Sociological aspects of assessing security at the organizational level (on the example of preschools)

The article identifies interpretations of (social) security which can be used in the sociological analysis of its features, factors and methods for ensuring it at the theoretical and empirical level. In particular, the authors note the current shift of security interpretations from the state-centric to the social-centric approach, which significantly expanded the possibilities of operationalizing this concept and explains the sociological interest in security despite the remaining terminological confusion. Security turned out to be embedded in the already established conceptual field consisting of such terms as risks, dangers, challenges, threats, violence, etc. ('objective' phenomena) and anxieties, fears, concerns, etc. (formats of social understanding and 'measurement' of 'objective' phenomena in the opinion polls). To demonstrate the possibilities of sociology of security (although this is rather a conditional branch of sociology) at the organizational level, the authors present the results of the empirical study conducted as a case study (both the region and the object serve as a case) in the form of a survey: the issues of ensuring security of preschool organizations in the Odintsovo District of the Moscow Region were examined through the requests of different actors of the educational process (administrators, teachers and parents). According to the survey results, parents and employees of preschool organizations (managers and senior teachers) agree that a video surveillance system in the premises and on the territory is a certain security guarantee for it would prevent outsiders from entering (security threats are considered as coming from outside); however, both groups do not consider a system of turnstiles and passes as a necessary measure. The heads and teachers of preschool organizations are more concerned about countering terrorism (pressure from 'above') and fire safety (they see security threats as coming from both outside and 'inside'). Thus, there is a disagreement of different actors on the sources and severity of security threats for preschool organizations. © A.V. Polyakov, U.V. Unusyan, 2020.