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Ch. Stephens who also developed the concept of social identity,
proposed an alternative scheme: He suggested to consider the continuum of
social behavior as having four poles, in which intergroup and interpersonal
attitudes may vary in their pronouncement and be in correlation at all levels.
One of the key terms in the social identity theory is the notion of social
categorization that is understood as “the process of grouping social events
and objects” and as “the orientation system that creates and determines the
place of a person within the society”.
Personal identity and social identity, in the cognitive approach, are
integrated into the person’s self-concept that is considered as a cognitive
system functioning to regulate self-comprehension and social behavior.
Personal identity plays a key role in the “self-comprehension in terms of
physical, intellectual, and moral characteristics of a personality,” while
social identity “occurs from the comprehension of one’s membership in a
social group or groups, along with the value and emotional meaning
attributed to such membership”.
Attempts to distinguish the stages of forming the identity are made,
and three steps are distinguished, which are passed by a person during his
or her identity formation: 1) Social categorization, i.e. “comprehension of
his or her social environment as consisting of different groups;” 2) social
identification, i.e. “a choice of group, made on the basis of comparison, into
which group the individual ‘places’ him or herself;” and 3) social identity,
i.e. “the complete awareness of his or her belonging to the group chosen” 29.
In general, analyzing the evolutions of the phenomenon of personal
social identity from the art nouveau period through the postmodernity, we
can draw the conclusion that occurrence of and increase in the opportunities
to change the person’s scial position within a society are followed by the reorientation in the person’s self-perception as a social subject.
Thus, we can track two main tendencies in studying the
phenomenon of social identity: Understanding the social identity, on the
one hand, resolves itself into multiple chaotic identities and, on the other
hand, there can be observed the element of introducing something
individual into understanding the phenomenon of social identity. The
problem of identity is actual for the modern sociological thought. The basic
29
Stephens, Ch., Carryer, J., Budge, C. To have or to take: Discourse, positioning,
and narrative identity in women’s accounts of HRT // Health (London), 2004/ –
Vol. 8. № 3. P. 329–350.
RUSSIAN SOCIETY AND RUSSIAN CIVIL IDENTITY
31
aspects of the identity problem are: The problem of invariance and changes,
the problem of differentiation and integration, and the problem of the
subject’s role in forming his or her identity. In sociology, the identity
studies devoted to differentiation/integration are most developed, while the
problems of identity invariance and of the subject’s role are not practically
considered.
However, the necessity of considering the activity of the subject
and the paradigm of social changes place the identity reasearchers before a
number of actual questions: What is the role of individual strategies in
forming the identity? What role doe the interpretations of one’s own
identity play? What is the role of cultural context and social regulating in
forming the identity? The questions about the role of interpretations and
discourse strategies in forming the identity, as well as that about the role of
context and social regulations are closely connected to the methodological
situation in the modern sociological thought 30. Empiric research based on
constructionism may help answer all these questions when studying the
social identity of a person.
The most interesting would be considering the ways of applying the
constructionism to research in the social identity of a person from the
sociological point of view in the Russian academic environment. This is
actualized by the fact that many theories, concepts, and constructing social
reality are adapted by the Russian researchers to the real life of local
people. At the same time, the translated versions of the leading foreign
constructionists were analyzed and considered in light of the development
of the Russian scientific thought and social institutions. Russian
constructionists are better-versed in Russian social processes and problems.
I.G. Yasaveev is one of constructionists studying social problems.
He considers the special features of constructing social problems in mass
media. Social problems are certain negative situations that raise public
concerns and discomfort in social circles. If their causes are not dissolved,
social problems may transform into even more negative social
consequences, such as conflicts, national disasters, wars, etc. It means that
30
Kutkovaya, E.S. (2015) Sravnitelny analiz diskursivnogo i narrativnogo
podkhodov k issledovaniyu identichnosti [Comparative Analysis of Discoursive
and Narrative Approaches to Research in Identity]. Dissertation in support of
candidature for a psychology degree. In: Kutkovaya, E.S. ed. Moscow. 272 p.
(In Russian).
RUSSIAN SOCIETY AND RUSSIAN CIVIL IDENTITY
32
social problems are closely connected to social phenomena. One of such
phenomena can be forming the social identity of a person in the modern
society.
