General and specific, qualitative and quantitative, demographic and philosophical aspects in discussions about Russian sociological education

The article identifies two main “dimensions” of current discussions about the content, quality, and results of sociological training in Russian universities. First, a macro- and interdisciplinary discourse on general trends in the development of higher education under regional, national, and global challenges, such as the contradiction between traditional (classical, fundamental-value) and modernization (personal- and practice-oriented) paradigms, which in sociological training determines a shift towards applied research. Second, an intradisciplinary discourse shaped by a multitude of problem areas with varying levels of consensus in the academic community. The article provides examples of such areas: the inclusion of social-demographic competencies in the curricula for sociologists (“demographic literacy”); the ratio of qualitative and quantitative approaches in methodological courses (“marginal status” of qualitative approach in fundamental research and its dominance in applied non-sociological fields); the basis of sociological competence (sociological imagination) and the increasing complexity of its development due to a growing number of obstacles to acquiring “theoretical competence”. These difficulties are determined by two factors: low “philosophical competence” of senior sociology students (although the importance of philosophizing for professional and everyday well-being is emphasized in the latest scientific and popular science works); features of the theoretical canon in sociology (fragmentary presentation of the Russian tradition and the uncritical perception of the Western tradition). In conclusion, the author mentions some ideas of S. Andreski’s book recently translated into Russian: the book contains sharp criticism of social sciences (witchcraft), and its main directions reproduce the core of the discussions about sociological education and science (especially the fascination with quantification and terminology and the rejection of philosophy).