Social and Political Agenda of the Cossacks in Social Networks: Comparative Analysis of Official and Unofficial Communities | South-Russian Journal of Social Sciences
Social and Political Agenda of the Cossacks in Social Networks: Comparative Analysis of Official and Unofficial Communities
Vol. 24 (2023) No. 2, Public Politics
Vol. 24 (2023) No. 2
Public Politics

Social and Political Agenda of the Cossacks in Social Networks: Comparative Analysis of Official and Unofficial Communities

Bashmakov I.S.
Kuban State University
ORCID ID 0000-0002-5906-803X
PDF (Russian)
https://doi.org/10.31429/26190567-24-2-50-64
https://doi.org/10.31429/26190567-24-2-50-64

How to Cite Array

Bashmakov I.S. (2023) Social and Political Agenda of the Cossacks in Social Networks: Comparative Analysis of Official and Unofficial Communities. South-Russian Journal of Social Sciences, 24 (2), pp. 50-64. DOI: 10.31429/26190567-24-2-50-64 (In Russian)
Submission Date 2023-02-20
Accepted Date 2023-03-25
Published Date 2023-07-31

Copyright (c) 2023 Игорь Станиславович Башмаков

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

The article summarizes the results of the comparative analysis of the social and political platform of the Cossacks in the social network VKontakte. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to comparatively analyze a substantial number of subscribers to official accounts of registered Cossacks (Cossack troops) as well as popular unofficial communities focused on Cossack issues. The research identified the dominant socio-­political topics concerning Russian Cossacks by analyzing VKontakte community pages’ news feeds and publications. The audience’s interest and activity regarding these messages were analyzed, using quantitative indicators like view count and engagement (ER). This data was then compared to the total number of subscribers. The relevance of studying socio-­political activities of the Cossacks under current conditions is determined by ongoing socio-­political and cultural revival of this ethno-­social group, the necessity to transform the Cossacks as a traditional social institution in modern conditions, the possibility to attract the representatives of the Cossacks to address state issues, as well as active involvement of the Cossacks in protecting State interests. In this context, more attention is paid to the Cossack theme by authorities and representatives of society. At present, the official (rostered) listed Cossacks and the authorities that support them broaden opportunities for Cossacks to receive specifically oriented Cossack education, serve in the civil service, and participate in local Cossack initiatives. The findings of our study prove that society and the authorities take an increasingly keen interest in the official Cossackdom. However, there is still a lack of unity and a persistent division within the Cossacks themselves into rostered (official, state-­supported) and non-rostered (independent) Cossacks. One can observe diversity of orientation, differences in the content of the socio-­political agenda and, consequently, in value orientations between official “state” Cossacks and the non-official “civil” proponents of the Cossack Revival, which is evident in social networks.

Keywords

Cossacks, socio-­political agenda, information agenda, social networks, Internet, mass media, new media, VKontakte, Cossack societies, Cossack policy

