Professional Civic Organizations: a History of Integrative Interpretation

We have studied the main traits and evolution of civil society organizations (CSOs) during the transitional period (from 1960 to 2012), based on many years’ observation of the evolution of civil society organizations, and in particular, the development trends of the  environmentalist movement among Soviet/Russian students, which gave rise to several organizations and networks. We have based our research on Pitirim Sorokin’s sociological and philosophical “integral” concept and his basic triad (feelings, mind, intuition), as well as on the post-classical works of Russian sociologists, and studied the aforementioned environmentalist movement on three levels: individual, collective, and institutional. The article touches upon a number of key topics, such as: the theoretical and methodological background of our research; the principles of modern sociology’s post-classical approach to studying social movements; the description of cognitive, spiritual, and behavioral aspects of semi-professional citizen organizations and movements, for instance the Druzhinas (i.e. students’ nonprofit organizations) for Nature Preservation; the reasons behind these movements’ achievements and  failures on the way towards institutionalization; the psychological portrait of an environmental activist,  including his/her inner world, emotions, social circle, and behavior; and finally, the study of CSOs as  a specific phenomenon that contributes to the society’s communal memory. We conclude that under  current conditions, combating the crisis and withstanding any external threats and the associated social  and environmental issues requires (both from the theoretical and practical political standpoint) flexible  cooperation between macro-entities (national government and its allies) and micro-entities (CSOs: semiprofessional, mobile, and well-equipped organizations).