Problems of such nature may sound as: “Increasing in the number
of people whose identity does not contain humanism, democratic values,
orderliness, patriotism, love for one’s people, etc.” For example: Growth of
the social identity of people tending to the criminal environment, violation
of human dignity or rights, etc.
Social problems are undesired and dangerous, they endanger wellbeing and stability, and are opposed to the normal, healthy society; they are
considered as social pathology, disruption, antagonism, structural tension,
etc. Social constructionists try to detect and study the present negative
conditions, analyze them, identify public forces that hasten their emergence,
and, if possible, develop the measures aimed at improving the present
situation.
I.G. Yasaveev argues that, from the conventional viewpoint, many
researchers understand social problems as an ‘objective’ condition created
in the society. This attitude has seriously ingrained in sociologists; they find
it quite difficult to imagine that many key social problems, such as
unemployment, criminality, drug consumption, HIV/AIDS spread, and
environmental contaminations, all characterized by factors, such as crime
rate, HIV/AIDS incidence rate, numbers of unemployed, numbers of drugaddicts among young people, etc., are not socially conditioned phenomena.
From the viewpoint of constructionist researchers, it is necessary to speak
about studying the problems of forming the social identity of a person31.
Conventional approaches to social problems only, including the
problem of forming the social identity of a person, were criticized in the last
decades of the 20th century. The reason for such criticism consisted in the
fact the objectivist understanding of the problem did not help identify the
main causes of their emergence, accompanying processes, their meaning,
and, eventually, how to solve them. With the appearance of the school, such
as the sociology of social problems, the criticism (H. Blumer) stated that
31
Yasaveev, I.G. (2004) Konstruktsionistsky podkhod k sotsialnym problemam
[Constructionist’s Approach to Social Problems]. In: Yasaveev, I.G. ed. In: Zhurnal
issledovaniy sotsialnoy politiki [Journal of Social Policy Studies]. No. 4. P. 533.
(In Russian).
RUSSIAN SOCIETY AND RUSSIAN CIVIL IDENTITY
33
sociologists could not detect and correctly identify a social problem 32. This
statement is fair enough, since, in fact, if we turn particularly to Russian
scientific journals, theses, and monographs, we will notice that the majority
of sociologists, when choosing their study objects, follow a certain ‘tone of
the market’. I.G. Yasaveev argues that constructionism is an alternative for
the traditional understanding of social problem. His main ideas were
formulated by M. Spector and J. Kitsuse in 1970s.
The essence of their ideas consists in the full refusal of the
objective social condition as a component of a social problem. “Any
definition of social problems that starts with the words: “Social problems
are the conditions…” would lead into a conceptual and methodological
deadlock.” 33. Constructionists propose to refuse the idea of social problems
as a type of conditions and to understand social problems as rhetoric.
Spector and Kitsuse define social problems as the activities of individuals
or groups aimed at voicing their complaints and making their claims
regarding some assumed conditions.
From this point of view, social problems are constructions created
by individuals or groups that draw the public attention to certain assumed
conditions or situations and urge to change them. In this definition of social
problems, the terms of ‘claims-making’ and ‘assumed conditions’ are key
notions. Claims-making, i.e. the rhetoric of demanding nature, includes,
according to Spector and Kitsuse34, answers to questions contained in
questionnaires or put by interviewers in opinion surveys, submitting
complaints and letters of protest, presenting law actions, addressing the
parliament, conducting press conferences, publishing ‘problematizing’
reports in mass media, holding rallies, vigils, demonstrations, protest
marches, strikes, etc. Social problems may also be constructed by
32
Blumer, H. (2001) Sotsialniye problemy kak kollektivnoye povedeniye [Social
Problems as Collective Behavior]. In: Blumer, H. ed. In: Konteksty sovremennosti-
II [Contexts of Modernity II]. Kazan, Kazan State University Press. P. 150–159.
(In Russian).
33
Yasaveev, I.G. (2004) Konstruktsionistsky podkhod k sotsialnym problemam
[Constructionist’s Approach to Social Problems]. In: Yasaveev, I.G. ed. In: Zhurnal
issledovaniy sotsialnoy politiki [Journal of Social Policy Studies]. N. 4. P. 533.
(In Russian).
34
Spector M., Kitsuse J., Social Problems: A reformulation // Social Problems.
Vol. 20. 1973. P. 145–159.
