CHARACTERISTICS OF CHARITY WORK IN THE RUSSIAN SOCIETY

The article researches sociocultural features of charity in the Russian society. The Russian charity is a difficult, multicomponent phenomenon that has a long history and traditions. Types and forms of charity had transformed through the centuries: subjects, objects and motives of philanthropy changed. The system of state regulation of this sphere had been transforming during the Russian history. However, the aspects of charity connected with its fundamental bases remain invariable so far. The article studies the phenomenon of the Russian charity in the context of ontological dichotomy "statics-dynamics". Charity remains invariable in its ontological bases, but still undergoes certain transformations. The author analyses fundamental static bases of charity fixed in mentality of the Russian people. Static character is based on the peculiar features of mentality of the Russian superethnos and is reflected in preservation of its main purposes and in stability of socio-cultural tradition to help the most unprotected groups of the population. It is considered to be the foreground area of charitable assistance in all historical practices and all forms of charity. As for dynamic changes of the Russian charity, they have been analyzed in the context of globalization which is considered as an attempt of westernisation of social culture of the Russian superethnos. The author grounds the hypothesis according to which dynamic changes are caused by globalization processes and connected with emergence of new charitable practices of consumer society, with change of the state role, with structural transformation of the former institutional forms of public life, and with evolution of institutes of the civil society.