THE PROBLEM OF MORAL DEGRADATION OF THE PERSONALITY

THE PROBLEM OF MORAL DEGRADATION OF THE INDIVIDUAL

Irjanova Asel Amangeldievna
Magnitogorsk State University. GI Nosov
Institute of Education, Psychology and Social Work, Department of Social Work and psycho-pedagogical education third-year student

Nowadays, people often talk about the moral degradation of personality. This concept is not rare and people do not have the question “What is this?”. Everyone knows roughly what it is. But not everyone knows its specific essence and how dangerous this problem is. Because at first glance, it is not perceived as something serious and requiring attention. Let us consider in detail the concept of “moral degradation of personality”.

Morality is a system of rules for the behavior of a person, based on values ​​that are significant for a person. It should be noted that moral principles in different countries and in different nations may differ from each other, which is determined by differences in cultures, mentality and historical traditions of peoples. What is accepted in one society may be condemned and not understood in another.

Degradation of personality - loss of mental balance, stability, weakening of activity and efficiency; loss of personality inherent in her properties with the impoverishment of all her abilities: feelings, judgments, gifts, activity, etc.

From all of the above, it can be judged that, in general, the moral degradation of the individual is a distortion of the values ​​of the individual and the impoverishment of all his abilities under the influence of the loss of mental balance and stability.

This problem is deeply rooted in our society, and it requires immediate consideration and solution. Because the process of moral degradation in our society is progressing.

To better understand the scale and severity of the problem, let's turn to statistics for 2014 taken from the news portal Pravda.Ru: according to researchers from the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 40% of Russian residents do not read books, and those who occasionally can spend their leisure time with a book in his hands, usually reads light novels, or comic stories, few people are interested in the classics. The essence of social and political publications of the press and television programs is understood by no more than 14% of the population of Russia.

And also note:

An increase in the number of alcoholics (2.5 million people die from alcohol abuse every year);

The growth of drug addiction (from 70 to 100 thousand people die annually from drug use);

Criminalization of society (the share of the so-called "shadow economy" is at least 40% of GDP, and, according to Academician V. Kudryavtsev, the overwhelming majority of crimes are "poor crime", when people commit theft for their daily bread, which indicates impoverishment of the population);

Massive chronic unemployment (the number of unemployed is estimated today at 6-7 million people);

Marginalization of society (the share of paupers of all ages in cities is at least 10%).

These are some official figures, and, as a rule, they do not fully reflect the real situation. The process of personality degradation is a gradual and slow process that goes unnoticed by a person, which is the most dangerous. Let's look at the life of the overwhelming majority of people in our country.

Here is a man who came home from work, tired. And he thinks that he has the right to have a glass of beer with friends after a hard day at work, or spend the evening lying on the couch, watching TV, or devote himself to social networks. He does all this consciously, in order to rest. Nobody forbids people to have a rest like that, nobody authorizes this area, everyone is free to choose their leisure time independently, it should be so. Therefore, the majority choose leisure activities that do not require any actions or difficulties. People have forgotten about books, self-education, hobbies, sports. Few people remember such a pastime. Of course, this is very sad.

Also, constant stress and a fast pace of life also leave their marks. Now, most people do not know how to hear each other, do not want to help a person in a difficult life situation. And the market economy in our country makes people selfish and mercantile. As a result, irritation, resentment, rejection of another person, etc., arise.

Signs of personality degradation can be found in many people. Degradation of personality is indicated by such factors as: increased irritability, disturbance of attention and memory, decreased adaptive capabilities, narrowing of interests, which can be expressed in carelessness or lack of will. In addition, such problems are inherent not only in alcoholics, drug addicts or mentally retarded people, but also in quite adequate and normal individuals. This is where the threat of moral degradation of the individual lies.

The system of value orientations is not only a part of the spiritual sphere, it simultaneously represents the attitude of people to the surrounding social reality in the form of the realization of the essential forces of people. The system of value orientations also determines the mood in society and acts as an indicator of the stability of society. The dynamics of socio-political transformations in the country depends on how the system of value orientations is balanced under the influence of political, economic and cultural institutions. Serious amendments are required, both in the system itself and in the mechanism for implementing state policy in the field of culture.

In the course of moral degradation of the personality, the process of weakening of spiritual development quickly leads to a drop in intelligence, thus causing the process of society regression. Therefore, awareness and improvement of spirituality remains the only hope for the future generation.

1. http://www.pravda.ru/ date of treatment 02/05/2015
2. Gindikin, V. Ya., Gurieva, V.A. Personal pathology. - M .: Triada-X, 1999 .-- 266 p.
3. Inglehart, R. Postmodern: changing values ​​and changing societies // Polis. - 1997. - No. 4 - 32 p.

a form of anti-media aimed at destruction, disorganization of mass morality, the result of an acute socio-cultural contradiction caused by the growth of a mass discomfort due to creativity that goes beyond the established social relations, cultural stereotypes, beyond the step of novelty that is acceptable in a given culture. The reaction can take on the character of extremes. to destroy not only new, advanced forms of constructive tension, points of growth and development, but also to affect the traditional forms of activity, labor, social relations, which leads to the archaization of social relations, culture, the activation of equalization, the restoration on this basis of the way of life associated with localism, etc. N. d. can act in the form of a narrowing of the sphere of responsibility, for example, refusal of responsibility for the state, for its existence, the revival of the customs of blood revenge, the transfer of archaic massacres between villages to city streets, in hooliganism, vandalism, drunkenness, etc. ... N. d. can act in the form of a departure from the most qualified, developed complex forms of labor.

