The article traces the development of opinions about the role of masses in politics, and proposes a version of redefining the concept of «mass politics». There is an attempt to differentiate «mass politics» from «politics of the masses» both as concepts and phenomena; to show the logic of juxtaposing mass politics and politics of the masses is revealed - the former meaning mass political participation and action based on the universal norms and values, shaping and structuring the political space, and the latter meaning a potentially destructive «invasion» of politics by the masses. Continuing the tradition of S. Rokkan, the authors elaborate a theoretical model to assess the potential of mass politics formation in Russia.

The article attempts to trace the interrelations of the key concepts describing communities forming in the process of common people’s involvement in the politics - «mass», «multitude», «majority», and highlight the main characteristics defining the place of these communities in the social space. Particular attention is given to the problem of «critical mass» formation that takes its place during irregular social processes, radically changing the political system and / or the social structure.

In this article political representation is analyzed as one of the basic mechanisms of citizen involvement in the political process; it considers the process of transformation of participatory democracy model in view of the crisis of traditional institutions of political representation (political parties). Drawing from the results of a public opinion survey conducted under the direction of S.V. Patrushev (Institute of Sociology, RAS) in June 2014 as a part of research project «Mass Politics in Russia», the author comes to the conclusions on the conditions and prospects of development of institutionalized and non-institutionalized forms of representation in contemporary Russia.

The article analyses the strategy of empowerment. The author believes that the strategy determines essential differences between modern and traditional forms of mass politics. The article examines semantics and etymology of the concept of «empowerment», describes the history of its semantic development. It also outlines the strategy based on this concept, assesses its significance for success of democratic regimes. Using the findings of a public survey conducted under the direction of S.V. Patrushev (Institute of Sociology, RAS) in June 2014 within the research project «Mass politics in Russia» the author - focusing on gender component - attempts to find out if empowerment conforms to characteristics of mass consciousness and political behavior of Russians.

The article demonstrates the prospects of applying J. Habermas’ concept of communicative power to analysis of new forms of mass political activity emerging in Russia, in particular, of street protests of 2011-2012. Looking at the example of OccupyAbay movement, it finds «problem points» in the formation of public deliberative space in Russia, in widening of opportunities for dialogue between different social groups and civil society’s ability to influence the authorities.

This article is dedicated to the analysis of mass anti-government protests and the ensuing regime changes in several countries of the Arab world in 2011-2012. The factors that contributed to the rise of protest activity, the social statuses of the protests’ participants and their methods are taken into account. The author emphasizes the importance of the Internet (in the first place, social networks) for mass mobilization and notes that the protests’ scenarios which were tested during the Arab Spring are being recreated in the protests in other regions.

This article deals with the mass protest activity at the local level - taking as an example a series of protests which took place in Tyumen in 2011-2012. Analyzing the empirical data, the authors show the dynamics of numbers, social structure and political orientations of mass actions’ participants. The analysis of slogans used in the rallies and of participants’ statements allowed to trace the transformation of frames (interpretive schemes) of mobilization.

The article analyzes content of the political activity of the citizens in modern Russia. The author examines the different forms of political behavior - protests, participation in elections, support for parties, institutionalized and non-institutionalized activity, as well as mobilization strategies.

In the featured article the author considers Russian people's opinion on merits and demerits of majoritarian, proportional and mixed voting systems. Based on opinion polls, the author finds out what the true level of interest in political representation is, and also which voting system is the most relevant to dominant guidelines of Russian political culture.

The paper deals with the role of gender dimension of Europe’s image in contemporary Russian Anti-Westernism. The main point is that representations of «Gayropa» have become a means to reshape Russians’ national identity, to legitimize power, to support gender order in Russian society. The materials consist of the texts of leading Russian mass media (2013-2014), devoted to the issues on gender otherness of Europe: politicians’ speeches, newspaper editorials, and news websites comments.

This article offers a new reading of the theoretical legacy of early Russian sociologist N.K. Mikhailovsky and proposes an integration of his approach with contemporary theories of structure-agency developed by British sociologists.

Rational choice theory is rarely used in analyses of protest movements in Russia, thus rationality of activists could rarely be taken into account. This article attempts to investigate participation in protest against copper-nickel mining in Prikhoperie region in 2012-2014 with rational choice approach considering relatively strong regional identity and activists’ applying to patriotic feelings.