As in many advanced European countries, the development of
sociology as a science in Russia began in the middle of the 19th century. This discipline is an industry that studies the laws of the functioning of society and its structure. At the same time, its development in our country was determined a lot by historical upheavals and the political situation at a particular moment in time.
Pre-revolutionary period
The first Russian sociologists were to a large extent inspired by the developments of Western scientists. First of all, Auguste Comte, Georg Simmel and Emil Durkheim. However, in domestic conditions, this science has acquired a very special character. On the local soil, its main problem was the national idea.
It was then that Russian sociologists created many crucial for the country (and partially enjoying popularity even today) concepts: Slavophilism, Westernism, and so on. The emergence of then two camps supporting these ideas, determined the sociological thought in the country in the middle of the XIX century. The Slavophiles were convinced that the historical conditions of Russia formed here a completely unique social organism, which implied the need for further independent development and rejection of the ideas of the European path, and even more so from integration. Russian sociologists of Westernist sentiment viewed Russia as a component of pan-European civilization and advocated for the separation of relevant values, as well as speedy integration into the European family.
Toward the end of the 19th century, as well as at the beginning of the 20th century, subjectivity became the leading trend in Russian scientific thought. In Russian realities, this doctrine assumed the ability of an individual to significantly influence the historical course of events of their own free will, regardless of the objective laws of social and historical development. The most famous Russian sociologists of the pre-revolutionary period: N. Danilevsky, N. Chernyshevsky, L. Mechnikov, P. Lavrov and several others.
Sociological science in the Soviet state
In the first post-revolutionary decade, there was still a lot of freedom for the development of sociological ideas. The party was busy with internal contradictions and a struggle of views on what course the state should develop. The science of society during this period was fully recognized and even supported, which was used by Russian sociologists.
So, in Petrograd and Yaroslavl universities were even created departments. In 1919, a sociological institute was founded in the country, and relevant literature was published. However, the farther, the more freedom of thought was crushed, being replaced by a Marxist approach to the study of society.
In the 1930s, sociology completely fell into disgrace of the government, becoming for him a pseudoscience. A new timid attempt at revival is made by Russian sociologists of the 20th century in its second half, when in the 1960s its interrupted development continues in the system of related sciences - philosophy and economics. The science of social development receives certain recognition only in the 1970-1980s, and with perestroika, freedom at all. However, the financial collapse of the state led sociology, like many other sciences, to a standstill for many years.