In the context of a split, national movement is intensified by the mutual destruction of two value systems, that is, those associated with traditional values ​​and determined by the desire for growth and development.

N. d. Is a complex controversial process. It includes the formation of utilitarianism, the strengthening of which is often identified with the growth of N. d. Such a role of it in conditions of general moral disorganization does take place. This is due to the fact that the growth of utilitarianism is not accompanied by its moral sanction, but is considered, including its carriers themselves, as an activity that comes into conflict with morality. This is the most important difference from the West, where utilitarianism had a religious sanction.

The state has very limited capabilities to prevent N. d., By virtue of this limitation, trying to replace the moral basis with external supports.

The fundamental solution to the problem lies in the ability of society to develop constructive tensions aimed at progress, provided that this process does not cause a dangerous uncomfortable state.

Why do young mothers throw their children out of the balcony

A resident of the Moscow region last Sunday threw her two sons from the balcony of the 15th floor. During interrogation, the mother explained her act by the fact that she was tired of the children. Psychologists now use the term "evaporation of morality." Andrei Yurevich, Deputy Director of the Institute of Psychology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told RG about where and how morality evaporates.

Andrey Vladislavovich, eyewitnesses of the recent show "Autoexotica" told me a wild story. The jeep driver, performing some crazy stunts, ran into a tent where there were two girls. The organizers did not pay the slightest attention to the tragedy, and the participants with joyful cries rushed past the ambulance to free drinks and a disco. What's going on with us?

Andrey Yurevich: Moral degradation or, in the words of the famous sociologist Anthony Giddens, "evaporation of morality", which, by the way, is confirmed by statistics. For example, violence against wives, elderly parents and children is recorded in every fourth family. Think about it: in modern Russia there are three times more juvenile prisoners than in the USSR in the 1930s!

... we already at least understand that giving bribes is bad. True, we still give. Moral degradation the evaporation of morality Moral degradation the evaporation of morality

Andrey Yurevich: Polls, by the way, show that not everyone understands that giving bribes is bad. And research on attitudes towards fraud is yielding amazing results. But that's not the point. In any society there are many people who do what is bad. It all depends on the ability of society to set barriers to them. It is indicative, for example, that we do not comply with the key points of international agreements on the fight against corruption, for example, the point on the confiscation of property of corrupt officials and their relatives. Moral degradation the evaporation of morality Moral degradation the evaporation of morality

Which generation do you consider the most overlooked? Moral degradation the evaporation of morality Moral degradation the evaporation of morality

Andrey Yurevich: We conducted a joint study with the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and found out that people who were formed as individuals in the 1990s and 2000s have large moral gaps.

That is, those who are now 30-40 years old?

Andrey Yurevich: Yes. It turned out that among these people, 80 percent are absolutely normal about things like fraud. They believe that "money does not smell", that "it does not matter in what way it is earned, the main thing is that it exists." These are people brought up on the pseudo-liberal ideologemes of the 1990s.

"Gangster series", which at that time did not disappear from TV programs, also probably played a role? ..

Andrey Yurevich: A new phenomenon has emerged as a "good bandit", that is, you can kill, rob and be considered a good person. Our research shows that today there is a wide stratum of young people who do not distinguish between the categories of good and evil at all and do not use such categories when assessing their actions. They use other categories: "cool - not cool", "profitable - not profitable". When the outstanding Russian philosopher Vladimir Soloviev traveled to Africa, he asked the native how he understood good and evil. He replied that "evil is when a neighbor attacks me, beats me half to death, takes my wife, takes away my cattle, and good is when I attack a neighbor, take his wife, take away his cattle." This is a purely pragmatic understanding of good and evil, the lack of seeing the line between them is very characteristic of a significant part of our today's youth. However, when we talk about generations, we must take into account that this is the "average temperature in the hospital". In any generation there are many highly moral people, heroes, and I am sure that in this generation too. For example, an officer covering a grenade accidentally dropped by a private. Moral degradation the evaporation of morality Moral degradation the evaporation of morality

How and at what point does morality disappear? Is moral degradation associated with economic processes? Moral degradation the evaporation of morality Moral degradation the evaporation of morality

Andrey Yurevich: It does not disappear overnight. Moral degradation is a rather lengthy process. And with economic growth, the state of morals is very controversial. Poor but honest is unnecessary. Rich countries are not always more immoral than poor ones.

And what about the moral character abroad? A consumer society can destroy moral laws?

Andrey Yurevich: There they regularly complain about the gradual destruction of traditional Protestant morality with its attributes such as modesty, abstinence in consumption, delayed motivation, the ability to long await reward, etc. Western civilization owes many of its successes to this morality and ethics. Now it is being replaced by a consumer society. But the decline in morals in Western countries, due to their civilization and the ability of citizens to reasonably limit their freedom, is not expressed in the same way as in modern Russia. Many things that have become familiar with us are impossible there. And vice versa. Can you imagine that, say, our new cabinet of ministers began its activities with a decision to reduce their salaries, as did the ministers in France?

