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According to V.M. Capitsyn, “people, in their perception of
themselves, society, and the entire world, build up a universal set of
‘partial’ identities that can be identified analytically, referring to their
everyday life. However, the content of those identities, their balance, or the
prepotence of ones over the others differ from ethnos to ethnos or from
nation to nation. This determines the uniqueness of ‘unifying’ ethnic
identities of one nation/state or another.
This also highlights the constructivist influence of ideologists,
politicians, and political strategists.” V.M. Capitsyn’s matrix-like approach
to studying social identities allows more efficient analyzing empiric data.
He also distinguishes the occurrence of the situations where ‘partial’
identities, affected from outside, generate counter-identities as alternatives
shattering the ‘unifying’ identities.
External identities of another culture, such as cosmopolitic,
transnational, universalist identity, etc., form in their combination with the
‘internal’ identities the configurations that destroy the ‘unifying’ identity
and the established social order. This may happen, first of all, where the
acceptance of a foreign real world is perceived as a ‘significant other.’ This
sample of another culture is impressed in individuals, social groups, or
social strata as something really affordable and being realized ‘here and
now’. This drastic transformation looks as an inevitable alternative to the
public order. Formation and accentuation of counter-identities is the basis
of technologies that destroy the ‘unifying’ identity 43.
H. Dittmar argues that social identity manifests in the nature of
material consumption. Material consumption serves as a symbol of the
person’s belonging to certain social strata. By consuming material
valuables, other people can judge about surrounding persons and reckon
them among social positions 44. Thus, those participating in social relations
construct their identities practically independently, making their consumer
choices. The reason (context) for consuming one product or another is of
special importance. This particularly relates to youth. M. Miles argues as
43
Capitsyn, V.M. (2014), Identichnosti: sushchnost, sostav, dinamika (diskurs i
opyt vizualizatsii) (Identities: The nature, composition, dynamics (the discourse
and experience of visualization)). In: Capitsyn, V.M. Polit Book, Vol. 1, P. 8–32.
(In Russian).
44
Dittmar H. The Social Psychology of Material Possessions. Hemel Hempstead:
Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1992. 205 p.
RUSSIAN SOCIETY AND RUSSIAN CIVIL IDENTITY
41
follows: “Young people construct their identity under the influence of the
surrounding community of their age-mates, rather than based on the fact of
purchasing specific goods, since even the nature of their interrelations
presupposes consuming certain things, often playing a key role in the
lifestyle of a specific ‘set’ 45.
Russian researchers emphasize the importance of modern
information and communications technologies for forming social identity.
Sociocultural parameters of the identity of a modern human are determined
by the ideology of communication with cyberspace – ‘neticism’ (from the
English ‘net’).
Some authors even use the term of ‘netizen’, i.e. the acronym for
‘net citzen’. Being online is like an imperative for the modern young
people. Gadgets and various devices that allow you to be a participant of
communications in social networks are the main identifying attribute. The
discourse of communication, on the one hand, creates the feeling of
solidarity of all members of the network over the class superiority or
material or ethnic differences and on the other hand, it increases the
emphasis towards professional, ethnic, and other cyber-communities.
Identification of a ‘netizen’ is expressed by the imperative, such as: “Tell
me what Internet resources you use, and I will tell you who you are” 46.
Along with the above configurations of social identity, I.S. Kon
distinguishes gender identity. This identity is formed at the moment of the
person’s comprehension of his or her belonging to a certain sex. As is
known, this can be male or female. This identity speaks for the fact that the
individual is aware of his or her origin and self-comprehension. In addition,
the person experiences certain feelings as a representative of a certain sex,
45
Miles, M. Consumerism As a Way of Life - London: SAGE Publications, 1995.
P. 153.
46
Tuzikov, A.R. and Zinnurova, R.I. (2015) Sotsiokulturniye osnovaniya
mnozhestvennoy identichnosti sotsialnykh grupp molodezhi v sovremennykh
obshchestvakh: kontseptualizatsiya i problema izmereniy [Social and Cultural
Bases of the Multiple Identities if Social Youth Groups in Modern Societies:
Conceptualizing and the Problem of Measuring]. In: The Review of Economy, the
Law and Sociology. N. 4. P. 338–341. (In Russian).