RUSSIAN SOCIETY AND RUSSIAN CIVIL IDENTITY
34
sociologists, in case their addresses or publications presenting the results of
their studies and their interpretation of the data heighten the public concerns
regarding a situation. It must be conceded, however, following
H. Blumer 35, that, in the vast majority of cases, these are public concerns
that make sociologists focus on investigating certain phenomena, rather
than the reverse.
Therefore, based on the above, we can study the problem of
forming the social identity of a person as a construct, i.e. how it is
considered in scientific publications, in what manner social identity
becomes problematic, and by what means. For example, bringing up the
problem of forming the identity of the Russian society with the global
society and, at the same time, putting forward the claims of developing the
national consciousness, creating the unified nation, import phase-out, etc.
It can be also bringing up the problem of forming the identity of
some individuals with criminal organizations holding extremist views. It
will be studied how the problem is brought up, due to what communicative
means, and by which public groups. In the above case, putting forward the
demands, such as extremism prevention at the governmental level,
strengthening the work with young people, developing infrastructure for
them, improving leisure activities, employment, etc., will be considered.
The word ‘assumed’ is used by Spector and Kitsuse to emphasize
that any claims-making is related to a condition that is supposed to exist.
Focusing on the analysis of demanding rhetoric, constructionists set aside
the question about whether the claims made are true or false and whether
the condition, regarding which such claims are made, really exists.
They argue that even the existence of the condition itself, regarding
which the claims are made, does not matter for constructionist analysis. It
means that, where the society investigates claims, such as extremism/crime
prevention or the educational institutions and law enforcement authorities
paying attention to teen-age suicides, we can find out whether there is the
condition of problem occurrence and claims made for eliminating it – the
growth of the population identity with criminal community, extremist
organizations, or groups of suicidally minded people among teenagers or
35
Blumer, H. (2001) Sotsialniye problemy kak kollektivnoye povedeniye [Social
Problems as Collective Behavior]. In: Blumer, H. ed. In: Konteksty sovremennosti-
II [Contexts of Modernity II]. Kazan, Kazan State University Press. P. 150–159.
(In Russian).
RUSSIAN SOCIETY AND RUSSIAN CIVIL IDENTITY
35
young adults, etc. On the other hand, as Kitsuse says, the researcher must
not concern the matter of whether the assumed condition exists. Following
J. Best, they call this strict constructionist position a phenomenological
version of constructionism 36.
A less strict version is the so-called contextual constructionism that
leaves room for considering social conditions and situations, regarding
which the claims for changes are made, i.e. referring to the social context of
constructing social problems – forming the people’s social identity with
negative social groups. Here, we can give the following example of
constructionists’ views. Imagine that a campaign against ‘increasing
criminality’ is investigated.
What accounts for this claims-making? From the viewpoint of strict
constructionalism, it will be noted that those making such claims refer to
the increasing level of people’s identity with the ‘underworld’ or the
mounting fears. However, within the framework of the strict
constructionalism, these references will be considered as a part of claims
that do not suppose any assumptions that the level of the people’s identity
with the underworld or the fear of crimes have really increased. Contextual
constructionism, on the contrary, may take into consideration the data from
official statistics or surveys measuring the numbers of those identifying
themselves with the underworld or the fear of crimes, if even those who
have made the claims have not ever referred to such statistics or surveys.
Constructionism suggests an ultimately different set of questions
for a researcher of social problems, such as forming social identity in a
certain area. For example, from the positions of the conventional objectivist
approach to the increasing identity of people with the underworld as a
social problem, important are the questions about the extent of criminality
in the society, the social consequences of increasing criminality, the causes
and factors of increasing the identity with the underworld, which give rise
to this phenomenon, the social functions of criminality, and about what may
help decrease the level of the population identity with the underworld.
From the constructionist viewpoint, it would be interesting whether
the increasing identity of people with the underworld represents a social
36
Best, J. (2001) Konstruktsionistsky podkhod k issledovaniyu sotsialnykh
problem [Social Problems: Constructivist Approach]. Best, J. ed. In: Konteksty
sovremennosti-II [Contexts of Modernity II]. Kazan, Kazan State University Press.
P. 164–175. (In Russian).
RUSSIAN SOCIETY AND RUSSIAN CIVIL IDENTITY
36
problem, i.e. whether it is the matter of public concerns and discussions,
who constructs the problematics of the increased identity of people with the
underworld, i.e. who makes the claims creating the broader public
preoccupation, what methods are used to construct this problem field, how
purposive the attempts are to construct these problematics, and how the
society and political environment response to the claims made regarding the
need for changes in the existing situation 37.
