Conceptualization of modern orthodox conservatism in foreign studies

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the conceptualization in foreign sociology and related sciences of the phenomenon called "Orthodox conservatism", the systematization of research on the topic of Orthodox conservatism over the past decade in the foreign scientific discussion. To achieve this, it was necessary to solve the following tasks: 1) to identify relevant works and characterize the state of the research on the theoretical conceptualization of Orthodox conservatism in foreign humanities; 2) to propose an author's classification of the theoretical study of Orthodox conservatism in foreign studies; 3) to identify the factors of the genesis of Orthodox conservatism and its features, interpreted by the authors through a particular theory of society; 4) generally characterize the researches of the Orthodox conservatism in foreign sociology. The research materials are theoretical and empirical works by foreign authors devoted to Orthodox conservatism, created over the past 10 years. The research methodology is based on a secondary analysis, on the basis of which the author's classification of trends in the interpretation of Orthodox conservatism was proposed. After the thematic and conceptual analysis, an attempt was made to create its own classification of theoretical directions. The religious conservatism in sociology and more broadly in the humanities is in high demand. The social relevance of the topic is obvious – at the moment, conservative religious movements are actively asserting themselves in the public sphere in different regions of the world. In the academic field, there are many works devoted to the problems of Islamic conservatism, Catholic, Buddhist, etc. However, the topic of Orthodox conservatism remains little explored, despite its high relevance. And even more – so far, no attempts have been made to systematize the researches of Orthodox conservatism. This article fills in the indicated gap. As a result of the study, it is shown that over the ten years of the existence of an independent research niche in this field, there has been a gradual quantitative and qualitative increase in scientific papers devoted to Orthodox conservatism.