Intellectual Potential of the Society: Sociological View and Prognosis

The article presents the experience of measuring intellectual potential in the modern Russian society. The intellectual potential is defined as a set of human, material and financial resources involved into two closely interrelated key areas of intellectual life of a society – science and education. The relevance and necessity of scientific measurement and prognosis of the society’s intellectual potential in the context of the social structure transformation and possible aggravation of social contradictions are substantiated. The latest trends in the social structure of modern information society are presented. The method of constructing the Education and Science indices is discussed. The short-term forecast of the intellectual potential index change of the Russia’s society is presented.

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