RUSSIAN SOCIETY AND RUSSIAN CIVIL IDENTITY
42
i.e. a carrier of certain sex-specific characteristics and behavioral patterns
that correlate with the ideas of masculinity or femininity 47.
E.R. Yarskaya-Smirnova argues that gender identity acts as a
product of self-construction. Gender identity starts to be formed from the
birth of the child, at the moment where, according to the constitution of
their pudenda, their passport (civil) sex is registered. From that moment, the
gender socialization starts, during which the child is educated in such a
manner that it could correspond with the common ideas of the ‘male/female
principle’ accepted in the given society. Based on the standards approved
by the society, the child’s ideas of his or her own gender identity and role,
behavior, and self-evaluation are created.
As a rule, the very first idea of their gender is formed in children as
early as at the age of 1.5 years, and this is this idea takes the place of the
best-established pillar of their self-comprehension. Gender identity starts to
develop with the time, its volume expands, and its structure becomes more
complicated. Two-year-ols usually know their sex, but still cannot identify
the reasons for choosing it.
At the age of 3–4, a child can consciously identify the sex of
surrounding people. However, this is often related to analyzing some
external, occasional features. Moreover, children at this age consider sex a
changing characteristic. Children realize the gender inconvertibility at the
age of 6–7, which is accompanied by the gender differentiation of their
behavior and attitudes.
Adolescence is the next very important stage in forming gender
identity. Among teenagers, gender identity takes the central place in
forming self-comprehension; it is one of the most important matters in
personal development at this age. Among adults, gender identity is
presented as a complex, structured formation containing, along with
awareness of one’s belonging to a certain sex, sexual orientation, sexual
scenarios, stereotypes, and preferences 48.
47
Kon, I.S. Pol i gender. Zametki o terminakh [Sex and Gender. Notes on the
Terms]. [Electronic resource]. – URL: http://sexology.narod.ru (In Russian).
48
Sotsialnaya politika i sotsialnaya rabota v izmenyayushcheysya Rossii [Social
Policy and Social Work in Changing Russia]. In: Yarskaya-Smirnova, E.R. and
Romanov, P.V., eds (2002). Moscow: INION RAN. 608 p. (In Russian).
RUSSIAN SOCIETY AND RUSSIAN CIVIL IDENTITY
43
According to I.S. Kletsina, the structure of gender identity includes:
– cognitive (informative) component. Within this component, an
individual may be aware of his or her belonging to a certain sex and
describe him or herself using the categories of masculinity-femininity;
– affective (axiological) component. It allows estimating the
psychological traits, the specificity of role behavior, based on comparing
them with the masculinity/femininity standards acknowledged by the
society;
– conative (behavioral) component. When becoming aware of his
or her belonging to a sex group, a person constructs his or her selfpresentation as a representative of a certain gender group and also develops
the methods of solving identity crises, based on choosing the behavior
patterns according to goals and values important for the person 49.
Scientists also name the other five components of gender identity:
The individual’s awareness of his or her gender; gender typicality
(perception of the one’s analogy to the representatives of his or her sex);
satisfaction with one’s gender; sensation of the pressure by one’s agemates, parents and his or her own personality towards complying with
gender standards; and ingroup bias (beliefs of one’s own sex superiority
over the other sex).
As a problem field, gender identity is within the scope of both
sociology and psychology (as behavioral attitudes). When investigating
gender identity, researchers pay a great attention to the phenomenon of its
crisis. By crisis is meant the impossibility to achieve the internal
consistency, self-actualization, and the external confirmation of one’s
gender identity.