The merit of constructionists consists in the fact that the approach
developed by them allows us to gain an insight into the extremely volatile
ability of the public to acknowledge that certain situations are social
problems. In the modern society, there are infinitely many situations that
may potentially have the status of social problems. However, very few of
them do really achieve this status.
Thus, many researchers studied the methodology of social identity
configurationsSuch studies were performed at the classical stage, during the
art nouveau period, and in postmodernity. Within the classical paradigm,
the basic element in research is the object of cognition. Scientists were
having an issue with what is perceived, and The problem was to explain one
phenomenon or another. In the art-nouveau paradigm, the basic element in
studying social identity is the method of cognition. The main question is
how to perceive. For studying, it was important to understand a social
phenomenon. In postmodernity, the basic element is the subject of
cognition. The main question is who perceives. Within this paradigm,
research is based on description.
In studying social processes, A. Gouldner distinguished social
identification as the process of forming the following identity types: Latent
and overt identity as the process of making and forming the social identity.
Latent identity includes the typical features of the society’s members,
related to their belonging to various categories, such as ethnic,
demographic, or religious, officially considered as insignificant, but,
nevertheless, able to affect the interrelations between groups of people. The
overt identity includes the identification of individuals belonging to a
certain social group or organization, considered as significant for the
37
Yasaveev, I.G. (2004) Konstruktsionistsky podkhod k sotsialnym problemam
[Constructionist’s Approach to Social Problems]. In: Yasaveev, I.G. ed. In: Zhurnal
issledovaniy sotsialnoy politiki [Journal of Social Policy Studies]. N. 4. P. 533.
(In Russian).
RUSSIAN SOCIETY AND RUSSIAN CIVIL IDENTITY
37
group/organization and prescribed by the group/organization regulations or
rules. At the same time, there is a sociopsychological approach in
sociology. For example, political identification is considered as a process,
in the course of which a person affiliates him or herself with a group.
Interests and goals of which can be perceived by this person as his or her
own ones. Ethnic identification is considered as a person’s awareness of his
or her belonging to an ethnic group, manifesting in the self-concept when
contacting others 38.
In order to measure the quantitative indicators of social identity,
social marketing theorists and practical experts have developed special
matrices to perform the mathematical calculations of identity and nonidentity of social systems. Among them, we can distinguish A.A. Davydov
and A.N. Churakov. They proposed to take as elementary unit the system
distance between social systems – ‘nein’ (abbreviation of the Russian for
‘non-identity’) that is equal to 1 % of the value of non-identity index, as
well as the multiples and submultiples of the nein, such as hectonein,
decanein, decinein, centinein, etc.
When measuring the social identity index in social systems within
different time periods, we can find out whether the identity between them
increases, remains the same, or decreases. Sociologists made some
conclusions, in accordance to which the reasons for forming identity can be
as follows: Equal social position or location, the conditions of developing
the social systems, civic institutions; similar genetic, psychosocial, and
other properties of individuals from the groups of comparison; common
system laws of building up, acting, and developing, similar lifecycle stages,
etc., as well as the interrelation of all reasons. Social identity appears, in
this case, as a multidimensional, complex social phenomenon that is
constructed considering the ‘objective’ system-wide laws, geographical and
other conditions described in the science as fundamental (formal)
consciousness containing ‘subjective’ psychological, sociological,
sociopsychological, and other characteristics 39.
38
Zima, N.A. (2005) Globalizatsiya kultutry i spetsifika yeyo proyavleniya v Rossii
[Globalization of Culture and Specifics of Its Manifestations in Russia]. Dissertation in
support of candidature for a philosophy degree. Stavropol. 175 p. (In Russian).
39
Davydov, A.A. (1996) Izmereniye identichnosti sotsialnykh system [Measuring the
Identities of Social Systems]. In: Davydov, A.A. and Churakov, A.N., eds. [Electronic
resource]. URL: http://ecsocman.hse.ru/data/236/911/1217/
12_Davydovx2c_Churakov.pdf (In Russian).
RUSSIAN SOCIETY AND RUSSIAN CIVIL IDENTITY
38
In social identity, one basic aspect is distinguished, and the greatest
focus is placed on it. In certain cases, identity can be considered as an
individual’s conscious state. In other cases, it can be viewed as a structure
or process. The key result of the stage of accumulating by the Russian
humanities the knowledge of identity is the understanding that this is a
multifaceted phenomenon that should be divided into separate elements
during studies.
