The article analyzes the most important regulatory legal acts and strategic planning documents in terms of understanding and fixing in them the branch priorities of the educational policy of modern Russia. Special attention is paid to the analysis of the latest doctrinal documents approved in 2021 – the Transport strategy of the Russian Federation until 2030 and the Concept of personnel training for the transport complex until 2035. The conclusion is made about the remaining reserves in the conceptualization of branch priorities and clarification of the main directions of the state educational policy, including those related to the training of personnel for the relevant sectors of the national economy.

The article discusses the features of the formation of public opinion by public authorities by means of PR, which allows optimizing public processes. A logical explanation of the relevance of the study of public opinion is given, the main goals and principles of public relations in the field of public administration are described in detail. The article presents social and communicative technologies and tools for managing public opinion. The analysis of the research of the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion on the issues of trust in politicians, the assessment of the authorities on domestic, economic, social and foreign policy is given.

The article presents the results of research on the essence of the cluster approach and the applicability of its use in the development of transport education in Russia. The theoretical provisions and conclusions of the study are based on general scientific and special methodological approaches: systematic, expert, logical analysis, content analysis of scientific literature. The information and empirical base of the study is represented by statistical data of the European Cluster Observatory, materials of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation, the Russian University of Transport (MIIT). The author concludes that clustering contributes to the creation of aggregate innovative educational products and values that increase the competitiveness of cluster subjects. The arguments in favor of using the cluster approach in the implementation of the scientific and educational strategy of the Russian University of Transport (MIIT), which implements the project of the multifunctional technological cluster «Obraztsovo» are given.

In the context of social and cultural transformations, the upbringing of a patriotic personality is a strategic priority for the country. The article deals with the main aspects of civil and patriotic education of modern Russian youth. The authors emphasize the importance of the traditional education system within which the primary socialization of children takes place and the foundations for the upbringing of a spiritual, moral and state-oriented personality are laid. According to the results of a sociological study with the participation of the authors, the contradictory values, views, and beliefs of young people of different age groups were revealed. It is concluded that the existing system of patriotic education should be built taking into account different age groups of young people and cover not only the historical heritage and the popularization of official state symbols, but also other patriotic guidelines aimed at forming a creative worldview in the system of secondary socialization.

The article analyzes the factors influencing the characteristics of reproductive behavior and reproductive attitudes. The structure and features of the formation of reproductive attitudes are considered in detail. The key groups of factors influencing the decision to have children are identified. Based on a study of the reproductive attitudes of young people in the Penza region (n=510), conclusions were drawn about the degree of influence of the parental family, education level, marital status, standard of living on childbearing. The features of the ideal, desired and expected number of children depending on the parental family, level of education, marital status, self-assessment of the standard of living. The article analyzes the difference in reproductive attitudes, formed under the influence of various factors.

The article touches upon a new topic of sociological research into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people’s leisure activities. As an example, a kind of case-study, changes in sports practices and the functioning of the sports industry are considered. The fact is that in the last two years there have been significant changes in the sphere of providing people with leisure, including their physical activity. Naturally, the sphere of leisure is provided and developed within the framework of society. The ongoing changes in the way and style of life of people in special conditions, such as pandemics, naturally affect the social practices of people. The active role of sport in the life of society as a whole and its constituent social groups could not but be affected by the pandemic. The article is devoted to the study of leisure practices during the pandemic, the features of sports activities in these conditions, including not only the negative consequences of the current situation, but also new opportunities and prospects for the development of various practices in the sports field. The article uses materials from the International and Russian Olympic Committees, the results of public opinion polls (VSIOM, etc.).

In the article author describes the social practices that have developed in society during the pandemic. Scientists consider several trends in social practices. The first is the atomization of mass society. It is expressed in fragmentation, variability of social relations, which leads to social disorganization. In general, scientists speak about the idea of the emergence of a pandemic reality, with highlighted signs. The second trend is the strengthening of social solidarity, the emergence of a new social ethics. Its essence consists in simultaneously maintaining close relationships with close people by kinship, partnership, in spirit and at the same time distance with distant people. The third trend is passivity, which is interpreted from the standpoint of the sociology of «nothing». All these trends were tested in an empirical study of social practices during the pandemic, conducted in June 2021.

The issues of the real situation of the social group of disabled people in the process of integration in the Russian transforming society are considered. The article analyzes the socio-legal problems of disabled people, which create restrictions on their professional self-realization, as a result of which they are deprived of social recognition. The possibilities of changing the social status of poorly resourced population groups are analyzed on the example of successful overcoming of social exclusion by people with disabilities, as well as the difficulties they face in the process of integration. Connections between motivating factors of achievement of the set goals and results of the success achieved by them are revealed.

The article deals with a rather topical issue for most countries of the modern world, namely the presence in the administrative-territorial division of units endowed with a special status. The author attempts to analyze the key features of the political-right and economic properties that influence the formation of autonomous entities within states.
The author also demonstrates the weaknesses and counter-currents contained in the main normative legal documents of the international level.
At the same time, the article comprehends the dialectical essence of autonomous entities, so on the one hand, autonomies lead to asymmetry, but on the other hand they help to prevent or weaken centrifugal tendencies. According to the author, the effectiveness of autonomy as a political technology increases in conditions of stable and entrenched practices.