According to L.N. Ozhigova, “the crisis of gender identity includes
the discrepancy of the internal components of gender identity (gender
concepts, gender self-evaluation and plans, and methods and behavior
structure), as well as the discrepancy of the internal components of gender
identity with external gender spaces that include gender stereotypes and
standards, gender corporeality, and gender roles. As studies show, the
constructive resolution of the gender identity crisis is the key factor of
maintaining the sociopsychological well-being of a person. Particularly,
49
Kletsina, I.S. (2004) Psikhologiya gendernykh otnosheniy: teoriya i praktika
[Psychology of Gender Relations: Theory and Practice]. In: Kletsina, I.S. ed. St.
Petersburg. 403 p. (In Russian).
RUSSIAN SOCIETY AND RUSSIAN CIVIL IDENTITY
44
intrapersonal conflicts related to forming gender identity are the risk factor
of the suicidal behavior of teenagers” 50.
Civilizational identity is also distinguished. Civilizational identity
represents focusing on ancestry, the power of the nation, and national
history. On the other hand, where civilizational identity is lost and other
strong cultures appear that disseminate their traditions and customs beyond
their country, the question occurs who to look to, whom to follow, and how
to elaborate one’s own identity without ouside interference. For example,
the Russian Federation has recently (before the democratic period)
experienced so many stresses and metamorphoses that no other country
could stand and would lose the substantional foundation, on which only it is
possible to correlate the absolutely different historical realia with the same
universal form that are surely evolutionary and, nevertheless, maintain the
internal sameness.
It is this form that has been unchanged for hundreds of years, and it
underlies the civilizational identity of Russia, i.e. something that we, living
in the early 21st century, use to recognize ourselves in our common
historical past. If this form did not exist, it would not have sense to even
discuss the problem of the Russian identity, whether from historical point of
view or in the conditions of the modern globalization. At the same time, it
should be noted that the gaps in the continual chain of cultural and
historical development, which repeatedly occurred in the 20th century, a
period that was too eventful for both our country and the entire world,
complicate the problem of identificational determinations of Russia
much 51.
The complicacy of the Russian Federation’s destiny consists,
according to O.N. Bayeva and V.I. Kashirin, in the fact that, as long as a
hundred of years, it was often deprived its civilizational identity. Russia
often lost its civilizational identity over a number of years due to the
50
Ozhigova, L.N. Gendernaya identichnost lichnosti [Gender Identity of a
Personality] [Electronic resources]. – URL: http://nauka-
pedagogika.com/psihologiya-19-00-01/dissertaciya-gendernaya-identichnostlichnosti-i-smyslovye-mehanizmy-ee-realizatsii (In Russian).
51
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).
RUSSIAN SOCIETY AND RUSSIAN CIVIL IDENTITY
45
incompetent activities of various ‘reformists’ of all stripes. Early in the 20th
century, such reformists were Bolsheviks who dreamt of rising in the world
revolution, communists striving to ‘catch up and overtake’, and perestroikaactivists who had broken up and reived the country under the guise of
eradicating all the old, Soviet carryovers.
None of those reformists remembered and even did not want to
remember in the heat of revolutions that the highest value for the citizens of
Russia had always been, and remained Russia itself – their Motherland. The
specifics of the Russian self-comprehension uniting Russia as an integrated
country and civilization with its inherent collectivism, spirituality, and
moral fiber, were used by the ‘reformists’ for the progressive removal of the
people from all national interests, standards, and traditions, for the only
purpose of achieving their corporate goals52.
Moreover, it seems to be obvious that the globalization process
affecting the identification archetypes of all countries existing in the world
complicates the problem even more. Russian globalist studies developed
one of the key principles of identification archetype that may not be
underestimated or neglected: The destiny of the Russian Federation consists
in the idea that it either exists as a strong nation or does not exist at all.
Planetary self-comprehension studies suggest a theory of personal
and civilizational identity, within which the modern world is considered as
an ensemble of small-town civilizations, capable of creating on the basis of
the whole variety a single integrated historical perspective of the entire
planet. Within this theory, it is not suggested to divide the world into
‘people of quality’ and ‘untouchables’ or into the ‘Golden Billion’ and
‘backwater people’ having no rights. The core postulate is: The world has
its unity in diversity 53.