With difficulties. Moral degradation the evaporation of morality Moral degradation the evaporation of morality

Andrey Yurevich: Me too, although our ministers are very wealthy people. And they get even richer in ministerial posts. Do not lag behind them, or rather, noticeably ahead of them, and their wives. This situation is typical for our country, expressing its differences from Western countries, where the line between "decent" and "indecent" for public people is very pronounced.

Who and how sets the fashion for morality?

Andrey Yurevich: There is no "fashion for morality" at all, there is only a fashion for immorality, which is set in our country by the so-called get-together and some media outlets. But there are people who set the standards of morality and patterns of moral behavior. For example - Jesus Christ.

Are there people now who are able to set these norms? Moral degradation the evaporation of morality Moral degradation the evaporation of morality

Andrey Yurevich: As for modern Russian society, there is such a concept as a moral elite - people who set certain norms by their own example, for example, Dr. Roshal.

Do general condemnation and pickets against representatives of provocative art have to do with moral growth?

Andrey Yurevich: Rather, to the rejection of a significant part of the population of moral degradation. Especially when it is not about the art itself, even if it is "provocative", but, say, about the penis, depicted on the lifting bridge.

Can religious education improve our moral character? Moral degradation the evaporation of morality Moral degradation the evaporation of morality

Andrey Yurevich: Yes, it can. But the secular too. Moral degradation the evaporation of morality Moral degradation the evaporation of morality

Look, but maybe it's not that bad? On the Internet, strangers help each other, volunteering is becoming a way of life ...

Andrey Yurevich: Indeed, not everything is so bad, and certainly not hopeless, positive tendencies are also manifested. The emergence of volunteer organizations, for example, to search for missing children, is one of them. There are also things that were hard to believe a few years ago. For example, the fact that our motorists will start to let pedestrians pass ...

What else was difficult for you to believe? Moral degradation the evaporation of morality Moral degradation the evaporation of morality

Andrey Yurevich: A few years ago, any children's sandpit was filled with glass from beer bottles, any bus looked like a beer bar on wheels. Now this is almost not observed. That is, we are able to behave in a sufficiently civilized manner. What was considered to be everyone's personal culture (drinking or not drinking beer in a children's sandbox) was brought to the level of the law, they began to be fined for this, and it worked. A good example, by the way, is Singapore - a country that has achieved amazing success in the difficult task of fighting corruption. It all started small: people were forbidden to spit, throw cigarette butts. It seems to be nonsense, a fine was introduced, order was achieved. After some time, such prohibitions move to the level of internal moral norms and people begin to behave differently - they reconsider their attitude to such phenomena as corruption. It all starts small. We also have shifts in small things, maybe this is the beginning of a revival.

Http://www.rg.ru/2012/06/26/arest-site.htm "Rossiyskaya Gazeta" No. 5817 dated 27.06.12

5 paragraph. Indeed, in our days it is very important that a person does not lose moral values, does not degrade morally. The significance of the problem raised by the author can be understood by referring to the works of Russian classics. In the story of A. P. Chekhov "Ionych" the main character from a young doctor, full of desire to help people, turns into some kind of an idol serving money, seized with a desire for acquisitions. According to the author, Startsev's degradation occurs due to an unwillingness to resist the environment, circumstances.

In the story A. P. Chekhov's "Gooseberry" the protagonist for the sake of his dream - to become a landowner - sacrifices everything, even brings his wife to death. Having bought the estate, he finally grows the long-awaited berry, but, as the narrator notes, he himself becomes like a pig.

6 paragraph. The problem considered by the author of the text sounds relevant today, since the preservation of moral values ​​is very important in modern society. This question is especially significant when it comes to youth. Unfortunately, there are programs in the media that lead to personality degradation. The atmosphere of the reality show "House 2" is such that its participants not only speak rudely and behave tactlessly, but also demonstrate negative personality traits. It is not the building of relations that takes place here, but the moral degradation of the participants.

The problem of intelligence.

5 paragraph. Indeed, even today it is very important that a developed mind is connected with conscience, nobility of spirit. The significance of the problem raised by the author can be understood by referring to the works of Russian classics. In the comedy of A. P. Chekhov "The Cherry Orchard" Petya Trofimov can be called an intellectual. He believes in the victory of reason and truth, is ready to work in order to turn the whole of Russia into a garden.

In the story of M.A. Bulgakov's "Heart of a Dog" Professor Preobrazhensky is a bright type of intellectual who combines knowledge and morality. He implants the pituitary gland in a stray dog ​​and a miracle happens: the animal turns into a rational creature. However, the joy of discovery does not last long: Sharikov can only be called a human being. He is devoid of morality. The professor corrects his mistake, and the readers think about how great the responsibility of the scientist for the discoveries made by him is.

6 paragraph. The problem considered by the author of the text sounds relevant today, since in our time education has made a tremendous leap and the issue of the relationship between mind and heart, knowledge and morality has become more acute. A real intellectual can be called a person who is not indifferent to the spiritual development of not only himself, but also society. Left a big mark on Russian culture Dmitry Sergeevich Likhachev, Soviet and Russian philologist, art critic, screenwriter, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Throughout all the years of his activity, he was an active defender of culture, a promoter of morality and spirituality.

