Search

Background. The authors of the paper enquire how the continuity and maintenance of social identity is carried out from generation to generation. Particular attention is drawn to the memory of the traumatic past of the group, such as repression and deportation, as they contradict the widespread view of social identity as a tool for achieving positive individual self-esteem based on a positive image of the group. The paper assumes that cultural memory being a link between the past, the present and the future of the social group ensures the continuity of social identity. Identity that includes the comprehension and experience of the negative past of the group is also considered. Objective. The objective of this study is to justify the role of cultural memory as the basis of identification with the group and an empirical test of the relationship between the two constructs. Design. A written questionnaire was offered to 296 people aged between 17 and 70 (M = 26.22, SD = 10.0) who identified themselves as Ingush. The respondents answered questions about their social identity (ethnic, civil and religious), assessed their experiences related to the deportation fact, and substantively argued the need to preserve the cultural memory of the deportation. Conclusion. The data obtained show that the extent of identity within the group is positively correlated with the extent of the deportation experience, although these experiences are by no means positive (anger, insult, humiliation, heart pain, etc.), and also with the frequency of recalling the fact of deportation and desire to learn more about this event. The obtained results confirm the suggested assumption about the role of cultural memory and allow to develop further research on clarifying the relationship between cultural memory and social identity, assessing the impact of such additional factors as group emotions, psychological well-being, etc.

The paper presents the ideas of P.Ya. Galperin on the nature of moral behaviour and the basic patterns of internal responsibility in childhood and adolescence. Distinctive features of objective and subjective responsibility, internal and external responsibility are highlighted. It is argued that internal responsibility expresses the person’s attitude to society and social groups and might be developed only if involved in certain relations and implemented in socially useful activities, i.e. if it is significant for other people. The psychological roles of cooperation for of responsibility are compared in J. Piaget’s works and P.Ya. Galperin’s scientific theory. The research results of internal responsibility in primary school students and adolescents conducted by P.Ya. Galperin and T.V. Morozkina are discussed. The decisive role of value orientation and motivation in solving «affective type» problems and in moral behaviour is shown. According philosophy issues, responsibility is considered as a perceived necessity, which assumes a free moral choice. Three criteria of moral responsibility are introduced: the causal relationship between the subject’s behaviour and its consequence, subject’s ability to predict the possible consequences of his/her behaviour, the possibility of free choice. The psychological content of responsibility is the subject’s commitment and further response regulated by a certain system of norms and regulations on the basis of moral choice and self-regulation. The distinction between the action device and motive as the accepted moral basis for behaviour has been introduced. Accordingly, responsible behaviour is considered as willful behaviour. The genesis of strong-will behaviour is associated with social relations and moral values and is developed in the course of cooperation. Conditions of orientation in moral choice as a prerequisite for actualizing the individual’s internal responsibility are discussed.

The paper is devoted to the study of representations of the ideals and anti-ideals in secondary and high schools students. The study is important due to connection with the peculiarities of modern adolescent socialization in the context of contemporary social cultural realities. Shaping the world view in students is significantly influenced by the choice of values and the social role model. In this regard, the aim of this study was to examine gender and age dynamics of different groups of personalities related to the politics and spiritual culture in the structure of ideals and anti-idials in modern adolescents. Aggravation of the internal and external political situation, politically-oriented media content and society as a whole, the introduction of information technologies in various spheres of life, the «western» background of cultural values and information environment, the shift of sex-role identification has a significant influence on gender-specific and age-specific dynamics and significance of different groups of personalities in the structure of ideals and anti-idials in modern adolescents are based on the data of content analysis and a questionnaire survey of 2,273 students, grades 5-11. The features of the structure of ideals and anti-idials of boys and girls, which are formed under the influence of gender identification are characterized. The analysis of the students’ groups of ideals and anti-idials is held depending on their belonging to the Russian and foreign cultures. The students’ representations of the ideals and anti-idials are of a mixed structure, dominated by the personalities of the real people in comparison with the images (characters of works of literature, cinema, cartoons). The sphere of political culture and ideology (politicians, historical figures) that presents male personalities is significant for boys. For girls, besides politics, the literary field (writers and movie actors) is more important, where the proportion of male staff increases substantially when getting on years. Analysis of ideals and anti-idials representation of «male» and «female» characters in the literary and artistic field has allowed to confirm the trend identified in previous studies: getting on years girls more and more build an image of themselves in positive samples, choosing the «female» characters as perfect role model. The «male» characters are often referred by girls among their anti-idials.