The power of the self-comprehension culture is related to the
changes in the formula of moral satisfaction. A more efficient formula is
52
Bayeva, O.N. and Kashirin, V.I. (2002) Tsivilizatsionnaya identichnost Rossii:
universalnaya model metasubyekta v planetarnom samosoznanii [Civilizational
Identity of Russia: A Universal Model of a Metasubject in the Planetary SelfIdentity]. Moscow, Stavropol. P. 109. (In Russian).
53
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).
RUSSIAN SOCIETY AND RUSSIAN CIVIL IDENTITY
46
related to moral algebra 54. This formula is based on principles. It means
that the harm committed should be indemnified for, i.e. rectified. These are
these principles that compose the structure of the modern freedom of a
person responsible to the society.
Within the framework of globalization, it is believed that, initially,
the environmental disbenefit must be indemnified, then the harm committed
to other people, and then the internal harm (intersubkective, evaluational,
etc.). It means that identification is built up at the meta-external (global),
then external (civilizational), and then internal (personal) levels55. At the
modern stage of development, it becomes clear that the liberal model in its
pure form, which is forced by the West on the world community using
modernization and westernization cannot satisfy the innermost needs of the
modern social processes and forming identity.
As of today, it should be noted that in the Russian Federation, in the
conditions of external pressure, sanctions imposed, and the necessity of
elaborating countermeasures, the liberal paradigm is unable to be efficiently
realized despite the efforts of reformists and opposition forces. The Russian
civilizational identity, in global aspect, is related to the priority of the
psychology of TOPOS (focusing on developing the space for new
civilization construction), not LOCUS (focusing on one’s own HOME
improvement).
This includes both disadvantages and certain advantages. But this is
exactly why the Russian civilizational identity is closer to the requirements
of the modern global culture than any other. Synthetic thinking requires
that, in the course of analyzing the identity-identification, one should
proceed from the consistency of the conceptual and functional approaches,
i.e. on the basis of the dialectic-realistic (sociosynergetic) paradigm56.
Theoretical developments and practical studies provide evidence
that the contradictory nature of the situation in the Russian civilizational
54
Skvortsov, L.V. (2001) Informatsionnaya kultura i tselnoye znaniye [Information
Culture and Comprehensive Knowledge]. Moscow: Eksmo. P. 65. (In Russian).
55
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).
56
Ibid. P. 28–45.
RUSSIAN SOCIETY AND RUSSIAN CIVIL IDENTITY
47
identity is explained by both the internal and external (meta-external)
processes of self-identification. At the same time, the artificial substitution
appears clearly of the external factors of identity, such as the collaboration
and bilateral relations of the Russian Federation with other countries and
international organizations, for the meta-external factors.
Such substitutions and double standards are noted by many modern
researchers. This gives the reason for qualifying globalization processes
both as the activities in compliance with objective views and as a wellthought-out, well-designed, targeted, launched with a hidden agenda, and
being skillfully implemented project of restructuring the global space to the
benefit of a small group of people – the ‘new global elite’ – and of the
particular country – the USA.
Some researchers argue that an external factor (the American
cosmopolitism) is substituted for a meta-external factor (the natural
historical conditionality of transforming the USA into a global superpower)
by the US ruling elite. V.S. Vasilyev, in his paper Dialectic of Physical and
Metaphysical Fundamentals of the Modern Globalization states quite a
tenable opinion regarding this matter.
He writes that transforming the American cosmopolitism into the
global USA is a natural form of the ideological and expansionist activities
of the USA, symmetrically augmented by their political and economic
expansionist actions. For the United States of America, the existing
situation appeared in such a way that, upon World War II, their global
expansion faced the world socialist system. As a result of sustaining
confrontation and collapse of the center of socialism, this barrier was
removed, and the USA continued developing their influence at a global
level, representing the USSR and its allies and followers as one more
obstruction overcome to the realization of the idea of their ‘foreordination’,
which was the symbol of America’s development from the very
beginning57.