Vladimir Pozner- journalist, translator, leads the author's program on Channel One. This is a real intellectual, a person with a bright civic stance. His contribution to the culture of Russia is important for his contemporaries.

The problem of nobility.

5 paragraph. Indeed, even today it is very important that people realize that high morality, combined with dedication and honesty, lies at the heart of nobility. The significance of the problem raised by the author can be understood by referring to the works of Russian classics. In Leo Tolstoy's epic novel War and Peace, Kutuzov appears as such a person. During the overseas campaigns of the Russian army, he does everything to save the soldiers. After the Battle of Borodino, he honestly admits the need to surrender Moscow to Napoleon, then achieves victory over him.

In the comedy of A. P. Chekhov "The Cherry Orchard" Petya Trofimov can be called a noble man. He believes in the victory of reason and truth, is ready to work in order to turn the whole of Russia into a garden.

In M. Gorky's story "The Old Woman Izergil", Danko can be called a noble man. He decided to lead people out of the swamps to a better life. When they trembled, for the sake of their salvation, the hero of the work tore out his heart, raised it above his head and illuminated the road. Danko's dedication is close to the author.

6 paragraph. The problem considered by the author of the text sounds relevant today, since in our time many need help, sympathy, and in people it is necessary to cultivate the desire for noble deeds. It's scary when grief and pain are read in children's eyes. Parents and relatives do not always have the means to save sick children. Therefore, the action of the First TV Channel "Good" very important. By sending a message to a short number, viewers give a chance to life for hundreds of seriously ill children. Little patients desperately cling to her, and their parents bravely fight for those they love most in the world. Compassion, compassion of millions of people for their grief helps to overcome the disease.

annotation... Based on the conclusions of philosophers, economists, psychologists, lawyers, sociologists, etc., the moral level of Russian society at the beginning of the XXI century is determined. - "moral degradation"; the developed quantitative indicators are used - the index of the moral state of society (INSO), on the basis of which the dynamics of the evolution of Russian society in the years of reforms is traced; the causes and consequences of the fall in morals are noted; the ways of spiritual revival are outlined as a key factor and prerequisites for economic recovery and, in general, for the spiritual revival of the nation.

Keywords: moral condition index (INSO) * morality * law * moral degradation * suicide * drug addiction * alcoholism * corruption * violence * crime * anomie * liberalism, pseudo-liberalism * freedom * control - social, moral * moral regulators * social interactions.

Symptoms of moral degradation

Despite the economic successes (pre-crisis), internal political stabilization and other positive trends, the general state of modern Russian society in recent years looks very alarming. So, the number of murders per 100 thousand inhabitants in our country is almost 4 times higher than in the USA (where the situation in this respect is also very unfavorable) and about 10 times higher than their prevalence in most European countries (Lysova A.V., Shchitov N.G. Systems of response to domestic violence // Sociological journal, 2003, N 3, pp. 99-115). In terms of the number of suicides, Russia is 3 times ahead of the United States, ranking 2nd in Europe and the CIS, not only among the general population, but also among young people under the age of 17 (in this case, after Kazakhstan).

At the same time, for a number of reasons (for example, such as the desire of relatives to present suicide as an accident), the underestimation of suicides in Russian regions is about 13%; there are also such alarming tendencies as a decrease in the average age of those who commit suicide, committing them in more and more cruel ways, etc.

According to the corruption index for 6 years (2002-2008), Russia has moved from 71st to 147th place in the world, and the total volume of corruption in the Russian Federation is estimated by experts at 250-300 billion dollars a year. The number of victims of accidents, such as accidental alcohol poisoning and road traffic accidents, testifies, if not to a massive “unwillingness to live” (psychoanalytic interpretation of such situations), then at least to the indifference of many of our fellow citizens to their own and other people's lives.

The annual number of road traffic victims in modern Russia exceeds the losses of our country for all the years of the Afghan war, and the situation on our roads is called "war on the roads", "civil war", etc.

In the aggregate, the given data line up in a holistic picture (Table 1), testifying to the painful state of society, but it is surprising that in the public consciousness they are perceived with less acuteness than, say, the number of medals won at the Olympics (which in itself is an indicator the state of society, as well as the gift of expensive cars to already well-off athletes-winners).

Table 1... Indicators of the state of modern Russian society (2006)

Sources: Human Development Report 2007/2008. Published for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) / Per. from English M .: Ves mir, 2007; Russian Statistical Yearbook 2007. M .: Rosstat, 2007; Transparency International.http: //www.transparency.org/

The indicators shown in Table 1 are supplemented by other data showing what kind of society we have built under the beautiful slogans of freedom and democracy:

• 2,000 children become victims of murder and grievous bodily harm every year;
• every year 2 million children suffer from parental cruelty, and 50 thousand run away from home;
• 5,000 women die every year from beatings inflicted by their husbands;
• violence against wives, elderly parents and children is recorded in every fourth family;
• 12% of adolescents use drugs;
• over 20% of child pornography distributed around the world is filmed in Russia;
• about 1.5 million Russian school-age children do not attend school at all;
• children and adolescents "social bottom" covers at least 4 million people;
• the growth rate of child crime is 15 times faster than the growth rate of total crime;
• in modern Russia there are about 40 thousand juvenile prisoners, which is about 3 times more than in the USSR in the early 1930s. (Analysis of the situation of children in the Russian Federation. M .: UNICEF, 2007; State report "On the situation of children in the Russian Federation", M .: Ministry of Labor and Social Development of the Russian Federation, 2006) The quantitative data can be supplemented by everyday illustrations from the life of society: the practice of criminal "roofs", raiding, "black real estate", financial "pyramids", various types of fraud, etc. is still widespread. Organized crime has actually been legalized, and the so-called "authoritative businessmen" - essentially legalized thieves - arrange public presentations of their "literary" works, in which hired writers colorfully depict their criminal adventures (according to a poll by the Public Chamber, more than half of our fellow citizens do not feel themselves in any way protected from crime), corruption is truly total, and both officials at all levels of government and administrative positions are being sold; you can buy drugs in schools; public speech, including on television and radio, is replete with profanity and thieves' jargon; homeless people are an indispensable attribute of stations, trains, subways, etc.

The Internet is full of films that show in detail how students beat their teachers, the elderly are killed in order to take possession of their apartments; drunk mothers throw their babies out of windows; there is a slave trade (in the XXI century!), moreover, in the direct, and by no means in the metaphorical sense of the word; cheeky-aggressive youths defiantly do not give way to elderly people in transport, and sometimes they are capable of killing for a remark made to them (in the city of Kolchugino, a company of scum who drank vodka at the memorial to the heroes of the Great Patriotic War killed and burned a man who tried to convince them); sects are widespread, practicing, among other things, human sacrifice, and the typical reaction of a significant part of our youth to a person dying next to him is ... laughter. All these are not scenes from "horror films", but our life. It is not only the phenomena of this kind that are striking, but also the tolerance towards them, the perception of them as usual, and not as out of the ordinary, as the norms of our life. “Faced with blatant facts of lawlessness and arbitrariness on a daily basis, people lose their sharpness in reaction to them, gradually become imbued with indifference to what is happening,” writes O. T. Bogomolov. And K. N. Brutents notes that “ Russians almost without any protest and moral rejection(italics mine. - A. Yu.) survive in conditions of total corruption, all-encompassing bribery that accompanies almost every step they take, a rampant criminality " tolerance for evil and humility before him, contributing to his establishment in increasingly cruel forms.

With all the variety of the described phenomena, as well as the processes characterized by the above statistical data, they can be summed up under a common denominator, which is called “ moral degradation"Modern Russian society or, using the well-known expression of E. Giddens," evaporation of morality". It is noted that “violations of public morality, norms of social justice, ideas of civic honor and responsibility are encountered in our country at every step”. And it is natural that according to the results of sociological surveys, the decline in morals is perceived by our fellow citizens as one of the main problems of modern Russia, “ spoilage " is regarded by them as one of the worst results of our reforms.

The moral degradation of modern Russian society is ascertained by representatives of various sciences, and it can be considered a truly "interdisciplinary" fact. Psychologists demonstrate that "Russia for many years turned out to be a" natural laboratory "where the morality and legal consciousness of citizens underwent severe tests"; sociologists show that “at the end of the XX - beginning of the XXI century, Russian society, plunged by the state first into“ perestroika ”, and then into“ radical reforms ”, constantly experienced moral deviations and a deficit not so much of social, economic and political as moral guidelines, values and patterns of behavior; accentuate the “moral aberration” of the thinking of our politicians - its distance from moral values ​​and guidelines, which are supplanted in it by categories of an economic nature, such as economic growth, GDP size, inflation indicators, etc.; economists note that “among the components of the exorbitant social price that had to be paid for radical economic reforms in Russia is the disregard for the moral and psychological world of man”, emphasizing “the intensive eradication of the moral and ethical component of their social life”; art critics state that “we have formed a totally immoral system”; philosophers associate what is happening in modern Russia with the obvious fact that freedom leads to the release of not only the best, but also the worst in a person, and, accordingly, should presuppose restrictions on the release of the worst. “What will a person who is not ripe for it and experiences it as unbridledness make of political freedom? - IA Ilyin wondered and answered, - he himself is becoming the most dangerous enemy of someone else's and common freedom. " This is exactly what happened in our country in the early 1990s.

Rice. Dynamics of the moral state of modern Russian society

The Institute of Psychology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, in line with the quantitative macropsychology developed in it [See: 14, etc.], has developed an index of the moral state of society (INSO), based on the integration of indicators such as the number (per 100 thousand inhabitants): 1) murders and 2) street children, 3) the corruption index, 4) the Gini index, which expresses the uneven distribution of income (see Appendix). The dynamics of the quantitatively assessed in this way the moral state of Russian society during the years of reforms is shown in the figure.

As you can see, the moral state of our society (1991-1994) deteriorated annually, then improved to the "default" 1998, after which it worsened again (until 2002), and then again showed a tendency towards annual improvement (for 2007 - 2008. The index has not been calculated due to the fact that the relevant statistical data are not yet available - Without subjecting the identified dynamics to interpretation, we note that it almost completely corresponds to the dynamics of the macropsychological state of modern Russian society, assessed on the basis of other indicators [See: 11], as well as the time sweep of its characteristics calculated by sociologists (social moods, social optimism, etc.), which indicates a synchronous manifestation of such dynamics in various spheres)).

