On current Issues of Ethnosociology: Understanding the Ideological Heritage of L.M. Drobizheva

The author analyzes the personal contribution of L.M. Drobizheva, one of the founders of ethnosociology, to understanding its contemporary pressing issues, including its projection in the sphere of state national policy. In particular, her ideas are highlighted pertaining to: the need for a clearer definition of the subject of ethnosociology; the discrepancy between the new terminological apparatus borrowed during the post-Soviet period from the West and the traditions of word usage in domestic science, political and everyday practice; polyparadigmality in ethnosociology and the multiplicity of application of methodological tools as a necessary condition for effective research activity; the low status of ethnosociology compared to the currently dominant anthropology; the importance of structuring and more in-depth study of the identification space of Russia; the utopianism of the notion of “depoliticizing ethnicity” in Russia; increasing the responsibility of the authorities when it comes to solving fundamental social problems, forming and maintaining national unity. Based on the results of the analysis, the author concludes that it is necessary to preserve, and in some cases, revive positive domestic scientific traditions in ethnosociology. He considers it appropriate to return to the concepts of “ethnosocial processes”, “consciousness” and “self-awareness” when substantiating and categorizing its basic subject field. Also important is the focus on using different methodological resources that cannot be absolutized or opposed. The development of ethnosociology as a relatively independent scientific direction with special subject definition and the conceptualization of the problems identified can contribute to strengthening the position of this direction in the system of sociological and ethnological knowledge and serve as the best memory of L.M. Drobizheva.