist stations, excursions for schoolchildren and youth. The work also analyzes the drawbacks in the tourist-excursion sphere in the studied period. However, that period was an important stage of tourism development in Kazan and the Republic as a whole.

The content and results of this article can be used in history ofRussiaand tourism courses.