Attention is drawn to the fact that the quantitatively assessed moral state of our society in the first years of reforms deteriorated at a high rate, which indicates the connection of its deterioration precisely with the reforms and with the accompanying events, and during subsequent years, although it was non-linear, “ wave-like dynamics, was almost 2 times lower than the level of 1990.

Causes and consequences of the fall in morals

Among the main reasons for the decline in morals in post-reform Russia are usually the following. A general weakening of control over the behavior of citizens, the transformation of which, as the history and experience of other countries shows, is characteristic of “turbulent”, changing societies, and inevitably accompanies radical reforms. The moral qualities of the reformers, many of whom were recruited into "democrats" from party and Komsomol workers, turned the resource of administrative power into access to property and generalized their personal immorality into the ideology of "unnecessary morality" for a market economy, convenient for them.

Naturally, not all. It is customary to distinguish, for example, “Romantic Democrats,” who sincerely defended democratic values, and “Pragmatic Democrats,” who replaced them, who used democratic slogans in their personal interests, for example, to justify privatization profitable for them.

The specific nature of the "three sources and three components" of modern Russian business, which served as: a) former Soviet "tsehoviks", i.e. underground producers of goods and services, b) representatives of the criminal world, who in the Soviet years imposed tribute on "guilds" and applied their experience in a market economy, c) party and Komsomol workers, who with amazing ease changed socialist morality to pseudo-capitalist, and, in fact, to the criminal. Distribution in the early 1990s. such ideologemes as "everything is possible that is not prohibited by law", "one must live according to the law, and not according to conscience", "the main thing is money, and no matter what ways they are earned" and others, in essence, denying any morality - the decision the long-standing Russian alternative "by conscience or by law?" in favor of the latter and led to the fact that our society began to live not according to conscience, and not according to the law, but "according to concepts."

This result turned out to be inevitable: firstly, because “a holy place is never empty,” and the rejection of generally accepted morality in the conditions of the criminalization of society turned into its substitution with the morality of the underworld; secondly, due to the fact that law and morality are two main, supporting each other, systems for ensuring social order, and the destruction of one of them inevitably leads to the destruction of the other, the law does not work without relying on morality, and morality is destroyed without backing by law. In particular, as Metropolitan Kirill noted, "the law has a chance to work only if it complies with the moral norm."

The pseudo-liberal (“pseudo” - because it is very far from true liberalism), which was widespread at the beginning of the reforms, represents its highly distorted (in the interests of the most immoral strata of society) version. Speransky, S.Yu. Witte, whose followers call themselves the authors of the "Russian Liberal Manifesto" developed by the leaders of the Union of Right Forces, would be greatly surprised by those who are called "liberals" in modern Russia.), Based on the "doctrine of vulgar liberalism", the understanding of freedom as non-observance any rules and prohibitions, like licentiousness and irresponsibility, are readily assimilated by some strata of our society.

Note that this understanding of freedom is not our Russian “invention”. So, for example, freedom, promoted by the French salons of the Enlightenment, "was of a purely negative character, turned into freedom to deny all moral foundations - faith, authority, traditions, experience, respect for authority, declared prejudices."

Criminalization (not only in the generally accepted - the growth of crime, etc., but also in the broader sense of the word - the criminalization of "all public life"), including an abundance of films about "good bandits", the popularity of criminal vocabulary ("assaults", "showdowns", etc.) etc.), tightening, "brutalization" of this life, widespread use of force schemes for resolving disputes, the prestige of emphasized aggressive behavior, etc.

Increased aggressiveness as a norm in our life has even affected the Internet, which is natural, since “culture sets the norms of aggression and is the primary source of the formation of delinquent behavior” [16, p. 65].

The attractiveness of the negative patterns of behavior enshrined in the "amnesty of the past" created by the most successful people in modern Russia, who made their fortunes by violating the laws and moral norms (it does not matter that the name is a bandit in the past, now he is a "respectable businessman" values).

Anomy is the destruction of the system of moral norms and their disagreement with each other, characteristic of all post-socialist societies and replacing the hypernomy - over-normalization - of socialist regimes.

The anomie of entire societies has been talked about relatively recently. Previously, this concept was applied to individuals and was introduced by E. Durkheim to describe the state a person experiences before suicide. In this regard, it is appropriate to recall the thought of O. G. Drobnitsky that "the requirements of morality ... can be addressed to socio-historical processes and states."

Abolition social institutions moral control, the role of which in Soviet society was played by the party and Komsomol organizations, comradely courts, people's control, etc., which, with all their well-known shortcomings, performed a very important social function - moral control.

The dominance of "economic determinism" in approaches to solving the main problems of our society.

This style of thinking and vision of what is happening in society, when the main thing is economics, and everything else, including morality, is secondary, was subjected to destructive criticism by A. Tocqueville, K. Polanyi and many other famous thinkers, and M. Raz called it "an eructation of Marxism", emphasizing the derivation of "obstinacy in the economy" from the Marxist division of society into an economic basis and a secondary social superstructure.

The fact that although the unity of teaching and upbringing was considered one of the cornerstones of the national education system, since the early 1990s. our state has essentially left the sphere of upbringing.

