printCoevolution of Three Orders – an Explanation of Russian Cycles Dynamics
Rozov N.S.
Dr. Sci. (Philos.), Prof., Chief Researcher in the Institute for Philosophy and Law, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences; Head of Department for Social Philosophy and Political Sciences of Novosibirsk State University; Professor of Department for International Affairs and Regional Studies of Novosibirsk State Technical University, Novosibirsk, Russia nrozov@gmail.com
Rozov N.S. Coevolution of Three Orders – an Explanation of Russian Cycles Dynamics. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2018. No 9. P. 12-22
On the basis of the synthesis of classical and modern sociological concepts, a model of co-evolution of three orders is constructed: the functional order (objects of care, providing structures, costs, tensions – A. Stinchcombe), the social order and the mental order. The orders are linked in productive and ceremonial practices i.e. interactive rituals, where the attitudes of the participants are formed, supported or destroyed through the mechanism of positive and negative reinforcements (B. F. Skinner). A stable figuration (N. Elias) is a relatively harmonious combination of these orders. Sometimes it is disrupted due to growth of costs and accumulation of tensions, as well as by internal and external challenges-threats and challenges-opportunities. The responses to these challenges lead to different trajectories of historical dynamics: step changes, escalation of conflicts, turbulent periods, rapid rise and flowering, transition to a higher stage of evolution. On the basis of this model, an explanation of the important contour of the well-known Russian cycles is offered: attempts to “liberalize from above”, their failures, and subsequent “authoritarian throwbacks”. The deep rootedness of all systemic links as a subject to change in the mental attitudes of living people, cultural patterns transmitting in generations (mental order), as well as in everyday practices and interactions (social order), allows to evaluate how difficult is overcoming the Russian cycles.
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