Features of mass consciousness during the period of social changes (the case of the 20th century Russia)

10.54398/1818510Х_2023_4_168

Annotation

The mass consciousness of the transition period contains the potential of future forms, overcoming and negation. This makes it possible for its bearer to cope with the contradiction between the present existence and the desired way of existence, contributing to the realization of the possibility of adaptation to the constantly changing conditions of the social environment. The main purpose of the article is to study mass consciousness as an existential problem: the ontological foundations of the way of being in conditions of social change. The dialectical approach made it possible to reveal the characteristic features and patterns of the functioning of mass consciousness in general, and mass consciousness of this period in particular. The syncretism of mass consciousness reveals the dialectic of rational and irrational, controlled and spontaneous, predictable and incomprehensible. Addressing this aspect helps to understand mass consciousness in its historical conditionality, specificity, genetic and functional purpose. Mass consciousness is a self-sufficient space of imperatives, which represents answers to vital questions that arise in a variety of contradictory situations. The characteristics of this space allow us to determine the degree of people's resistance to manipulative techniques and the forms of their adaptation. The study defines the determinants contributing to this process, revealing the dynamics of people's social orientations. System and structural analysis allowed us to consider mass consciousness as a relatively independent system that has a number of specific features. The most important among them are: operating with stereotypes, dynamics of the emotional sphere, the interests of pragmatics as the basis of the life activity of the subject of mass consciousness and fascination with populist proposals. It is proved that dualism and mythological language begin to play a vital role in the mass consciousness in conditions of social conflict: historical memory (meanings, values, norms) is inherited. These determinants of mass consciousness are reinforced both by the specifics of its nature and by the contradictory nature of the historical breakdown. Functioning in their unity, they allow the subject of mass consciousness to resist the threat of the very possibility of being in a social conflict.

Keywords

• dualism
• myth
• mass consciousness
• dialectics
• Russia of the 20th century
• USSR
• stereotype
• values
• social changes
• social conflict
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Contribution of the authors

Svoboda N. F. – formation of the concept of the article, writing the main text; Vorobeva O. B. – processing and analysis of the material, scientific text editing.

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