Lacking in this context the opportunity for a detailed presentation and discussion of these reasons, we emphasize that moral state of society, which supporters of "economic determinism" tend to ignore, referring, according to their clearly derogatory expression, to the "so-called social sphere", has, in essence, a multicomponent status in the system of social processes, representing simultaneously three aspects: a) an indicator of the state of society, b ) a consequence of the processes taking place in it, c) the basis of what expects this society in the future. The latter is especially clearly manifested in the low birth rate, which in recent years has been designated, including by the authorities, as one of the key problems of modern Russia.

Studies show that purely economic measures to stimulate the birth rate can give it an increase in the range of 15-20%, since the main influence on the unwillingness to have children is exerted by non-economic factors. Among them, as polls show, one of the first places is occupied by unwillingness to give birth to them. in such a country whose moral ill-being is emphasized by the respondents. A. Yu. Shevyakov cites data that "changes in the trends in fertility and mortality in Russia by 85 - 90% are due to excessive inequality and high relative poverty of the population", expressing the moral state of our society, and emphasizes that "the relationship between socio-economic factors and demographic indicators are mediated by the psychological reactions of people and the behavioral attitudes arising from these reactions ”. And VK Levashov explains the “catastrophic depopulation” of modern Russia by “a moral gap between society and the state” [ibid., P. 426].

According to polls, most of our fellow citizens believe that the modern Russian state expresses mainly the interests of the state bureaucracy and the wealthy, and not society as a whole. However, even with a more positive view of our state and attributing pro-social intentions to it, we have to admit that “the state is losing the war against social vices” [ibid., P. 426].

As R. S. Grinberg states, “demographic studies show that more than two-thirds of the reasons for Russia's depopulation are associated with such socio-psychological phenomena that have arisen in the post-Soviet period, such as social depression, apathy and aggression,” some of which (for example, mass aggression) are direct manifestations of the destruction of morality, others - apathy, depression, etc. - a massive psychological reaction to its destruction. In particular, a permanent feeling of immorality, hostility and aggressiveness of the environment causes stress, apathy, depression, etc. in a person, in turn, giving rise to mental disorders, diseases of the nervous system, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal and other diseases. According to the World Health Organization, from 45% to 70% of all diseases are associated with stress, and psychosomatic diseases such as neuroses, cardiovascular disorders, ulcerative lesions of the gastrointestinal tract, immunodeficiency, endocrinopathy and tumor diseases are directly dependent on it. ...

The fall in morals plays an important role among the motives for suicide, and also has a direct relationship to the depressing statistics of drug addiction, alcoholism, accidents, etc., which are the main manifestations of the physical self-destruction of our society. A. Yu. Myagkov and SV. Erofeev note that “in the theories of social integration, the growth of suicides is traditionally considered an important sign of increased tension and self-destructiveness in society, which, in turn, are the result of deep deviations in social structures and the absence of value-normative unity”; state that “the continued growth of suicides is the price that we still have to pay for uncivilized forms of transition to the market” [ibid., p. 50].

Similar patterns can be traced in history, in particular, "history provides many examples, starting with the death of the Roman Empire, when generally economically prosperous states perished as a result of a drop in the moral level of the population." And B. Kuzyk, using the material of the most important historical cycles of the evolution of the Russian state, shows that each of its political and economic ups and downs was always preceded, respectively, by the rise or fall of spiritual life and morality.

Contrary to the thesis proclaimed by domestic reformers that morality is “unnecessary” for a market economy, their close connection is shown in the classical works of M. Weber and his followers. It is also obvious for representatives of modern Russian business. Thus, the president of the Rolf group of companies S. A. Petrov emphasizes that "moral requirements are not some kind of appendage to the business imposed on it by some social forces, that is, from the outside, but the guarantee of its successful development." The pattern that “the higher the level of spiritual and moral development of the bulk of the population, the more successfully the country's economic and political system develops,” “the state of the economy directly depends on the spiritual, moral state of the individual,” receives multiple confirmations. And our data demonstrate that the moral state of Russian society, quantitatively assessed in the way described above, shows high correlations with various indicators of its innovative activity (Table 2).

The level of morality has a significant impact on socio-political processes. In particular, it is difficult to disagree with the fact that "ethics is the heart of democracy", since the latter presupposes confidence citizens to its institutions, which is impossible without subordinating the activities of these institutions to basic ethical principles. According to the former president of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev, "without a moral component, any system will be doomed." And Metropolitan Kirill expressed himself even more categorically: "Morality is a condition for the survival of human civilization - no more and no less."

Table 2. Relationship between the moral state of Russian society and indicators of innovative activity

Ways to revive morality

Despite the positive shifts in recent years, Russian society is still “traumatized by chaos,” and one of its main problems is not a deficit of freedom, which we are constantly accused of from the West (as always, poorly understanding what is happening in Russia), but the exact opposite - a deficit of control, above all, control internal - moral. This key need modern Russian society is refracted in the mass consciousness: the overwhelming majority of our fellow citizens, as polls show, are in favor of stricter laws, moral censorship of the media(which her opponents betray for ideological, making a deliberate substitution of concepts) and other forms of moral control. Similar intentions are observed in the authorities, as well as in the Public Chamber, whose members declare that “the main problem of modern Russia is the decline of moral and ethical culture,” and so on. All this suggests that in our society the corresponding need has ripened .