57
Vasilyev, V.S. (2002) Dialektika fizicheskikh i metafizicheskikh osnov
sovremennoy globalizatsii [Dialectic of Physical and Metaphysical Fundamentals
of the Modern Globalization]. In: Materialy postoyanno deystvuyushchego
mezhdistsiplinarnogo seminara kluba uchenykh “Globalny mir” [Proceedings of
the Permanent Workshop at the “Global World” Researchers Club]. N. 11:
Metafizika globalizatsii. Ot utopii k antiutopii [Metaphysics of Globalization: From
Utopia to Dystopia]. P. 88-110. (In Russian).
RUSSIAN SOCIETY AND RUSSIAN CIVIL IDENTITY
48
It should be considered that all assumptions regarding the end of
the ‘cold war’, especially disseminated in the Russian Federation, represent,
from the analytic point of view, nothing more than a sort of groundless and
making little sense (at the level of psycho-zombieing) propaganda. Modern
mass media state that the newly elected President D. Trump would
neutralize all contradictions with Russia, and mutually beneficial relations
would be established.
However, a question arises: How would the American political elite
feel about that? Upon World War II, the United States of America built up
for participating in the ‘cold war’ a vast military and political machine
containing a system of military-political alliances, the North Atlantic Treaty
Alliance being the main one; the system of military installations located
worldwide; a grand propaganda machinery, including the notorious
broadcasting services of the Voice of America and Radio Liberty, and a
great variety of various pseudo-democratic attributes and structures, from
the Central Intelligence Agency through the National Security Agency.
Upon specious reasonings on this topic, listing the systems of
security and propaganda, we can sey that the US elites did not allow
demonstrating any element of the institutionally formed attributes when
making the ‘cold war’, which would have proved the efficiency in the
American arms and ideas winning over the opponents 58.
The USA have even developed and adopted under G. Bush
guidance the Russian Democracy Act. The provisions of the legal text on
the new democracy, containing the recommendations regarding specific
actions aimed at realizing this strategy can be essentially generalized as
follows: “This is a right track, and we should not leave it.”
This is the vote of support for democratic institutions, market
econome, etc., in anticipation of the Russian Federation’s further
integration into the community of ‘Western nations’.
However, the latest enactments contains the specific guidance to
the US President who must issue directives and instructions to the US
governmental authorities and private sector on implementing this strategy,
so that they:
58
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).
RUSSIAN SOCIETY AND RUSSIAN CIVIL IDENTITY
49
– work with the Government of the Russian Federation, the State
Duma, the representatives of the legal and public spheres of the Russian
Federation with the objective of providing support in implementing various
international statutory instruments in the area of developing democratic
legislation, proving the primacy of law and common human rights, raising
the profile of mass media and adding them the high degree of independence
on the government, and establishing the ‘American Centers’ and the
faculties of civil society development at the Russian educational
institutions;
– develop educational programs for the citizens, which would teach
people democracy and social policies and help establish the
communications of cooperation programs with US universities to
implement courses at educational centers integrated into the Russian
environment via the dedicated Internet lines; and
– provide support for regional initiative programs and render
focused aid to the regions of the Russian Federation that wish to
demonstrate their adherence to reform initiatives, proving democracy and
the primacy of law, promoting the concepts of such programs as potential
models for other regions of Russia.
Specially accentuated are presidential stations for establishing the
activities of broadcasting services, such as Radio Liberty/Free Europe or the
Voice of America. They are assigned a mission of applying innovative
solutions and information technologies in establishing cooperation with
local mass media, using local languages to translate information on
democracy, free market relations, and the primacy of laws acknowledging
humanism and respecting the human rights within Russia.
This program can be considered as an open text of the codified
strategy of destabilizing the situation in the Russian Federation, splitting the
nation into a number of ‘independent states’, and peaceful transforming the
Russian Federation into the ‘United States of Russia’. The aboveconsidered processes of suppressing the civilizational and national identity,
distorting the international information policies, and double standards
resulting in the substitution of external factors for meta-external ones are
aimed at developing ‘mind games’ and a system of external managing the
public sentiments and public psychology, and, which is most critical, this
RUSSIAN SOCIETY AND RUSSIAN CIVIL IDENTITY
50
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