The paper proves the assumption that being a worldview of the information society postmodernism simultaneously reverberates its problems, among which is blurring personal identity. The most vulnerable part of the postmodern ideology is the implicit inability to construct steady architecture of identification. This is hampered by specific ideas related to the fundamental principle of postmodernism, i.e. pluralism leading to relativism and the loss of sustainable landmarks. Applying the pluralism principle to the full may result in unlimited choice production, which should not be considered the achievement of the information society and postmodern culture, but its main problem. The social political consequences of tolerance issues and the equivalence of opinions, attitudes and values are discussed. Lack of preferred self-identification vectors reduces the motivation for the individual to develop a stable personal identity. If no paradigm in terms of the truth can claim a given status disputes over claims of significance turn into controversies over power, thereby generating social Darwinism. The principle of pluralism actually legitimizes radical ideologies, whose extreme form is terrorism put in the mosaic and multicultural postmodern world occurs to be one of many sociocultural paradigms. Exactly the identity crisis in the conditions of mass distribution of both military and information technologies is considered the main cause of radicalism as the result of finding pathological forms of cognitive personal identity. Social cultural and worldview crises of the information society are becoming the main cause for producing endurable and irregular forms of personal identity architecture.

The paper presented texts of the three previously unknown Lvygotsky’s journal notes and comments on them. These texts were published in mid-July and early September 1917 in the Jewish weekly «New Path» under the pseudonym «L.S.» and «W». In these texts, Lev Vygotsky describes the features of the political behaviour of the Jewish population in connection with the revolutionary events in Russia. On the one hand, a clear discrepancy between the activation of party work and political rhetoric is mentioned, and on the other hand, reduction of the significance of Jewish communal life is highlighted. As a key characteristic of social and psychological wellbeing of the Jewish population Vygotsky singles out absenteeism, i.e. the lack of interest in politics. Eventually the scientist captures the increase in uncertainty in the Jewish environment and fear of the future political, social and economic reforms in Russia. In the comments on Vygotsky notes, there are definitions relating to the various features of the activities of the Jewish political parties and public organizations, information about various policy documents and staff characterized by social and political situation before the elections in the Consituent Assembly (Uchreditel’noe Sobranie). Particular attention is paid to the analysis of stylistic and structural features of the commented text construction. By implicit quoting the relationship between Vygotsky’s texts and the works of other authors is identified. Particular attention is paid to the author’s attitude to religious texts, which allows to select a characteristic feature of the «double vision» of real events of the revolution against the background of the Jewish history. The comments help to single out features of the political identity of the young Lev Vygotsky in the period between the two revolutions, which is important to study his biography and understanding of his world view.

The paper describes the results of the study of the relationship a successful career and a romantic relationship. The general structure of the relationship between the successful career and romantic relationships between men and women obtained as a result of in-depth interviews is given. It is shown that the respondents’ representations are as follows: romantic relationships affect the career much more than a career to a romantic relationship. the positive aspects of this influence are highlighted, they are expressed in moral support, inspiration, confidence, etc. and negative aspects - lack of time, attention and energy resources. The differences in assessing the stediness of the relationship between a successful career and romantic relationships between men and women are shown. The features of perception and evaluation of the career success for people who are in relationships and those who do not have a romantic partner are given a distinct account. The relationship between a successful career and attitude of the respondent to the partner’s career is estblished. Additional results regarding the factors romantic relationships, which can contribute to a more successful career, are also obtained.