Of course, try to give a simple answer to the traditional Russian question "What is to be done?" in relation to the moral state of our society it would be absurd. It is also obvious that declarative calls for the revival of morality and ethics sound like a voice crying in the wilderness, and taking into account the nihilism of a significant part of our youth, accustomed by pseudo-liberal ideologemes to “do the opposite” with respect to the calls of the older generation, they can have the opposite effect. “For now, the progressive public, both in our country and in the West, continues to sound the alarm about a deep moral crisis. But there are no clear ways to overcome it, "states O. T. Bogomolov."

Nevertheless, the key directions of the revival of morality "effective therapy of moral decline" - can be outlined.

At first, revision of understanding freedom, which we inherited from the first years of reforms and is extremely distorted in modern Russia. Freedom presupposes its reasonable restrictions, implanted in the mentality of citizens, in terms of psychological science, interiorized by them. Such an understanding of freedom, spelled out in the works of I. Kant, I.A. practically abstracted from the solution of moral and educational problems.

Secondly, revival institutions of moral control, which are practically absent in modern Russian society. One should hardly strive to create institutions reminiscent of Soviet party and Komsomol organizations (in a democratic society this is impossible), however, schools, universities, and public organizations could perform the functions of moral control, for which they need society's mandate for their implementation. (For example, it is reasonable to make admission to and stay in universities dependent on the behavior of students in educational institutions and beyond. And public organizations, including our leading political party, should attach importance to the moral qualities of their members.)

Thirdly, in the conditions of the deficit of internal moral regulations, one should resort to their "externalization" by giving moral norms the status of laws.

A striking example is the law passed by the State Duma prohibiting the drinking of beer and other low-alcohol drinks in public places. In this very instructive case, the internal - moral - prohibition was translated into an external form. And it "worked", albeit in accordance with the Russian attitude to laws: our fellow citizens, of course, did not stop drinking beer in public places, but nevertheless they began to do it much less often than in the absence of a legally formalized ban. The same should be done with respect to swearing in public places, which has already been done to some cities of Russia (under the ridicule of the media representatives who do not understand well the destructive impact on society of "weak" forms of deviant behavior), demonstrative insults to older people and other forms of rude violations of morality.

As O. T. Bogomolov writes, “until moral norms and principles become part of the general culture, it is necessary to force violators of order to abide by the law, to comply with the rules of community life, using the authority of the authorities, the press, and television.”

Fourth, decriminalization of our society and its everyday culture. It is wrong to think that this problem is related only to law enforcement agencies. In particular, decriminalization of mass consciousness involves not only cleansing our vocabulary from thieves' jargon, etc., but also a radical change in the system of relations between the population and law enforcement agencies, including the attitude towards informing them about violations of the law, which in our culture, under the obvious influence of the criminal world, is qualified as "denunciations."

In this regard, the example of Finland, recognized as the least corrupt country in the world, is very instructive. One of the cornerstones of the fight against corruption in this country is the simplicity and efficiency of informing law enforcement agencies about any cases of corruption, that is, in our terminology, “denunciations” of officials. Any citizen can do this using the Internet without filling out any paperwork and bureaucratic obstacles. There are also posted "black lists" of officials convicted of corruption, getting into which deprives them of the opportunity to get a good job.

We still have not learned to distinguish between ideological denunciations and reports of violations of the law, which in fact are an expression of civil responsibility, moreover, considering its "minor" violations not significant and not worthy of the attention of law enforcement agencies. It is noted, in particular, that “what some call obedience to the law, others - denunciation”, “denunciation is not welcome here ... knocking is prohibited, because the law is“ alien ”. There is also no such thing as a "professional criminal", although a significant part of our fellow citizens, being at large, is only able to engage in criminal activity and does not hide it.

Fifth, wide attraction of scientists- sociologists, psychologists, etc. - to draft laws, which in our country is considered the sphere of competence of only professional lawyers and ubiquitous politicians.

The fact that athletes and showmen are plentifully represented in our legislative bodies, expanding the social base of those who pass laws, only worsens the situation.

Laws are not just legal norms, but the most general rules of social interaction, which should be developed and introduced taking into account its social, psychological, economic and other laws, disclosed by the relevant sciences.

It is easy to predict what kind of violent resistance such measures would arouse among our pseudo-liberals, who have distorted the rational understanding of freedom to the utmost, and those criminalized social strata that benefit from it. However, the risk of new ideological collisions in this case is clearly justified, because “we want to admit it or not, but morality really lies at the basis of everything,” and, in particular, “it’s time to realize that in Russia moral education, spiritual revival is a matter of the survival of the nation and one of the necessary prerequisites for economic recovery ”.

From the editorial board of Psychologos

We join the opinion of one of the readers: it is important to move from talking "who is to blame" to the specifics of "what to do". Namely, to decide what each of us needs to do personally, at least at the everyday level, in order to begin to correct the situation and make Russia a more worthy country. For example, to completely give up alcohol, cigarettes and drugs - Exercise every morning - Smile at people on the street - Give way on the bus to elders, pregnant women, etc.: simple, clear and understandable things. Maybe someone will write such a plan for working on yourself, such a list? We will be ready to publish this on Psychologos so that people can compare their lives with how they should live.

People make life. What will we do?