References

  1. Bashmakov, I.S. (2023). Grazhdanskaya aktivnost’ sovremennogo rossiyskogo kazachestva: osnovnyye formy i praktiki [Civic Activity of Modern Russian Cossacks: Basic Forms and Practices]. Obshchestvo: politika, ekonomika, parvo [Society: Politics, Economics, Law], 6(119). Retrieved from https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/grazhdanskaya-aktivnost-sovremennogo-rossiyskogo-kazachestva-osnovnye-formy-i-praktiki
  2. Bondar, N.I. (2000). Kubanskoe kazachestvo v kontekste problemy: etnos, prostranstvo, vremya. [Kuban Cossacks in the Context of the Problem: Ethnos, Space, Time]. In V. B. Vinogradov (Ed.) Staryi svet: antropologiia, istoriia, etnografiia [The Old World: Anthropology, history, ethnography](pp. 150–151). Krasnodar: Kuban. gos. un-t.
  3. Bondar, N.I. (1995). Kubanskoe kazachestvo (etnosotsialnyi aspekt) [Kuban Cossacks (ethnosocial aspect)]. In N.I. Bondar’ (Ed.) Kubanskoe kazachestvo: istoriya, etnografiya, folklor [Kuban Cossacks: History, Ethnography, Folklore]. (pp. 5–48). M.: Institut etnologii i antropologii RAN.
  4. Bowman, S., Willis, C. (2003). We Media: How Audiences are Shaping the Future of News and Information. Retrieved from https://hypergene.net/wemedia/download/we_media.pdf
  5. Cherepanov, Ye.V. (2012). Kazachestvo Iuga Rossii: prichiny raskola i faktory, sposobstvuiushchie obieedineniiu [Cossacks of the South of Russia: Reasons for the Split and Factors Facilitating the Unification]. Gumanitarnye i sotsialnye nauki [Humanities and Social Sciences], 3, 265–273.
  6. Cohen, C., Kahne, J. (2012). Participatory Politics: New Media and Youth Political Action. Chicago: MacArthur Research Network on Youth and Participatory Politics.
  7. Craft, S., Wanta, W. (2004). U.S. Public Concerns in the Aftermath of 9–11: A Test of Second. Level Agenda-setting. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 16(4), 456–463. DOI: 10.1093/ijpor/edh039
  8. Dearing, J.W., Everett, M. R. (1996). Agenda-setting. Thousand Oaks: SAGE. DOI: 10.4135/9781452243283
  9. Lee, B., Lancendorfer, K., Lee, K.J. (2005). Agenda-setting and the Internet: The Intermedia Influence of Internet Bulletin Boards on Newspaper Coverage of the 2000 General Election in South Korea. Asian Journal of Communication, 15, 57–71.
  10. Markedonov, S. (2001). Fenomen rossiyskogo neokazachestva: vozrozhdeniye traditsiy ili poiski “zolotogo veka”? [The Phenomenon of Russian Neo-Cossackism: Revival of Traditions or Search for a “Golden Age”?] Retrieved from http://old.russ.ru/politics/marginal/20010109_marc-pr.html
  11. McCombs, M. (2008). Setting the Agenda: The Mass Media and Public Opinion. Malden: Black well. DOI: 10.5860/choice.42-6312
  12. McCombs, M., & Shaw, D.L. (1972). The Agenda-setting Function of Mass Media. Public Opinion Quarterly, 36(2), 176–187. DOI: 10.1086/267990
  13. Merle, M., Reese, G., Drews, S. (2019). #Globalcitizen: An Explorative Twitter Analysis of Global Identity and Sustainability Communication. Sustainability, 11, 3472. DOI: 10.3390/su11123472
  14. Miroshnichenko, I.V. (2017). Setevyye mekhanizmy formirovaniya sotsial’nykh i politicheskikh identichnostey sovremennoy molodezhi [Network Mechanisms for the Formation of Social and Political Identities of Modern Youth]. Izvestiya Saratovskogo universiteta. Novaya seriya. Seriya Sotsiologiya. Politologiya [News of the Saratov University. New Episode. Series Sociology. Political Science], 17(1), 92–97.
  15. Miroshnichenko, I.V., Morozova, E.V. (2021). etevyye soobshchestva kak sub’’yekty formirovaniya gorodskoy povestki dnya (na primere dvizheniya “Pomogi gorodu”) [Network Communities as Agencies for The Formation of a City’s Agenda (The Case Of “Help The City” Movement)]. Politicheskaya ekspertiza: POLITEKS [Political Expertise: POLITEKS], 17(2), 135–149.
  16. Morozova, E. V. (2012). Slozhnosostavnaya identichnost’ kak ob’’yekt politologicheskogo analiza [Complex Identity as an Object of Political Science Analysis]. Chelovek. Soobshhestvo. Upravlenie [Human. Community. Management], 1, 60–66.
  17. Ryabchenko, N.A., Miroshnichenko, I.V., Gnedash, A.A. (2020). Ot “kvazikritiki vlasti” k diskursu “souchastiya i razvitiya”: obshchestvennaya povestka dnya v sotsial’nykh setyakh runeta (praktiki setevykh soobshchestv) [From the “Quasi Criticism of Authority” to the Discourse “Participation and Development”: A Public Agenda on the Runet Social Networks (Case Studies of Network Community Practices)]. Yuzhno-rossiyskiy zhurnal sotsial’nykh nauk [South Russian Journal of Social Sciences], 21(3), 20–36. DOI: 10.31429/26190567-21-3-20-36
  18. Rogers, E., Dearing, J. (1988). Agenda-setting Research: Where has it Been, Whereis it Going? Communication Yearbook, 11, 555–594.
  19. Severin, W.J., Tankard, Jr. (2001). Communication Theories: Origins, Methods, and Uses in the Mass Media. New York: Longman.
  20. Shaw, D.L., McCombs M.E. (1977). The Emergence of American Political Issues: the Agenda-setting Function of the Press. New York: West Publishing Co.
  21. Shaw, D.L., Stevenson, R.L., Hamm, B.J. (2002). Agenda Setting Theory and Public Opinion Studies in a Post-Mass Media Age. Egyptian Journal of Public Opinion Research, 3, 1–20.
  22. Sipko, Ye.S. (2016). Ponyatiye grazhdanskoy zhurnalistiki i istoriya yeye stanovleniya [The Concept of Citizen Journalism and the History of its Formation]. Trudy Rostovskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta putey soobshcheniya [Proceedings of the Rostov State University of Railways], 1, 130–133.
  23. Sokolov, A.I., Grebenko, E.D. (2022). Informatsionnaya povestka dlya molodezhi v sotsial’nykh setyakh v period vyborov deputatov Gosudarstvennoy Dumy Rossiyskoy Federatsii VIII sozyva [Information Agenda for Young People on Social Network Sites During The Election of Deputies of The State Duma of The Russian Federation of The VIII Convocation]. Uzhno-rossiyskiy zhurnal sotsial’nykh nauk [South Russian Journal of Social Sciences], 23(1), 48–62.
  24. Tankard, W., James, Jr. (2001). The Empirical Approach to the Study of Media Framing. Framing Public Life. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum. DOI: 10.4324/9781410605689-12
  25. Timofeyeva, L.N., Ryabchenko, N.A., Malysheva, O.P., Gnedash, A.A. (2022). Tsifrovaya sotsial’no-politicheskaya povestka dnya i yeye osmysleniye v usloviyakh novoy mediaekologii [The Digital Socio-political Agenda and its Conceptualization within the New Media Ecology Framework]. Polis. Politicheskiye issledovaniya [Polis. Political Studies], 2, 37–51.