Humanities analyze the depth of this phenomenon and ‘dismember’
it along the individual-time axis (transversally) down to neins, hectoneins,
decaneins, etc., and to solidarity indexes 40. According to L.V. Skvortsov,
the new moral culture is based on two foundations: Emotional intuition and
the algebra of moral relations. “Emotional intuition,” he writes, “is the
formed ability of a human to perceive any conduct or action through the
prism of commonality. This is a real mediator between individual and
social” 41. Due to emotional intuition, an individual can simultaneously
consider him or herself as belonging to multiple role images that are the
most viable in his or her self-comprehension.
E.A. Ganin speaks about the effect of taboos on forming an
individual’s identity in the modern information society. Taboo works as a
factor limiting and regulating the formation of ‘correct’ human identity in
accordance with the environment requirements. He says that taboo is an
element of social control, which is acquired by an individual in the course
of social learning through stigmatization, interactive communication with
the environment, and transfer of moral principles and values.
At the same time, social control builds up a mass identity
‘convenient’ for the society. In this case, a certain social order of identitie is
meant, which is determined by public opinion, religion, state laws, etc. An
individual, in the course of his or her life, learns the common standards,
rules, legal limits of behavior, and the moral component in his or her
interaction with other members of the society, building up his or her
identity element by element. Then, via communication channels, the taboo
40
Zima, N.A. (2005) Globalizatsiya kultutry i spetsifika yeyo proyavleniya v Rossii
[Globalization of Culture and Specifics of Its Manifestations in Russia].
Dissertation in support of candidature for a philosophy degree. Stavropol. P. 28–45.
(In Russian).
41
Skvortsov, L.V. (2001) Informatsionnaya kultura i tselnoye znaniye [Information
Culture and Comprehensive Knowledge]. Moscow: Eksmo. P. 31–56. (In Russian).
RUSSIAN SOCIETY AND RUSSIAN CIVIL IDENTITY
39
is distributed among social groups. Their members accept and internalize
the taboos, or, on the contrary, deny them and are not going to adhere to
them. This can be called social learning, which is one of the foundations of
social identity 42.
The domestic studies conducted on the basis of various
methodological foundations allowed distinguishing the configurations of
social identity. Thus, V.M. Capitsyn shows the dynamics of forming a
‘unifying’ ethnic and national identity. As the components of ethnic and
national identity, V.M. Capitsyn distinguishes ‘partial’ identities and their
configurations – social and political. Social configuration includes
‘horizontal’ identities of the everyday life of a person. These are: Territorial
(instinct), natural (corporeal), cultural (spiritual), and agent (professional)
identities.
Normally, the majority of population prefers a quiet life
unshadowed by any calamity. Especially that there is a delimiting
‘stockade’ of private interests between people; it is formidable to start
political actions. However, if everyday’s benefits, ecology, transport, public
utilities, education, health services, employment, etc. worsen, then people,
going beyond their everyday life, try to protect their violated rights. Social
identity cannot stay within the scope of everyday life and goes into the area
of interest interaction (political life) where vertical identities function with
their respective values and symbols.
Vertical (political) configuration contains identity types, such as
international, state, collective, and individual identities. At the intersection
of the horizontal axes and the vertical axes of identities, the ‘unifying’
identities are formed, such as ethnic-national, state, or historical identities.
The ‘unifying’ ethnic-national identity is a notion that has many aspects and
edges, covering the content of notions, such as ‘patriotism’, ‘historical’, or
‘imperial’ identities, and ‘citizenship’ and ‘nationalism’. Such identity is
directly related to stability, integrity of social institutions and the society,
and the consistency of governmental activities.
42
Ganin, E.A. (2015) Konstruirovaniye sotsiokulturnykh tabu gruppami
sotsialnogo deystviya v rossiyskom virtualnom prostranstve [Constructing Social
and Cultural Taboos by Social Action Groups within the Russian Cyberspace].
In: Ganin, E.A. ed. In: Vestnik NGGU im. Lobachevskogo [Vestnik of Lobachevsky
University of Nizhni Novgorod]. N. 3. P. 138–142. (In Russian).
RUSSIAN SOCIETY AND RUSSIAN CIVIL IDENTITY
40
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