An Individual in the Modern Informational Society

Abstract

The article is dealing with a relatively new theme in current Russian sociology, namely with the changing archetype of modern individual under conditions of the Fourth Scientific and Technological Revolution (hereafter the STR-4). Drawing on the works of Russian and foreign natural scientists and scholars and on my own long-term empirical researches in this field of sociological theory, I’ve made an attempt to comprehend the processes of shaping of the above archetype and his historically shaped social units under the influence of the STR-4, structural-functional organization of a global whole, and in the processes of the emergence of transnational structures and processes. Recently a necessity of the trinity of a science, teaching (and permanently re-teaching) and social practice is supported by such fundamental trends of modern society as the development of interdisciplinary approaches in the researches and teaching, by early transformation of a child from a pupil into an actor and a researcher, by the processes of hybridization of modern social and construction practices, and by and large the merging of that three types of social practices in the same person. The abovementioned processes are stimulated by a speeding up of all current social practices and transformations. The return of public role of the scientists, uninterrupted re-education and civil activism in the modern society are the other uniting forces. In turn, all said above is impossible without a respectful attitude toward the sciences from the part of the governing institutions and business-elite.